Stratford View column - Murder, cannibalism and severed limbs, the perfect combination for a theatre trip

LAST week I sent my partner’s mum, Katie, a text: ‘Would you like to come to the theatre with me to see Titus Andronicus?’ ‘Ooh yes that would be lovely,’ she replied.

Now at this point I should confess I hadn’t considered that it is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known plays. I had a love of horror novels when I was a teenager and read Titus Andronicus when I was having a rare break from Stephen King, James Herbert and Graham Masterton so I knew the play fairly well.

Therefore, when my future mother-in-law arrived on Saturday morning and said, ‘I’ve googled the play and it sounds quite gruesome.’ I thought, ‘Oh my God what have I done? I’m taking a senior citizen to watch nearly three hours of rape, murder and cannibalism. What was I thinking?’

When we got to the Swan Theatre and took our seats, I noticed that there was a short plastic barrier between the stage and the audience, and that the people on the front row had been given a blanket each. I pointed it out and joked, ‘I hope that’s not for all the blood splashing around.’ Katie looked at me and laughed, presumably thinking I was joking but as we took our seats I was swollen with trepidation. What if she went home and told my other half to leave me immediately as I am clearly mentally disturbed and should be forced to live alone in a cave?

As I looked around the audience however, I noticed that at 46 I was actually one of the youngest there. Just as I was wondering where on earth all those blood-thirsty pensioners had come from the lights dimmed and the drama began.

It’s been many, many years since I went to the Swan and I found it so much more atmospheric than any other theatre I’ve been to. It is a narrow but tall space and has a real feeling of a theatre-of-old, minus the pickpockets and prostitutes of course. Even a few rows back we were close to the action, alarmingly so at times, and being on an aisle seat meant that the actors would often march past us as they approached the stage from different directions.

I’m not a critic (well, of theatre anyway), nor am I an actor or a set technician but I wanted to use this space to give my view as a very regular person who happened to fancy a rare afternoon at the theatre.

The play was nothing short of enthralling from start to finish and a few sideways glances at Katie assuaged my fear that she would be horrified. She was as captivated as me. It was at this point I remembered she really enjoyed Game of Thrones so I shouldn’t have been worried in the first place.

So yes, there was an abundance of blood and a couple of heads in plastic bags during Titus Andronicus but there was so much more to it than gore. It’s actually a really good story and is, unlike some of Shakespeare’s plays, sit-up-and-watch interesting. The props were simple but effective, the lighting and sound couldn’t have been better and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen acting that brought a Shakespeare play to life as much as from this cast.

When there was a humorous line, it was delivered with a comic timing that any comedian would applaud. It was horrific, moving and amusing all in one go.

However, the biggest shout out goes to the Royal Shakespeare Company’s severed limbs department – you really outdid yourselves.