jolly old Titus Andronicus
I just saw a Shakespearian gore-fest, performed as ALMOST A COMEDY! ---a black one, with a cruel end. But if you know anything about Titus Andronicus, you probably know that it is not usually performed with happy music, laughs and slapstick.
Well, check out the production at the Old Globe in San Diego's Balboa Park. In the outdoor theater [which SORT OF tries to replicate the Elizabethan Old Globe], young buck maverick Yugoslavian director Darko Tresnjak recasts the Roman brothers competing for the throne as contemporary politicians, served by cell-phoning assistants, note-taking apparatchiks, and dark-suited, dark-shaded CIA-ish operatives. Titus Andronicus, a general returning from decades at war, is "elected (Emperor!) and declines to serve," leading to an escalating series of tragedies that sink Titus into madness, revenge, slaughter and death.
nihilistic
fatalistic
cannibalistic
slapstictic
Broadway and popular songs are interspersed (She Had it Coming from Chicago and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, yes, that hand), simultaneously lightening and darkening the piece. In fact, the first thing we see is police tape, but the first thing we HEAR is the opening number from A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum.
When you go, say "hi" to my buddy Leonard Kelly-Young, who plays the tired General, with a descent into madness that singes (no, Titus doesn't "sing"), and a turn as a celebrity chef that cooks (yes, Leonard is a great cook, although I wouldn't have wanted to attend THAT meal).
Well, check out the production at the Old Globe in San Diego's Balboa Park. In the outdoor theater [which SORT OF tries to replicate the Elizabethan Old Globe], young buck maverick Yugoslavian director Darko Tresnjak recasts the Roman brothers competing for the throne as contemporary politicians, served by cell-phoning assistants, note-taking apparatchiks, and dark-suited, dark-shaded CIA-ish operatives. Titus Andronicus, a general returning from decades at war, is "elected (Emperor!) and declines to serve," leading to an escalating series of tragedies that sink Titus into madness, revenge, slaughter and death.
nihilistic
fatalistic
cannibalistic
slapstictic
Broadway and popular songs are interspersed (She Had it Coming from Chicago and I Wanna Hold Your Hand, yes, that hand), simultaneously lightening and darkening the piece. In fact, the first thing we see is police tape, but the first thing we HEAR is the opening number from A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum.
When you go, say "hi" to my buddy Leonard Kelly-Young, who plays the tired General, with a descent into madness that singes (no, Titus doesn't "sing"), and a turn as a celebrity chef that cooks (yes, Leonard is a great cook, although I wouldn't have wanted to attend THAT meal).
posted by laurelpaley at 1:46 PM
1 Comments:
I gather you liked it.
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