Titus Andronicus! It’s got everything: war, ambition, sacrifice, revenge, loyalty, betrayal, love, lust, villainy and, finally, some sort of mad, cannibalistic justice. A touch more revenge than love, to be honest, but like most of Shakespeare’s tragedies, a ripping good yarn, with plenty of blood on the floor.  

Slip of the Tongue theatre company, under Director Pip Smith, has pulled together a polished ensemble for this show with uniformly excellent performances from leads and supporting roles.

The action opens with the Emperor’s sons Saturninus (Mark Houlahan) and Bassianus (Tim Kapoor) each making a claim for the Roman crown. They are interrupted by the return of Titus Andronicus (Alec Forbes) and his surviving sons from war with the Goths. They bring their captives: Tamora, the Goth Queen (Maria Jane Eaton), her three sons, and a fearsome Moor (Benny Marama).

Cue a speedy vengeful execution of Tamora’s oldest son, and the chance for the audience to get a taste of the dramatic, and entertaining performance Eaton will deliver over the next hour and a half.  

The plot travels fast, especially in the opening 15 minutes, so it is useful to have a basic working knowledge of the action and relationships. Ultimately, revenge is exacted and justice done, but it’s a long and dreadful process and there are plenty dispatched along the way. Knowing what’s to come however, makes the realisation of it all the more satisfying, and Director Pip Smith tackles the visual challenges of staging in a variety of clever ways.

The stage is large and well-designed; all available entrances and exits are utilised effectively, layers of light fabric walls create a backdrop for lighting designer Zoe Timbrell to wash with colour and symbolic, sculptural pieces are used cleverly to denote different settings.

The ensemble look comfortable in their roles and there is satisfying interplay between them in every scene. Alec Forbes is commanding as the exhausted Titus, and Houlahan establishes early dominance as Saturninus, which the audience later enjoys seeing subverted.

Kapoor is appealing and believable as decent Bassianus. Adrian Holroyd, as Marcus Andronicus, is excellent and helps anchor the action as a steadying force amid the madness while Benny Marama, is menacing and controlled as Aaron.

Carl Watkins’ focus and physical intensity is well suited to the role of Titus’ son Lucius, who grows in prominence throughout the play, and Genevieve Sheffield shows great control and range between Lavinia’s sass and confidence in the early stages of the play, and her utter physical and mental destruction.

Titus Andronicus has some thoroughly unlikeable characters, including the depraved and vile sons of Tamora, Demetrius and Chrion, performed with evil relish by Ross MacLeod and Philip Garrity, and Tamora herself is performed by Eaton with appropriate dramatic excess. Despite their foulness, these characters give us moments of delicious lightness, especially in the scene where they fancifully try to bewitch a grieving and unhinged Titus. 

The music by Wairehu Grant is innovative and expressive, and present throughout the performance in both ambient and more narrative form. My companion and I enjoy his quiet, industrious presence at the side of the stage and both feel his music is an effective way to set scene, quickly shift mood and support the action. There is only one place it seems intrusive which is a scene where Eaton, performing from the back, is hard to hear against the music, which is being played closer to the audience. 

The production team of music, set and lighting design, costume and props has obviously worked cohesively to realise Smith’s directorial vision and are integral to its success.

It’s great to see Slip of the Tongue back with such a successful and cohesive show. 

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