Theater Review: Titus Andronicus

by Shawn Parikh

Titus Andronicus is deemed as Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, and Kitchen Dog Theater (in co-production with SMU) wants to make sure you definitely know it. Rarely performed, it was about time this innovative theater company tackled this hard-to-stage production. Not only do they push the envelope with heavy amounts of blood splattering, but they are also premiering a new adaptation of the play set in ancient Mayan times.

Transferring the piece from Ancient Rome to Tikal was no problem as the production kept the violent nature and high drama credible. The warrior Titus Andronicus has returned to Tikal revered and honored by the people to become the next King. With him, he has captured the Queen Tamora and her sons and manages to slay one of her children right in front of her. Out of respect, Titus gives up his crown to Saturninus as he was next in line for the kingdom, but Tamora manages to quickly seduce Saturninus and gains the title of Queen. With this, she hastily begins her plan to make Titus’ life a blood-filled hell by devising schemes to ruin his children and his life.

From this, violence begets slaughter begetting rape begetting decapitation begetting self-mutilation begetting cannibalism. Sounds like a lot to handle, but this much brutality makes the play rather campy and that’s definitely not a bad thing. With so much carnage, it has even been argued that Shakespeare knew he was writing a comedy.

Director Christopher Carlos plays into this since the acts of violence are over-the-top. The few front rows definitely got splashed with blood within the first 10 minutes of the play. No method of dying was off limits, and the blood kept flowing like rivers. Although some people couldn’t find this comic, causing them to leave the theatre in the middle of the show, it’s like going to a horror flick where deaths get more and more ridiculous. The high drama and gruesome acts wouldn’t have worked if it was taken seriously.

Carlos was able to carefully throw in the drama with the rape scene, which is extremely cruel and shocking. However, right before and right after this act of violence was the only time you could truly feel for the characters since it was so emotional and gut-wrenching and. With this being said, none of the characters were vulnerable enough for any sort of sympathy, and that’s due to the high drama. Because it was cut down to a 90-minute production (adapted by Lee Trull and Leah Spillman), all the violence came in rapid succession and didn’t allow much time for pathos. It is more entertaining than engrossing, but maybe that’s the point.

As Titus, Joe Nemmers had the complicated duty of going through so many heartfelt moments during such outrageous circumstances. Because he committed to the drama, he was able to give a really sincere performance, and we followed his progress from a strong hero to a delusional mess without question.

As Tamora, Christina Vela was having so much fun playing the villain that she added a lot to the campiness but still playing the drama. Quite a tough job, but she was so stunning and manipulative, that you couldn’t wait to see how her character handled each situation. Her actions, encouragement, and observance during the rape scene were the only part that seemed like too much shock value. But I can’t imagine how else you can play a mother telling her sons to deflower another girl without being so innately evil and over-the-top.

John Flores as Saturninus stood out by adding such a great level of humor to his characterization that he fit the mood of the play perfectly. His comic delivery as a villain was the perfect dynamic to the rest of the cast. But on the other hand, Rhonda Bouttè as Marcius gave a rich dramatic performance that made her stand out as the only sane person, which was also much needed. As a co-production with SMU, the students were able to leave an impact but were masked by the power of the aforementioned cast members and their commitment to their characters.

All the design elements helped to augment these manipulative and lustful characters. The costumes (Halei Prichard) fit the Mayan setting wonderfully but also added a level of sultriness to all the characters since skin was always showing. Adding to this exoticness was the set design (Stephanie Slevin), creating a very temple-like center juxtaposed to a mystic jungle. The drums and music (Jamal Mohamed) added yet another layer of passion. The fight choreography (Bill Lengfelder) and the gore-handling (Cameron Cobb) were quite integral to this production, and as you have read, quite effective. Besides the shortened script, another plus with the adaptation was the use of Spanish during some dialogues, giving an air of romance and lust.

This show is not for everyone, especially for those who can’t even sit through a horror movie. But also, if you can’t see slaughter and murder as comedy, you will probably also be one of those people who leaves during the middle of the performance. As for Shakespeare and horror film fanatics, the cast and the effects will make you glad that Titus is given a great treatment in Dallas.

Titus Andronicus runs through May 16. Purchase tickets online or by calling 214-953-1055.