Titus Andronicus - Globe West End Reviews

'Hell hath no fury like an angry Goth,' we’re told late in the blistering new production of Titus Andronicus, soon to be joined by The Winter’s Tale in repertory at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. If that line is itself invented, there’s no denyin...

'Hell hath no fury like an angry Goth,' we’re told late in the blistering new production of Titus Andronicus, soon to be joined by The Winter’s Tale in repertory at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. If that line is itself invented, there’s no denying the show’s fidelity to the nihilistic power of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play, which is presented here without a drop of red dye only to acquire an eerie power through its own determined stylisation.

Overall, though, this is a fresh and exciting take on what is often seen as Shakespeare's most juvenile work. The comedy leavens the horror without taking away its impact: the audience still reel in the bloody final scene which sees Tamora's sons ser...

Overall, though, this is a fresh and exciting take on what is often seen as Shakespeare's most juvenile work. The comedy leavens the horror without taking away its impact: the audience still reel in the bloody final scene which sees Tamora's sons served up for dinner and four characters fatally stabbed. Having an excellent all-female cast pays major dividends in bringing Titus into the 21st century, shining its issues of toxic masculinity and the cost of vengeance through the novel lens of black comedy and burning candles.

For all the hilarious busyness, it’s a mark of the production’s intelligence that its two most shocking moments arise from the text itself. There’s an audible gasp as Tamora’s Moorish lover (owned by Kibong Tanji with a sexualised swagger) is...

For all the hilarious busyness, it’s a mark of the production’s intelligence that its two most shocking moments arise from the text itself. There’s an audible gasp as Tamora’s Moorish lover (owned by Kibong Tanji with a sexualised swagger) is dismissed to his face as “swart ... spotted, detested, and abominable”. A stunned silence greets the introduction of the mutilated Lavinia by her own uncle with the words “this was thy daughter”.