Événement

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Bare Theatre opens its 11th season with the play that rejuvenated the company in 2005, William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.

Director Heather J. Strickland, one of the founding directors and long-time company member, revisits Shakespeare's bloodiest tragedy having assistant directed the 2005 production. This time she presents a bold telling of the violent tale with an all female cast and crew.

Titus Andronicus is the story of a loyal Roman military general that returns victorious from war and immediately sets the stage for her own violent downward spiral and the undoing of her surviving daughters. Pitted in a power struggle against Tamora, queen of the Goths, the two women ultimately rip apart their own lives, their communities, and their families seeking revenge for the wrongs to each other.

William Shakespeare's company, as all theatre troupes of his day, was comprised entirely of men. The characters and story of Titus Andronicus change when told from the perspectives of mothers, daughters, sisters, and female executives, politicians and war heroes.

Strickland and the cast imagine a world in which women have left the company of men, though they retain vestiges of mixed society such as titles and hierarchy. In examining the ways in which the women manipulate and attack each other in Shakespeare's play, cast and crew have engaged in broader community conversations to discover ways in which women can support and build each other up. Representatives from women's studies programs at UNC-CH and Duke University will facilitate and participate in rehearsal discussions and post-show talkbacks.

Bare Theatre, a Raleigh-based mobile theatre company, receives acclaim from publications around the Triangle. Two of its 2014 productions, Let Them Be Heard and Shakespeare's Coriolanus, were named among the 10 Best of the Year by Indy Week. Bare takes a minimalist, high-energy, physical approach to the works of Shakespeare and historical texts.

NOTE: This production contains graphic stage violence, including blood effects and disturbing imagery. Not recommended for young children, parental discretion advised. Strobe light effect is also used.