Awkward Stage Productions presents Titus: The Light and Delightful Musical Comedy of Titus Andronicus, Sept. 10 to 20 at the Firehall Arts Centre, 280 E. Cordova St., Vancouver. Part of the Vancouver Fringe Festival. Tickets: $15 at vancouverfringe.com.
"Light" and "delightful" are not the words most 16th century theatre reviewers would have used to describe William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. On the contrary, "violent" and "gruesome" would have been more suitable adjectives.
But there's a new show in town that offers a whimsical take on what is widely considered to be the Bard's bloodiest work. Presented by Awkward Stage Productions, Titus: The Light and Delightful Musical Comedy of Titus Andronicus makes its world premiere at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. This happy and humorous version re-imagines Shakespeare's fictional Roman Empireera tragedy as a crowdpleasing comedy complete with singing, dancing and slapstick humour.
The first time Jenika Schofield read the script for Titus, she laughed until she was in tears, so the Grade 12 Carson Graham secondary student was thrilled to land the part of the docile Lavinia, only daughter to Roman general Titus Andronicus.
She's "a feminist's worst nightmare," Schofield says of her character. "She basically does whatever anyone tells her to do."
This new musical parody largely follows Shakespeare's original plot. Titus has returned from a decadelong war that killed 21 of his 25 sons. He has captured Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons, and her secret lover Aaron the Moor. In obedience to Roman rituals, Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son to avenge the deaths of his own sons. What follows is a convoluted cycle of revenge that involves murder, mutilation and madness, but the tale is told through tap dance, rhythmic gymnastics and rock music.
As in the original play, the Lavinia character is violently raped by Tamora's sons and although the word "rape" has been replaced with the gentler term "bunny love," Schofield says the incident is not taken lightly.
"That part, we do not joke about. That part is very serious in the play and we make sure that we state that it is a serious thing that happened and that has happened to many, many people."
Other North Shore actors joining the youthful cast of Titus include Grade 12 Handsworth secondary student Drew Ogle (Demetrius), who is on the Carson Graham improv team with Schofield, and North Vancouver resident Paige Fraser (Lucius Andronicus).
Writer Andrew Wade was acting in a fundraiser production of Titus Andronicus at the University of Victoria several years ago when he first got the idea to reinvent the tragedy as a musical comedy.
"It struck me that, while the show has a lot of elements that are deeply moving and powerful, there are also elements within the show that just seem silly," says Wade, who is also performing in the one-man show The Most Honest Man in the World at this year's Fringe Festival.
Wade wrote the book and lyrics for Titus, Jenny Anderson created the original music and this world premier is being directed by Andy Toth, artistic director of Awkward Stage Productions. The play opens with Shakespeare himself bemoaning the fact that modern audiences don't seem to care for Titus Andronicus.
"He decides to make it a musical comedy, because that's what people want to see on stage today - people dancing, having fun, laughs - not necessarily some old tragedy where people are getting horribly dismembered and what not," Wade says.
The addition of song and dance has an interesting effect on the gratuitous violence that exists in Shakespeare's play, Wade explains.
"It highlights the spectacle nature that we already give violence in our society today," he says. "We already consider violence great entertainment. We'll go to happily see people get shot in many, many different ways in the movie theatre, on TV."
Inspired by the comedic stylings of Conan O'Brien, Monty Python and Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Wade says there is a spirit of absurdity throughout Titus. And while he hopes audiences come out and have a "light and delightful time," he also hopes the play will make people consider why it is that violence has such entertainment value.
"Why is it OK to laugh with glee about certain things and not others? Why do we hold the taboos that we do?" he asks.
