Titus Andronicus

Very good, very violent and the scene with the rape and mutilation of Lavinia was brutal. No one left and no one seemed seriously discomfited although Monica complained that the woman beside her kept up a nervous laughter throughout.

Needless to say, everybody dies.

There was some talk on the way home about how issues and themes that would be revisited in later plays could be picked out. I liked the production, I usually do. Bard on the Beach does good work and I always come away feeling that I have spent my time well.

There was also a clear connection between the issues that Shakespeare was trying to deal with and our present varied predicaments. A failing (failed) imperial power, a ruling class addicted to plots and torture, an ignored and essentially powerless populace that gets trotted out for justification for decisions made behind closed doors and with no interest in its needs or desires. Wars, leavened with bread and circuses.