Timeline
1594- The first unquestioned production of Titus Andronicus takes place, recorded by Philip Henslowe, by the Earl of Sussex’s Men on January 23. On January 28 and February 6, Henslowe records two more performances. Two more take place on June 5 and 12.
Also in 1594, the First Quarto is published with the following title page for Titus:
Also in 1594, the First Quarto is published with the following title page for Titus:
1594 or 1595- Henry Peacham sees Titus and creates a sketch of what he had seen. The Peacham Drawing has disjointed lines from the play under the sketch. The Peacham Drawing has given modern scholars and performers a clear idea of what theater was like in Elizabethan England.
1598- Titus is listed by Francis Meres as one of Shakespeare’s tragedies.
1600- Titus appears in the Second Quarto.
1604- Thomas Middleton alludes to Titus in The Ant and Nightingale, which is a testament to Titus Adroncius’ continuing popularity. The fact that is not another recorded performance until the Restoration does not mean that Titus wasn’t still being frequently performed. In the number of re-printings, Titus ranks seventh-- which beats Romeo and Juliet.
1611- Titus appears in the Third Quarto. The title pages of Q2 and Q3 suggest frequent revivals.
1600- Titus appears in the Second Quarto.
1604- Thomas Middleton alludes to Titus in The Ant and Nightingale, which is a testament to Titus Adroncius’ continuing popularity. The fact that is not another recorded performance until the Restoration does not mean that Titus wasn’t still being frequently performed. In the number of re-printings, Titus ranks seventh-- which beats Romeo and Juliet.
1611- Titus appears in the Third Quarto. The title pages of Q2 and Q3 suggest frequent revivals.
1614- Jonson makes an allusion to the play in his introduction in Bartholomew Fair, showing that the play was still popular.
1623- Titus is published in the First Folio, with the addition of a scene (III.ii).
1623- Titus is published in the First Folio, with the addition of a scene (III.ii).
1669- Titus is included in a list of plays formerly performed by the Black Friars but now performed by the King’s Men.
1678- Edward Ravencroft adapts the play for presentation at the Drury Lane theater under the title Titus Andronicus or the Rape of Lavinia”. Ravencroft claimed to have made many changes and improvements to Shakespeare’s text, but under careful analysis, it doesn’t appear that he made too many significant alterations to characters or language. His main change is the end, in which he makes Lucius sentence Aaron, who has been suspended on a rack during the entire final dinner. Ravecroft’s adaptation was extremely successful.
1678- 1724- Ravencroft’s version of Titus is performed regularly.
1725- 1838- Titus seems to go through a lengthy absence from the stage. This could be because of a general distaste of the horror genre during this period and because Shakespeare’s authorship falls under scrutiny.
1839- Titus is performed for the first time in a little over a century, and for the first time in the United States at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. The following was written about this production:
“[The director], with much tact and poetical conception, ably preserved the beauties of its poetry, the intensity of its incidents, which work up the plot and the argument by very judicious modifications. He excluded the horrors with infinite skill, yet preserved al the interest of the drama in the moral deductions that Shakspere ever draws in his dramas.”
1848- Titus is performed on the British Isles. Popular actor Ira Aldridge, ‘the African Roscuis’, produces and stars in it as Aaron.
1678- Edward Ravencroft adapts the play for presentation at the Drury Lane theater under the title Titus Andronicus or the Rape of Lavinia”. Ravencroft claimed to have made many changes and improvements to Shakespeare’s text, but under careful analysis, it doesn’t appear that he made too many significant alterations to characters or language. His main change is the end, in which he makes Lucius sentence Aaron, who has been suspended on a rack during the entire final dinner. Ravecroft’s adaptation was extremely successful.
1678- 1724- Ravencroft’s version of Titus is performed regularly.
1725- 1838- Titus seems to go through a lengthy absence from the stage. This could be because of a general distaste of the horror genre during this period and because Shakespeare’s authorship falls under scrutiny.
1839- Titus is performed for the first time in a little over a century, and for the first time in the United States at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia. The following was written about this production:
“[The director], with much tact and poetical conception, ably preserved the beauties of its poetry, the intensity of its incidents, which work up the plot and the argument by very judicious modifications. He excluded the horrors with infinite skill, yet preserved al the interest of the drama in the moral deductions that Shakspere ever draws in his dramas.”
1848- Titus is performed on the British Isles. Popular actor Ira Aldridge, ‘the African Roscuis’, produces and stars in it as Aaron.
1849-1860- Aldridge’s adaptation continues to be performed. This adaptation has not survived, but the press’ comments on it has:
“Titus Adronicus is not a favourite play and we do not know that we ever saw it produced before on any stage. Indeed, as published in the best editions of Shakespeare’s works, it would be utterly unfit for presentation, for a more dreadful catalogue of horrors and atrocities than it consists of would be impossible to conceive…. The Titus Adronicus produced under Mr. Aldrigde’s direction is a wholly different affair; the deflowerment of Lavinia, cutting out her tongue, chopping off her hands, and the numerous decapitations and gross language which occur in the original are totally omitted and a play not only presentable but actually attractive is the result. Aaron is elevated into a noble and lofty character. Tamora, the Queen of Scythia, is a chaste though decidedly strong-minded female, and her connection with the Moor appears to be of a legitimate description; her sons Chiron and Demetrius are dutiful children, obeying the behests of their mother…. Thus altered, Mr. Aldridge’s conception of the part of Aaron is excellent-- gentle and impassioned by turns; now burning with jealousy as he doubts the honor of the Queen; anon, fierce with rage as he reflects upon the wrong which have been done him-- the murder of Alarbus and the abduction of her son; and then all tenderness and emotion in the gentle passages with his infant.”
-The Era, 1857
1861-1922- Titus again goes through another silent period during which we do not know of any productions.
1923- Titus is revived at the Old Vic. Titus had not been preformed in London for half a century and had not been been preformed with Shakespeare’s original text since roughly 1670. The director, Robert Atkins, was attempting to produce as many of the First Folio (plus Pericles) plays as possible in an approximated Elizabethan style. The audience laughed at the melodrama of the show.
1924- A group of Yale students performed Titus, without cutting too much of it. They emphasized the horrors of the story, rather than the characters.
1928- Titus is performed in Denver.
1929- Titus is performed at Stratford.
1951- Since this year, there have been countless productions of Titus with a few particularly notable ones.
1951- 1974- There are twenty-three separate productions on four continents with a total of more than four hundred performances.
1951- Kenneth Tynan and Peter Myers present a 30-minute version of Titus at the Irving Theater. They omit the part of Aaron and the show runs for thirty-eight performances.
1953- The Marlowe Society “act the play bravely and violently, and find amidst the brutalities more than one note of beauty and pathos we should be sorry to miss.” A different production is broadcasted later that year on the BBC as a “satirical tragedy”.
1955-1957- The Stratford Memorial Theater presents Peter Brook’s Titus Adronicus. His staging was “powerfully simple” (Richard David). Brook’s production aims to make the characters as real as possible, so that the atrocities they commit are almost identifiable. Brook also tries to make his production beautiful and symbolic rather than horrific and literal. This production was received extremely well, and paved the way for future productions.
“Titus Adronicus is not a favourite play and we do not know that we ever saw it produced before on any stage. Indeed, as published in the best editions of Shakespeare’s works, it would be utterly unfit for presentation, for a more dreadful catalogue of horrors and atrocities than it consists of would be impossible to conceive…. The Titus Adronicus produced under Mr. Aldrigde’s direction is a wholly different affair; the deflowerment of Lavinia, cutting out her tongue, chopping off her hands, and the numerous decapitations and gross language which occur in the original are totally omitted and a play not only presentable but actually attractive is the result. Aaron is elevated into a noble and lofty character. Tamora, the Queen of Scythia, is a chaste though decidedly strong-minded female, and her connection with the Moor appears to be of a legitimate description; her sons Chiron and Demetrius are dutiful children, obeying the behests of their mother…. Thus altered, Mr. Aldridge’s conception of the part of Aaron is excellent-- gentle and impassioned by turns; now burning with jealousy as he doubts the honor of the Queen; anon, fierce with rage as he reflects upon the wrong which have been done him-- the murder of Alarbus and the abduction of her son; and then all tenderness and emotion in the gentle passages with his infant.”
-The Era, 1857
1861-1922- Titus again goes through another silent period during which we do not know of any productions.
1923- Titus is revived at the Old Vic. Titus had not been preformed in London for half a century and had not been been preformed with Shakespeare’s original text since roughly 1670. The director, Robert Atkins, was attempting to produce as many of the First Folio (plus Pericles) plays as possible in an approximated Elizabethan style. The audience laughed at the melodrama of the show.
1924- A group of Yale students performed Titus, without cutting too much of it. They emphasized the horrors of the story, rather than the characters.
1928- Titus is performed in Denver.
1929- Titus is performed at Stratford.
1951- Since this year, there have been countless productions of Titus with a few particularly notable ones.
1951- 1974- There are twenty-three separate productions on four continents with a total of more than four hundred performances.
1951- Kenneth Tynan and Peter Myers present a 30-minute version of Titus at the Irving Theater. They omit the part of Aaron and the show runs for thirty-eight performances.
1953- The Marlowe Society “act the play bravely and violently, and find amidst the brutalities more than one note of beauty and pathos we should be sorry to miss.” A different production is broadcasted later that year on the BBC as a “satirical tragedy”.
1955-1957- The Stratford Memorial Theater presents Peter Brook’s Titus Adronicus. His staging was “powerfully simple” (Richard David). Brook’s production aims to make the characters as real as possible, so that the atrocities they commit are almost identifiable. Brook also tries to make his production beautiful and symbolic rather than horrific and literal. This production was received extremely well, and paved the way for future productions.
1967- Gerald Freeman directs a production for Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare Festival. Like Brook, Papp’s production deals with the horrors in a more representational manner. However, Papp is interested in showing his audiences with poetic visual images because he feels that shocking the imagination is the best way to convey the message of Titus.
1999- Julie Taymor directs a movie version of Titus that further pushes the story into public consciousness. She makes the film garishly violent and highlights characters and character development, thus building upon the foundation laid by both Brook and Papp.