Written ca. 1588-93, Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s first tragedy, recounts an epic melodrama of political intrigue and corruption in ancient Rome that unleashes a cycle of savage inhumanity, unrelenting violence, and bloody vengeance among its triumphant and defeated rulers, soldiers, and their families. It’s an increasingly horrific and gruesome view of unchecked power and brutality that still shocks and continues to resonate today, as seen in Red Bull Theater’s current production of the story, adapted by Patrick Page (who stars in the titular role) and now playing a limited Off-Broadway engagement at Pershing Square Signature Center. Anthony Michael Lopez, Anthony Michael Martinez, Patrick Page, and Zack Lopez Roa. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Titus Andronicus, the victorious Roman general and head of a noble family, returns from his war campaign against the Goths with their Queen Tamora, her three sons, and her lover Aaron the Moor taken prisoner, and, in keeping with Roman ritual, sacrifices Alarbus, the oldest of her sons, in retribution for the deaths of his own in battle. That fatal act incites the fury of Tamora, soon wed to the Roman Emperor Saturninus (assuming the throne of his late father over his brother Bassianus – shortly stabbed to death by her son Demetrius), who wreaks revenge on Titus with the aid of Aaron and her progeny, having his sons killed or banished, and his daughter Lavinia (betrothed to Bassianus) raped and mutilated by hers. The unthinkable savagery continues to escalate, with Titus slaughtering Tamora’s sons, baking them into a pie, and serving it to their mother and her husband at a banquet, before killing her, too. Titus, who also stabbed Lavinia to death to put an end to her shame, is then killed by Saturninus; he, in turn, is killed by Titus’s son Lucius, who had been banished, survives, takes his place as the new Emperor, condemns the unrepentant Aaron to be buried alive, and has Tamora’s body thrown out to be eaten by the birds. Here, as in The Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2025 re-envisioning of the play, the character of Marcus, Roman Tribune of the People and brother of Titus Andronicus, has been changed to Marcia, his sister, who is a politician not a soldier, provides important information about the characters and the situations in her speeches, and is the voice of reason, concern, and nurturing, unlike the others who are cut-throat, murderous, and vengeful. And as with the RSC production, the story is set in ancient Rome, the language is authentically Shakespearean, and the artistic design is of the post-modern era, imparting a pan-temporal significance to the theme. Under the direction of Red Bull’s Founder and Producing Artistic Director Jesse Berger – and as is frequently the case with this most horrendous of Shakespeare’s tragedies (which has the highest body count of all his works, with a total of fourteen victims, followed by King Lear with ten and Hamlet with nine) – this adaptation of the gory show is punctuated with bits of comical behavior and laughable characterizations, in an attempt to alleviate the emotional impact of the flagrant cruelty on the audience (and at the performance I attended, it did generate laughs from some). In one scene, Tamora’s sons (Chiron and Demetrius, played respectively by Jesse Aaronson and Adam Langdon), manipulated by the mastermind Aaron (a deviously plotting McKinley Belcher III, who ultimately delivers his famed remorseless confession, “Ay, that I had not done a thousand more” of his heinous deeds) to attack Lavinia (Olivia Reis), are seen doing push-ups and looking at a centerfold, as would be more expected of males their ages than murder. And Saturninus (portrayed by Matthew Amendt) is ridiculously egomaniacal and often completely ludicrous, in his over-the-top facial expressions, movements, comments, and vocal inflections (voice and speech coaching by Dawn-Elin Fraser), with the intention of highlighting the absurdity of his position of power and his unworthiness as Emperor. McKinley Belcher III and Francesca Faridany. Photo by Carol Rosegg. Patrick Page’s signature basso profundo voice and commanding stage presence are well-suited to the eponymous lead role, his drive to avenge the murders and dismemberment of his loved ones with more of the same, his unexpected outburst of laughter when he had “not another tear to shed,” and his duplicitous invitation to Tamora and Saturninus to feast on the meat of her dead sons in the pies he serves. Francesca Faridany as Queen Tamora shows the anguish of her capture, the passion of her affair with Aaron, her fury at Titus’s killing of her son Alarbus in retribution, and her sickened disgust at having unknowingly eaten the other two. But Enid Graham as Marcia, though supportive of the Andronici, is more even-tempered and thoughtful than the rest, comforting Lavinia after the assault, teaching her tongueless niece how to communicate by writing with a pen in her mouth, and delivering the closing address to the audience, to “judge what cause had Titus to revenge.” Rounding out the large cast are Howard W. Overshown as Bassianus, Zack Lopez Roa and Anthony Michael Martinez as Titus’s sons Quintus and Mutius, and Blair Baker as Tamora’s oldest son Alarbus – respectively doubling in the other supporting roles of Marcia’s three sons Publius, Caius, and Valetine, and the high-ranking official Aemelia – and Amy Jo Jackson as the nurse to the royal household, who pays a high price for her knowledge of Tamora’s baby, clearly not fathered by her husband Saturninus but by her paramour Aaron the Moor, whose Black identity is addressed by him and others at points throughout the play and who implores Lucius to spare the infant’s life. The company also appears as the ensemble of unnamed Romans, Goths, soldiers, tribunes, patricians, and plebians that populate the story, move around the stage, walk through the aisles, and appear in the upper-level boxes of the theater. Anthony Michael Martinez, Zack Lopez Roa, Howard W. Overshown, Blair Baker, Enid Graham, Anthony Michael Lopez, Matthew Amendt, Patrick Page, and Francesca Faridany . Photo by Carol Rosegg. To reinforce the temporal universality of Shakespeare’s theme, the set (by Beowulf Boritt) consists of monumental white columns that recall ancient architecture but are sleek and bare post-modern versions, as are the minimalist dining table and chairs, and scenes flooded with unnatural purple or green lighting, or hung with pendant vertical neon tubes in a rainbow of colors (lighting by Jiyoun Chang), to create a futuristic sensibility. Costumes (by Emily Rebholz, with wigs and make-up by Tommy Kurzman), of military uniforms, prisoners’ garb, dresses, and the glittering suits of the Emperor, are likewise indicative of our later millennium, but with a clear indication of his imperial status in the golden Roman-style crown he wears. An unsettling soundscape (sound by Shannon Slaton and composer Adam Wernick) contributes to the atmosphere of ever-present danger and violence, with many of the fatal stabbings performed in full view of the audience, and some of the brutal attacks enacted off-stage, behind columns, or in an opening beneath the floor (with Rick Sordelet serving as fight director and intimacy coordinator), though the ravaged characters reappear, their blood is omnipresent, and their severed heads and hands are carried in plastic bags (props by Anya Kutner), to heighten the shock value of the atrocities that fuel the story. Whether presented as a full-out tragedy of antiquity or with touches of dark humor in our own time, as it is by Red Bull, Titus Andronicus conveys Shakespeare’s universal reminder of the merciless inhumanity of humankind and the never-ending cycle of socio-political violence and vengeance throughout history, and, most likely, into the future. That’s nothing to laugh about, but to think about and to do our best to change. Running Time: Approximately two hours and 5 minutes, including an intermission. Titus Andronicus plays through Sunday, April 19, 2026, at Red Bull Theater, performing at Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42nd Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $49-129, including fees), go online, or find discount tickets at TodayTix. ...read more read less