Prison is a place and violence is a currency : 'Titus Andronicus' premieres tonight

  When choosing a setting for our mostly-female production of 'Titus Andronicus', we needed a place where violence was rampant and brutality a nearly-acceptable social norm.  We considered the original time during the Roman invasion of Gothic central Europe, WWII, WWI, and the western mining boom (hi, Deadwood!) before settling on a 1920's female prison.  
    'Titus Andronicus' is without argument Shakespeare's most violent play, but unlike the stage blood-soaked stories of 'Macbeth' or 'Coriolanus' or the high death-counts of 'King Lear' and 'Hamlet', the violence of Titus stands alone because it is based solely on revenge and the acceptability of violence as currency.     
​     In order to portray this story of horror living among humanity, we needed a setting that was contained, where throat-slitting is normal and the best parts of people go to die.  Thus: prison. However, we are quick to state that this is not a staging gimmick, we are not placing Titus in a prison because it would be 'fun' or 'interesting', we're placing it there because it reflects the nature of these characters, the decisions they make, and they way they live and die.  
      Prisons have long been a place where the unwanted members of society are sent, where those who perhaps need a different kind of help are instead placed behind bars and left to act out their most animalistic instincts. We pretend to be surprised when we hear that upon placing a human in a cage, they became an animal.
     Making Shakespeare's bloodiest play mostly female (with the exception of Aaron, the male prison guard) forces us to see this violence as more than just another story. Watching women, especially mothers and daughters murdering, raping, and conniving is upsetting, because it is not something we expect women to do. Nor should it be something that women, or anyone, should have to do.  However, it is something that 2,298,300 of Americans are forced to endure on a daily basis.
    When you watch tonight, or at our future performances, let the unease sink in.  Be uncomfortable with what you see,  be upset at what you see, and then think about what you've seen. 
    

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