Titus Andronicus & Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare Page B
Authors: William Shakespeare
Ads: Link
explored.
Finally, we go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director, who must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear directors of highly successful productions answering the same questions in very different ways.
FOUR CENTURIES OF
TITUS ANDRONICUS:
AN OVERVIEW
To judge from the number of early recorded performances and contemporary references, Shakespeare’s first essay in tragedy, written inthe late 1580s–early 1590s, enjoyed immediate popular success. In his Diary 3 Philip Henslowe records a performance on January 23, 1594, by the Earl of Sussex’s Men with further performances on January 28 and February 6. Later that year Henslowe’s Admiral’s Men combined with Shakespeare’s company, the Chamberlain’s Men, to present the play at the Newington Butts Theatre on June 5 and 12. A private performance, most likely by the Chamberlain’s Men, was given at the home of Sir John Harington of Exton on January 1, 1596, described by the French tutor in a private letter as notable for “la monstre” (the spectacle) which he considered of more value than “le sujet” (the subject).
Ben Jonson’s slighting reference in the Induction to
Bartholomew Fair
(1614) indicates that the play remained in the popular repertory, along with Kyd’s
Spanish Tragedy
, despite Jonson’s view that it was now outdated:
He that will swear Heronimo or Andronicus are the best plays, yet shall pass unexcepted at, here, as a man whose judgement shews it is constant, and hath stood still, these five and twenty, or thirty years.
A contemporary drawing by writer and artist Henry Peacham gives a unique picture of the play’s earliest staging. While it doesn’t appear to illustrate any specific scene, Peacham includes quotations from the first and last acts and clearly features the main characters in poses that seem to “offer an emblematic reading of the whole play.” 4
The play’s popularity waned, however, as public tastes changed and the conviction grew among a number of scholars that Shakespeare could not have been responsible for its bloody excesses; Shakespeare’s text was not performed again until the twentieth century, when violence and horror were once more seen as fit theatrical subject matter.
After the Restoration and reopening of the theaters in 1660 a variety of adaptations were staged, the first of which was Edward Ravenscroft’s
Titus Andronicus
, or
The Rape of Lavinia
(c. 1678). In this the role of Aaron was amplified and the play ended with his confession and fiery death. It was a favorite role of the tragedian James Quin and continued to be popular with actors into the nineteenth century. It was the African American actor Ira Aldridge who turned it into a star vehicle though in an adaptation by C. A. Somerset in which Aaron was “elevated into a noble and lofty character” 5 to become the tragic hero. Another American, the actor-playwright N. H. Bannister, also adapted the play and staged it for four nights at the Walnut Street theater in Philadelphia in 1839, having carefully excluded its “horrors” and “offensive expressions.” 6
1. Henry Peacham’s illustration of
Titus Andronicus
with two soldiers on the left, Titus center left, Tamora center right, her sons kneeling and Aaron, with sword drawn, far right (c. 1604–15).
The director Robert Atkins, influenced by William Poel and his desire to recreate original Elizabethan stagings of Shakespeare’s plays, mounted a production of
Titus Andronicus
at the Old Vic in 1923. Despite acknowledgment of its theatrical power and some critical acclaim, 7 the deaths in the final scene produced unwelcome laughter. The following year John M. Berdan and E. M. Woolley directed a group of students from Yale in a production which the critic Tucker Brooke
Finally, we go to the horse’s mouth. Modern theater is dominated by the figure of the director, who must hold together the whole play, whereas the actor must concentrate on his or her part. The director’s viewpoint is therefore especially valuable. Shakespeare’s plasticity is wonderfully revealed when we hear directors of highly successful productions answering the same questions in very different ways.
FOUR CENTURIES OF
TITUS ANDRONICUS:
AN OVERVIEW
To judge from the number of early recorded performances and contemporary references, Shakespeare’s first essay in tragedy, written inthe late 1580s–early 1590s, enjoyed immediate popular success. In his Diary 3 Philip Henslowe records a performance on January 23, 1594, by the Earl of Sussex’s Men with further performances on January 28 and February 6. Later that year Henslowe’s Admiral’s Men combined with Shakespeare’s company, the Chamberlain’s Men, to present the play at the Newington Butts Theatre on June 5 and 12. A private performance, most likely by the Chamberlain’s Men, was given at the home of Sir John Harington of Exton on January 1, 1596, described by the French tutor in a private letter as notable for “la monstre” (the spectacle) which he considered of more value than “le sujet” (the subject).
Ben Jonson’s slighting reference in the Induction to
Bartholomew Fair
(1614) indicates that the play remained in the popular repertory, along with Kyd’s
Spanish Tragedy
, despite Jonson’s view that it was now outdated:
He that will swear Heronimo or Andronicus are the best plays, yet shall pass unexcepted at, here, as a man whose judgement shews it is constant, and hath stood still, these five and twenty, or thirty years.
A contemporary drawing by writer and artist Henry Peacham gives a unique picture of the play’s earliest staging. While it doesn’t appear to illustrate any specific scene, Peacham includes quotations from the first and last acts and clearly features the main characters in poses that seem to “offer an emblematic reading of the whole play.” 4
The play’s popularity waned, however, as public tastes changed and the conviction grew among a number of scholars that Shakespeare could not have been responsible for its bloody excesses; Shakespeare’s text was not performed again until the twentieth century, when violence and horror were once more seen as fit theatrical subject matter.
After the Restoration and reopening of the theaters in 1660 a variety of adaptations were staged, the first of which was Edward Ravenscroft’s
Titus Andronicus
, or
The Rape of Lavinia
(c. 1678). In this the role of Aaron was amplified and the play ended with his confession and fiery death. It was a favorite role of the tragedian James Quin and continued to be popular with actors into the nineteenth century. It was the African American actor Ira Aldridge who turned it into a star vehicle though in an adaptation by C. A. Somerset in which Aaron was “elevated into a noble and lofty character” 5 to become the tragic hero. Another American, the actor-playwright N. H. Bannister, also adapted the play and staged it for four nights at the Walnut Street theater in Philadelphia in 1839, having carefully excluded its “horrors” and “offensive expressions.” 6
1. Henry Peacham’s illustration of
Titus Andronicus
with two soldiers on the left, Titus center left, Tamora center right, her sons kneeling and Aaron, with sword drawn, far right (c. 1604–15).
The director Robert Atkins, influenced by William Poel and his desire to recreate original Elizabethan stagings of Shakespeare’s plays, mounted a production of
Titus Andronicus
at the Old Vic in 1923. Despite acknowledgment of its theatrical power and some critical acclaim, 7 the deaths in the final scene produced unwelcome laughter. The following year John M. Berdan and E. M. Woolley directed a group of students from Yale in a production which the critic Tucker Brooke
Similar Books
