I saw this play tonight...What can I say.
Even though I sat at the very back of the theatre, I found it extremely intense and kind of upsetting.
I would guess it's Shakespeare's bloodiest play, a woman gets raped and her hands and tongue cut off, as well as numerous brutal murders. In terms of gorey Shakespearian plays, most people would usually think of Hamlet or Macbeth, but I found this one to be much more violent.
I think the aftermath of Lavinia's rape was the hardest thing for me to watch. The actress portrayed the role amazingly well as she crawled down the stairs, and with a scream, poured blood out of her mouth.
If the acting had been poor, I could have left with the impression of "Oh, well, that was kinda sad." But the actors really got into their roles and did an amazing job.
Shakespeare does an amazing job of capturing that cycle of revenge, and it's sad that that is still relevant today. Have we not learned anything in the past centuries?
Though it was a challenge to watch, the play did not condone violence in any way, completely the opposite, and I think it was worth going.
Wasn't it so good? Apparently Shakespeare had seen/read a really gory play, and he was trying to outdo when he wrote Titus. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteI found it very upsetting too. In some ways I wish I had not seen it. The images we allow into our lives/minds/souls never go away. When Lavinia opened her mouth and screamed that most gutteral scream I think we all felt her horror and pain. Thanks for blogging about it Dorothy. I think it is worth seeing as well.
ReplyDeleteI had a very hard time with the play too. I came to the same conclusions. I think it's one of the weakest of Shakespeare's plays, but it did give me pause for thought.
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