Titus Andronicus Wednesday March 31^st
New College Production
Artrix Bromsgrove
 

It was with apprehension one approached a student production of Titus Andronicus on a cold wet Wednesday afternoon but the result was a stunning experience of Gothic proportions in an imaginative interpretation of Shakespeare’s most bloody play. Director Daniel Tyler harnessed the talents of his students in this ambitious show, while the superbly designed programme supported the production by ensuring that the audience followed Shakespeare’s complex and improbable plot, promising ‘Regicide, filicide, rape, amputation, decapitation, involuntary cannibalism and buckets of plain old homicide.’ And, I might add, an unusual use of red ribbon!

The flexibility of the Artrix performance space was used to dramatic advantage. A disciplined ensemble of various Romans and Goths provided the backdrop to some outstandingly mature performances. Grace Maries’s pathos and degradation as the raped and mutilated Lavinia was as moving as Lucy Morton’s vengeful and malicious Tamora, Queen of the Goths, was unnerving, while Matthew Boland and Marcus Smith were convincing as the Queen’s debauched and violent sons. Loz Bourne and Nikita Penny as Saturninus and Marcus carried contrasting roles with clarity and conviction. Accolades to William Bousfield as Aaron, Tamora’s diabolical lover and malcontent who relished his unrepentant role and prowled the stage with real menace, but the tour de force was Corey Campbell’s Titus Andronicus, the military victor subjected to unnatural abuse and suffering on his return to Rome. His unexpectedly mature voice and range of characterisation carried an already strong production to levels of real professionalism.