The University Theatre will present Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare, directed by Ray Paolino. Performances will be held in the Fine Arts Theatre April 6-8 and 12-14 at 8 p.m. and April 15 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $16, $12 for students, and can be purchased at drama.uga.edu/box-office, by phone at 706-542-4400 or in person at the Performing Arts Center or Tate Center box office.
Shakespeare’s most violent play, Titus Andronicus enacts a downward spiral of vengeance, spilling a cascade of blood from the first scene to its gory end sprinkled with startlingly outrageous humor along the way. When Rome’s great general Titus (MFA acting candidate John Terry) returns from a lifetime of war against the Goths, he hopes for a comfortable retirement. However, Tamora (MFA acting candidate Taylor Wood), former Queen of Goths, swears vengeance and destruction upon the entire family of her old enemy. Madness ensues, figuratively and literally, along with evil plots including bloody murder and worse.
“It’s Shakespeare’s Game of Thrones,” said David Saltz, head of the theatre and film studies department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. “It’s appalling, riveting and wickedly fun to watch. And, of course, in Shakespearean tragedy, like in the Game of Thrones, ‘you win or you die’—and there can only be one winner.”
“I want it to reflect what’s happening in the world today,” said director and associate professor Paolino. “We’re talking about honor killings, and those are fairly contemporary in certain parts of the world. We’re talking about genocide; that’s been going on for centuries and continues. There’s an animosity with the fear of the ‘other’ that’s always under the surface, even now. So it’s an important part of our lives, even though we’d like to feel like we’re civilized.”
However, Paolino emphasizes that the story is not all blood and vengeance; it is also the story of a family who, through loss, learns the preciousness of the bonds they share.
“As the play goes on, Titus goes from a warrior who’s facing retirement, yet still relies upon his power to control his family and others around him, to a caring grandfather who appreciates what he has around him. That’s something that strikes me as a grandfather and a parent,” he said.
In the staging, Paolino endeavors to connect directly with the audience, as possible only through the live relationship between actor and audience. He points out that Shakespeare’s actors could see and personally interact with their audience.
“I want to encourage that direct communication,” he said. “I’m not interested in this illusion of a fictional world of characters that we’re seeing behind a veil and can’t let them know that we’re watching them.”