“Titus Andronicus” opened this weekend with a special benefit performance
Posted by clara / Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
“Even though it is a very bloody play, we’ve been focusing on why people do the things they do,” Julia Sears, director of “Titus Andronicus” says. “It’s not just about evil villains; it’s about finding the heart in the gore.”
The Empty Chair Theatre Company’s production of “Titus Andronicus” opened this past weekend. Sears says that outside artistic influences shaped the world of the play. “We’ve set it in a contemporary time period, but heightened,” she says. “Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera images are used in the set.”
Though they’ve had a quick rehearsal process, their run is still very Shakespearean. Most of their performances are at Theatre on the Run in Arlington, but one special benefit performance will be at the Folger Shakespeare Library. This performance is to help the company raise more money for future projects.
Cast of Titus Andronicus. Photo by Megan Spatz.
Sears is one of the founders of Empty Chair, and her experience with theatre in the Northern Virginia area has been very positive. “I come back in the summers to work on shows,” she says. “This is a center of classical theatre and our proximity to D.C. allows me to experience high-quality shows.”
Sears was originally turned on to “Titus Andronicus” after being in a production of it herself. “It’s often written off as Shakespeare’s Tarantino phase where he was a crowd-pleaser and wrote violence for violence’s sake,” she says. “I fell in love with some speeches in the play, and though the visual image is graphic, I feel moved by Shakespeare’s beautiful poetic language.”
Though some characters seem villainous, there’s a heart in each. “I found it hard to connect to some of the characters, especially Titus Andronicus,” she says. “But you find ways to love them because they’re complex.”
The Empty Chair Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus” opened last weekend and will run through July 30. Their special benefit performance at the Folger Shakespeare Library was Saturday, July 16, at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.emptychairtheatre.org.
–Clara Ritger
Tags: Arlington, Clara Ritger, Diego Rivera, Empty Chair Theatre Company, Folger Shakespeare Library, Frieda Kahlo, Julia Sears, Northern Virginia, Northern Virginia Magazine, NoVA, Shakespeare, special benefit performance, The Culture Gurus, The Game Plan, Theater, theatre, Titus Andronicus, Virginia, William Shakespeare