Review: TITUS ANDRONICUS, Starring Simon Russell Beale

It's not surprising that some flinch at the idea of going to see Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's bloodiest revenge tragedy, with content warnings galore. Rape, murder, dismemberment (hands, heads and tongue) and even a helping of cannibalism, along with strobe lighting, lengthy blackouts and gallons of stage blood. Nonetheless, Max Webster's new revival of the Bard's most violent play offers both brutality and beauty in an impeccable and thoughtful dramatisation.

Simon Russell Beale, who is no stranger to Shakespeare and in particular the Royal Shakespeare Company, is spectacular in the lead role. Not one to throw himself around on stage and gesticulate wildly, his performance is so nuanced he doesn't even seem to be acting. Through subtle body language, Russell Beale can appear quite still. And when he explodes it is very explosive.

Be warned that this tale of Roman general Titus Andronicus returning victorious from a war against the Goths is grisly. A sinister looking drain running round the stage, terrifying mechanised metal rack – not unlike something you'd find hanging in an abattoir ­– and blankets handed out to audience members seated in the front row are hints of carnage to come.

The graphic off-stage killing of a prisoner, with Titus refusing to listen to horrified screams of the prisoner's mother, Tamora, Queen of the Goths (Wendy Kweh), followed by Titus's daughter Lavinia refusal to marry new emperor Saturninus (Joshua James), sets a gory chain of events off. Despite sexual depravity and a shockingly high body count, Webster's magnificent production somehow never feels unreasonable.

Joanna Scotcher's monochromatic set and costume design is suitably bleak, with the Goths in coffin black and anarchic streaks of blue; while Titus and his entourage are in shades of grey. An eerie soundscape by Tingying Dong and compositions from Matthew Herbert, go from soft choirboy solo to punchy techno electronic as the bodies pile up.

Webster's cleverly lifted the relevance of one of Shakespeare's earliest plays from dusty Jacobean to modern times. There are threatening sounds of helicopters hovering overhead and a state-of-the-art glass door upstage that might be part of an interior design scheme for a dictator's palace. Chilling hooks and other instruments strung from the rack could be found in many places today, including Syrian prison torture rooms or Guantanamo. Severed, squishy limbs are casually carted about in plastic bags. Once caught in a cycle of violence it is never-ending.

Movement director Jade Hackett does wonderful things with cast members, turning them into stooping, loping Gormenghast-like creatures in a disturbing, choreographed display of an underworld for the dead. It's also a genius way to remove deceased characters (and there are a lot of them) and props on and off stage without slowing down the action.

Lighting design by Lee Curran is equally sublime, from soft back lighting to right-on-the money spotlights. When poor Lavinia crouches maimed and broken, a simple strip-light on the ground emphasises the crimson blood splayed on her white shirt.

There's also delicate handling of racial overtones in the play, lending a more balanced representation of Natey Jones's Aaron, a Moor captured with the Goths and Tamora's lover. Although he's undoubtedly the villain of the piece, we see another side of Aaron when he tenderly cradles his new-born son and we fully understand his rage at being described as "barbarous, a ravenous tiger".

There are many references to tigers throughout the play. Titus says, "Rome is but a wilderness of tigers," which could refer to Washington, Russia or anywhere else there's political upheaval and uncertainty from extreme regimes taking control today. Titus's melancholy is reflected in all of us unsure how to deal with those tigers in this amazing production that's not to be missed.

Titus Andronicus runs in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon until June 7.