“WHEN WILL THIS FEARFUL SLUMBER HAVE AN END?” REPRESENTATIONAL CHOICES IN SHAKESPEARE'S TITUS ANDRONICUS ON TELEVISION AND FILM

Resumo

The article aims to discern the interpretative conceptions that underlie two filmic versions of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Jane Howell's 1985 production for the BBC Shakespeare television series is compared with Julie Taymor's 1999 feature film entitled Titus. Drawing on the concept of a “performance text” as postulated by Marco De Marinis, and also the term “scenography” employed by Dennis Kennedy to define the visual field of representation in theatrical performance, the two films are analysed as texts in their own right in an effort to eschew notions of “inherent” meaning in Shakespeare's writing. The chequered performance history of Titus Andronicus points to the representational challenges that its violent and visually disturbing content poses to directors, and the productions analysed here remain the two most prominent filmic versions of an arguably undervalued play. Comparisons are drawn between popular Elizabethan entertainments and the role of violence in twentieth-century society, indicating the theme of cyclical violence that is foregrounded by both directors. Some of the specific exigencies of televised Shakespeare are considered in opposition to those of the cinematic medium. Possible complications involved in translating Shakespeare from stage to screen are also discussed alongside an evaluation of the efforts made by the two directors to compensate for resultant performative losses. The now famous interpolation by Howell of positioning the boy character Young Lucius as a mediator between film and audience– appropriated and developed by Taymor–is assessed in terms of both its thematic implications and its potential to counteract the limitations of filmed Shakespeare.