Home to many tame a cappella jams and readings by Nobel Prize winners, Richardson Auditorium will be transformed this weekend into a "Theatre of Cruelty," to borrow a phrase from the French dramatic theorist Antonin Artaud.
Yes, heads — in addition to a variety of renegade limbs — will roll as "Titus Andronicus," William Shakespeare's most gruesome play, takes to the stage in an ambitious two-hour production presented by the Princeton Shakespeare Company and directed by Joseph Cermatori '05.
"The play tries to move back and forth between tragic, horrifying, eerily comic and outrageously funny," Cermatori said.
The play is the story of a Roman general Titus Andronicus who has fought valiantly for Rome, capturing the pernicious Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons and her lover Aaron the Moor. Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son, prompting her to vow revenge on the honorable general.
The kingdom is left in the hands of a new emperor, Saturninus, who chooses Tamora as his wife. Titus also has a daughter, Lavinia, whose purity meets a violent unraveling towards the middle of the play as she is raped and mutilated by Tamora's two bestial boys. Titus captures his daughter's attackers, makes a pie out of them and in the final scene, feeds it to Tamora.
When Cermatori heard last year that the PSC had reserved Richardson for one of its productions, he jumped at the chance to book it for "Titus." Spending several summer weeks researching at Yale University, Cermatori said he realized more and more how the rounded auditorium would complete the environment for the Roman revenge tragedy that he would produce in a classical style, with certain modern adaptations.
Cermatori decided to give primacy to the stage itself, deciding not to clutter it with scenery. The theatre takes on a role in the dramatis personae, as characters grope and thrust against the stage, allow their fingers to graze the Romanesque mosaics lining the back wall, and run through the audience area up to the stage.
"There is a clear thread of theatrical self-consciousness present in this production of the play," Cermatori said. "The play continually refers to itself as a play, often times highlighting its own falseness and staginess. This being the case, there seems no point in denying the play's own theatricality by pretending, with the use of a set, that the onstage action is taking place anywhere but on a stage."
A theme in the play is how theatricality and suspension of disbelief interact in a plot that revolves almost exclusively around an excess of gore. Cermatori has directed his actors to play up the theatrical space as much as possible, educating the cast in "high Senecan style," part of the classical tradition marked by its unnatural but affected performance technique.
"It's a special kind of theatre," said castmember Will MacNamara '05, who plays Marcus Andronicus, Titus' aristocratic, urbane brother. "Joe is bowing to the fact that [the play] is unrealistic by making it even more unrealistic. We're deprived of facial expression because we wear masks and we have to deliver it in this grand oratorical manner. Everything is stylistically exaggerated."
The production is self-consciously artful and plays down the violence. Much of it happens offstage or is implied.
"This is an infamously gory play," MacNamara said, "which is why it's been out of favor. It's passed off to the passion of Shakespeare's youth when he was feeling gratuitously violent."
One of the most graphic scenes in the play is, with the help of costumes designed by Lauren Palmer '05, transformed into a chilling, heartbreaking visual image.
Lavinia's rape happens offstage. At this critical point in the play, Lavinia's hands and tongue are cut off so she becomes unable to reveal her assailants. Lavinia returns to the stage, and her arms are replaced by bouquets of red roses.
"It's one of the most beautiful substituted gestures for violence," MacNamara said.
The grand oratory and affected gestures put across this classical style, but "it results in a lot of strange cramping," said Nicole Muller '05, who plays Titus' daughter Lavinia and has coincidentally played rape victims in the majority of her dramatic roles at Princeton.
"I don't know what my parents will think," Muller joked.
About 60 students tried out for the show — a record number for a PSC audition.
"There was no shortage of talent amongst the actors from which I had to choose, which was exciting for me as a director," Cermatori said.
The choice to undertake a production of "Titus" was not only inspired by the production space, but also by the way the play resonates with modern audiences.
"People see some sort of link between its grotesque violence and the pervasive violence in our society," MacNamara said, "It is the Quentin Tarantino movie of Shakespearean plays. There's lots of violence. Lots of people die in the end. And people die in grotesque, disgusting ways."
Read More
Princeton Zoning Board of Adjustment approves renovations to Tower and Charter Clubs
Sena Chang and Isaac BernsteinOn March 27, the Municipality of Princeton’s Zoning Board of Adjustment approved construction developments for Tower Club and Charter Club. Renovations for both clubs are aimed towards improving accessibility.
On March 27, the Municipality of Princeton’s Zoning Board of Adjustment approved construction developments for Tower Club and Charter Club. Renovations for both clubs are aimed towards improving accessibility.
Students support local businesses with new platform Zage
Jack AllenAfter hearing about the struggles faced by a number of these restaurants after students left campus in mid-March, Dilbagi created Zage, an online platform that allows community members to send money to local businesses now to redeem as credits on their purchases in the future.
This fall, go beyond the 'Bubble'
Dora ZhaoEven though classes are picking up, weekends are the perfect time for students to escape the Orange Bubble. While going out to eat on Nassau is enjoyable, there is so much to see beyond Princeton. For those looking for a day trip or a chance to explore the area outside of Princeton, here is a list of ideas to do this fall.