Upon arriving in the UK, one of my colleagues informed me of a new Shakespeare Festival in Oxford. As a screenwriter who has studied Shakespeare extensively I was intrigued. After looking at the schedule of plays being performed, I was surprised to see that Titus Andronicus was one of the offerings. Titus, in my opinion, is one of the most demanding, if not THE most demanding of the Bard's plays. I decided that I was not going to allow my considerable experience to create a preconceived notion of how Titus should be presented.

I decided to attend the evening performance of Titus on Friday 31st July. I did enjoy the fact that the audience was invited to participate in the first act as Roman Citizens, although I did not take part. As the play continued, I found the presence and delivery of lines by Marcus Andronicus, played by Anthony Webster, refreshing. He did not overplay his part, yet as the play unfolded, I easily believed his pain and torment as he watched his brother Titus transform from adored victor to an emotionally broken ghost of a man. In short, Anthony Webster gave a stirring performance and should be proud.

Next we find the entrance of Titus Andronicus himself. I have to say I was anticipating an average performance at best. I could not have been more wrong. From his opening line, Tommie Grabiec held my rapt attention. His delivery of lines was superb, his ability to project impeccable. Often when he wasn't on stage, I found myself waiting for his return. In the end, Tommie was able to not only hold the entire audience's attention but had made us become emotionally invested in his tortured story.

Next we come to Saturninus played by Ian Jackson. I found his performance very believable; he delivered his lines well and projected beautifully. Again I was impressed. Then we have Tamora, played by Victoria Coleman. Victoria started out a bit weak but as the play progressed, she found her rhythm and was very good, and at times even great. There was one last actress I found enchanting - Karen Gaynord who had a small part as the nurse. I asked myself why when she had such a stage presence? In my opinion, granted it is just my opinion, Karen should have played Tamora and Victoria should have played Lavinia. That would have been spectacular, along with the other actors listed above.

Now for the bad news. What was the director thinking having Demetrius and Chiron, played by Anton Renouf and Fraser Prince, playing their parts as clowns?! Did he think he knew better than Shakespeare what was the proper tone - that's almost obscene. To take what is meant to be a tragedy and sprinkle comedy through it is a travesty. Next is Lavinia, performed by Sha'ori Morris. I found her performance flat and repetitive. One cannot simply keep moaning and shaking their arms as though they are on a recorded loop and expect to be believable. Lastly is Aaron The Moor, played by Herb Cuanalo. He overplayed his part at every turn. The Moor is meant to be subtle and seductive, Herb was not. He was loud, overbearing and arrogant.

On a not so warm August evening, I had the fortunate opportunity to watch Titus Andronicus in the courtyard of Oxford Castle. The backdrop to the play lent itself well to this production, and the cast used the various areas of the caste successfully in their adaptation of the play.

From the beginning, the male lead Tommie Grabiec gave a commanding performance as the noble Roman General, who is reduced into a shadow of himself after the brutal rape and savage attack upon his daughter. This is a very difficult role to pull off successfully and I felt that Tommie Grabiec's performance from his commanding entrance to a grief stricken father had all the right elements.

The production is done very well, and I liked the way in which the audience at the beginning are used as part of the welcoming crowd. I felt that the actress Victoria Coleman, Tamora, grew into the role as the play developed and I particularly liked the scenes between Tamora and Titus at the end, again a difficult scene, in which she excelled.

Against the historic setting of Oxford Castle this brave production set its sights pretty high and met them. It would be easy to turn Shakespeare's famous gore fest into a pantomime of slaughter and betrayal at the expense of depth and characterisation but the obviously carefully selected cast did not for a moment do that. Under the guidance of director Michael Speight, they instead crafted a performance displaying the very best and worst of human nature, carefully weaving love, hate, death and revenge together to give no goodies, no baddies, but an exploration of human nature where good people do bad things and bad people do good things.
Whilst traditional enough in flavour, with fabulous costuming and a body count that starts in the first act, bravely the audience were asked to stand and participate in the first half, as citizens of Rome, with the action occurring all around them. One might be forgiven for thinking that gimmicky but it was in fact immense fun, and really involved us in proceedings, a clever ploy to get us on one side or the other from the off.

Tommie Grabiec as Titus commanded the stage with a booming voice and a confidence befitting a Roman General and as tragedy upon tragedy was heaped upon him, Titus unravelled beautifully before our very eyes to become a man haunted by having committed no crime other than to have always tried to do the right thing. His descent into near madness was wonderfully executed and we really did feel his pain as his family was destroyed and the whole framework of identity was taken from him. The abstract concept of Rome has a lot to answer for.

Sha'ori Morris as Lavinia was nothing short of brilliant. The arrogance of happiness and youth was soon stripped away from her in the starkest way possible as she was brutally beaten and raped, her hands cut off and tongue cut out. As she wandered across the stage in a confused and impotent rage, tears streaming and spitting blood, she caused the audience to physically recoil and fall into a horrified silence at the realisation of what had happened to her. Her entirely wordless second half portrayed more about her than the first and was played with a broken depth and integrity.
Her attackers Chiron and Demitrius played by Anton Reneuf and Fraser Prince were disturbingly likeable brothers and played to the comic elements perfectly, as did Anton Blake-Cox whose turn as the hapless messenger with his pigeons all but stole the show.

Herb Cuanalo as Aaron brought a wonderful depth and fire to a character who could easily have been far too one dimensional and who, as the lover of the Queen of the Goths, Tamora (Victoria Coleman), was responsible for the vast majority of the horrors perpetrated upon Andronicus' House. Both were excellent with Tamora owning the stage seductively and Aaron responding to her need for revenge, making the dynamic tension between them all but crackled in a feeding frenzy of sex and violence. Her poor husband Saturninus, played in a rather brilliant and understated manner by Ian Jackson, didn't stand a chance and careered through his reign and to his untimely death irritated and perturbed that his life was proving so difficult when he had clearly hoped that being Emperor was going to be so much more fun than it was turning out to be!

Lucius Andronicus (Matt Bevington) was tender and reasoned and his uncle Marcus Andronicus (Anthony Webster) acted as a hesitant and remarkably restrained narrator to smoothly transition and explain what was occurring for those in doubt of this fast paced genocide. The remaining multi role playing cast provided an excellent framework for the main cast to work around and should not be omitted in the praise.

Negatives are few to find. Being at the mercy of our wonderful British weather shows an optimism and bravery in itself but blankets were on hand to stave off outright hypothermia and most people endured the chill with good humour as they were enjoying the play so much, but do wrap up warm. Props could truthfully have been better, the heads of Titus's sons bounced slightly and I was disappointed not to see some throat slitting go on when Titus makes Chiron and Demetrius into pies but really those are my only qualms and Titus' hand being hacked off by Aaron was really rather realistic to balance that out.

All in all it was a fabulous and energetic version of a very long and very bloody play that few have the courage to attempt and I would happily give it five stars.

This was my first visit to Oxford Castle and one I will not forget. The grounds were spectacular for such a production to be brought to form. The natural daylight caught the eyes of the performers, revealing the pain and suffering of their characters, which was truly captivating. The weather in fact felt like it was dancing through the performance, shedding light on scenes most deserving of light and shade during the darkest of moments. Truly a joyful experience. I have the utmost respect for the participants in this production for their dedication and commitment to their career/craft. A sincere thank you for entertaining us all for three gripping hours!

The gentleman who played Titus Andronicus, Tommie Grabiec, had an incredible presence - he truly owned all the attributes and emotions required to portray such a character as Titus with force. Having watched many performances this year, I have to say I was taken aback by the craftsmanship that I witnessed, it was very impressive. Titus's voice control and ability to stay in the physicality throughout demonstrated what a dedicated, focused and talented actor he is. A force to be reckoned with, may you go forth and conquer all!

I was truly captivated by the commanding, resounding and passionate performance of Tommie Grabiec as Titus Andronicus. He grasped the audience from the very moment he arrived on stage and steered us resolutely through the trials and tribulations of his constantly emotional and gripping existence in this play. The precision, delivery and timbre of his articulations soared around the magnificent castle setting as if to muster the very soul of its heritage; a pin was dropped in the distance and it was heard by all as he held us all magnificently in his light. Unequivocally indicative of an actor who obviously prepares, hones, refines and polishes his craft meticulously and constantly to produce a shining beacon of a performance such as this. When in play, Titus was the brightest shining star of the heavens that all the planets revolved around.

Bravo indeed!