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Title: Titus Andronicus (The Pelican Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare, Russell McDonald, Russ McDonald ISBN: 0-14-071491-X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (24 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: What were you thinking, William Shakespeare?
Comment: On a first reading of this macabre play all hints of Shakespeare's poetic genius are overwhelmed by rape, mutilation, and murder. This cannot be Shakespeare. And yet, despite fervent efforts by many scholars to prove otherwise, the evidence supports Shakespeare as author.

Although popular in the Elizabethan period, later generations dismissed Titus Andronicus as a practice play, a huge joke, a gristly theatrical feast, and a quease-inducing play. Contrastingly, the commentary in my Oxford Shakespeare edition argues that the revenge motif was a suitable topic for Shakespeare. The Elizabethan audience was acclimated to violence, including bear baiting as a sport, weekly public hangings, and an occasional witch execution. Revenge drama, like The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd, was immensely popular. Shakespeare knew his audience.

Did the young Shakespeare intend this play to be serious drama, or was it a brutal parody of Elizabethan revenge drama? There is little agreement among scholars.

In a re-reading of Titus Andronicus, I attempted to see beyond the gore and carnage for indications of Shakespeare's poetic style. Tamora's poetic plea - Sweet mercy is nobility's badge - offers advice that is ignored by all, including Tamora herself. The lengthy speech by Marcus upon encountering the mutilated Lavinia is poetic, although one questions the propriety of a dramatic speech while Lavinia is bleeding profusely. Also, Aaron's proud confession to Lucius is chilling drama.

Few characters seem fully developed. The close relatives of Titus Andronicus seem one-dimensional. Marcus Andronicus is the loyal brother, Lucius is the noble son, and Lavinia is the innocent daughter. Likewise, Tamora, the captured queen of the Goths, and her two sons, Chiron and Demetrius, seem almost caricatures of evil. They joyously plot rape and murder.

The revengeful Titus Andronicus offers some complexity, possibly foreshadowing Shakespeare's later creations like King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello. We see him as a heroic chieftain that is politically inept, a stoic parent that accepts the sacrifice of his many sons in battle, a distraught and nearly insane victim, and a cunning practitioner of revenge.

I was puzzled most by character of Aaron the Moor. Is he merely a villain? There is a spark of humanity in his concern for his young infant, but it sputters out and we see only implacable evil: But I have done a thousand dreadful things as willingly as one would kill a fly, and nothing grieves me heartily indeed, but that I cannot do ten thousand more.

Not surprisingly, Titus Andronicus is seldom performed. The Royal Shakespeare Company's recent production is their first since 1981. Interestingly, Titus is played David Bradley, an actor known to millions as the irascible caretaker Filch in the Harry Potter movies.

I highly recommend the Oxford Shakespeare edition. I give this edition four stars, largely for the extensive commentary and editing by Eugene M. Waith.

Rating: 5
Summary: A good recording of a little performed play
Comment: I was sure that when Harper Audio reissued on cassettes the old recording of it could not be beat! Well, just in perfect timing with the new motion picture version of the play, we now have from Penguin's Arkangel Complete Shakespeare series, a very serious rival to the older set.

The Harper set is perfectly fine with stylized readings in old fashioned manner (what else can one do with a script like this one?) that milks what little poetry there is in this play for all it is worth. The "star" of the show is Anthony Quayle, whose Aaron the Moor just stops at going "over the top" in his last scenes.

The Arkangel set gives us Paterson Joseph in that role, whose "ethnic" voice never overstates any of the lines and who whispers where Quayle chortles in his joy. David Troughton plays the title role, trying (it seems to me) to make the character believable in a voice that seems just a tad young after hearing the venerable Michael Hodern in the earlier recording. In doing so, he loses some of the feeling for the meter but I think he succeeds very well on his own terms.

For once, the rape scene is as harrowing on a sound recording as it ever was on stage, thanks to the Director eliciting the most horrible screams from poor Lavinia (Emma Gregory), whose voice is then written out of the script. The evil Queen of the Goths (Harriet Walter) sounds like the mother of those two monster sons (John McAndrew and Charles Simpson); while the rest of the cast is never less than good.

The only (to me) jarring feature is the use of an organ, which (1) is too anachronistic and (2) makes us think unfortunately of the silent movie melodramas that this play can so closely resemble. I will keep playing both sets in the future, but this one has a bit more excitement while the other has a bit more of the poetry. Both are quite valid and this play does deserve something of a respectful resurrection that the film might bring about and these two sets will help considerably.

Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent
Comment: Since this was Shakespeare's first tragedy - it's understandable how he could write something so utterly out of character for him. Everyone must find their own feet to stand on. I find that the college students I teach respond well to this particular piece. The violence, gore and blood keep our up-to-date students involved. They also seem to respond well to Aaron. They are amazed at the evilness and the twisted plot. I will continue to teach this in my classroom and think this version is just fine for the beginning Shakespeare student.

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