C venues - C nova
31 July - 17 August
12.15
1 hour 45 minutes

Follow us on Twitter - @TitusDTP
Like us on Facebook - www.facebook.com/TitusDTP
Like us and buy tickets on the Ed Fringe site.

Check out our preview shows!

17th July - Dame Alice Owens School
Titus Andronicus is a play with 14 killings, 9 on stage, 6 severed members, one rape, one live burial, one case of insanity and one of cannibalism. With an average of 5.2 atrocities per act or one every 97 lines, this gruesome play, set against the backdrop of post-communist Russia, will re-imagined as a living, breathing, bleeding graphic novel... This production transforms one of Shakespeare's classics into a gritty, modern and exciting experience and brings the story of Titus Andronicus to life, asking the question: how far will you go for revenge?

Sunday 4 August 2013

FIRST REVIEW - Three Weeks

Bloody, shocking, and gut wrenchingly tense at times, Deadly Theatre Productions have got Shakespeare’s most gruesome play just right. This strong cast thrives in scenes of death and mutilation which have proven difficult for lesser groups to execute on stage. Rachel Jones plays a sexy, cunning and manipulative Tomora, set on getting revenge on Titus for the execution of her son; while Ben Blackburn captures perfectly the fallen hero Titus, who is in turn driven by revenge. Stand out performances also included those from Guido Caraciuti as Aaron, Alex Pett as Demetrius and Jamie Coles as Chiron who provide some comic relief in this dark play. Projected backdrops aside, the updated setting of post-communist Russia is a bit lost in the production; however it doesn’t detract much from an excellent performance. 


- See more at: http://www.threeweeks.co.uk/article/ed2013-theatre-review-titus-andronicus-deadly-theatre-productions/#sthash.cO93dIMo.ell3z78E.dpuf

Thursday 25 July 2013

Jamie/Chiron Shaves his head

In a desperate bid to raise money for the show, Jamie took the brave (and rather stupid) decision to let members of the audience at our first preview shave his beautiful, flowing locks. During the shaving Jamie's hairstyles ranged from mad professor to Princess Leia. But it was all worth it in the end as Jamie raised a rather impressive total of £252.11.

Well done Jamie!

(although we do miss the locks a little)










 


The TITANS! - Karan Gill

Karan Gill - 'Current, but without the t'
I'm Karan (said like current but without the t), I'm 19 years old and studying Natural Sciences at UCL. I studied drama at GCSE but after stuck to the sciences and it was only once I started university that I decided to give drama another shot. I got into Dan's production of 'The Usual Suspects' playing Todd Hockney and I made some of the best memories of my year during that run. With another two shows under my belt, I feel ready to tackle Edinburgh for the first time and look forward to having a total blast whilst doing so.

Monday 15 July 2013

Silent Auction!

With our first preview taking place in three days at Dame Alice Owens School we thought we'd give you all a sneak peak at the amazing sports memorabilia we're going to be auctioning off! If you're a football fan you do not want to miss the chance to win some of these items as they really are great! Happy bidding!

David Beckham signed montage

Lionel Messi signed montage

1966 England shirt signed by Sir Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters

Saturday 13 July 2013

Kickstarter - FUNDED! (and flyer sneak peek)

      After 36 days of excitement, anxiety (and only a little bit of crying), the Titus Andronicus Kickstarter page reached the target of £3000 pounds with only a few hours to spare. We cannot thank all of our backers enough, we are genuinely touched by the amount of you that have come out to support us. You will all be receiving an email very shortly asking about how you would like your much deserved prizes to be sent to you. Thank you again to all you wonderful people, it really is a dream come true.

   In other news our posters and flyers at long last are finally finished! The flyer has been particularly challenging due to the design we are going for (why would we make things easy for ourselves? There's clearly no fun in that!). The flyer takes the shape of a mini-graphic novel, with a particularly bloody scene from Titus playing out in comic book form between the leaves of the flyer. We are now awaiting the blessing of Cvenues, once received (fingers crossed) we can begin to distribute them until you are all sick of the sight of them.

    The creative genius and technical wiz that is Jordan Nichols deserves all the praise and thanks for what is an incredible flyer design. Much love from all the cast and crew.

    Here is a sneak peek at the back of the flyer - Titus having a rather bad day.....



Monday 8 July 2013

Rehearsal Photos!

A selection of photos from todays rehearsal...


Story time with Marcus

Lavinia - rather upset

Titus and Lucius - Father and son moments

Titus and Lavinia - Tender

Dan Garber - Directings



Saturday 6 July 2013

The TITANS! - Howard Horner (Lucius)

Making other men's facial hair seem inadequate
 since 1991... Howard Horner.
I'm Howard, I'm 21, I study English at UCL and I have a beard. I started acting pretty much as soon as I realized it would allow me to dress up, wear make-up, and be the center of attention. Since then I have appeared in many plays, both in University and in the big bad world outside, with roles ranging from King Lear through Margaret Thatcher and all the way to Soldier Number 3. However, despite the years of experience, this will be my first journey to the Edinburgh Fringe, so be nice. I first worked with Dan (or should that be Deadly Theatre Productions?) on Reservoir Dogs in 2011, where I played Mr. Orange, a character who essentially gets shot throughout the duration of the play. I am eternally grateful that this time, Dan has given me a role where I get to do the shooting. Joy.

Friday 21 June 2013

All Quiet on the Titus Front...

Apologies for the rather quiet blog in the last week and a half or so... We've been busy working away at some of the less exciting parts of taking a show up to Edinburgh, rehearsal schedules, travel and insurance to name a few...

Anyway, onto some more exciting developments. Our graphic novel flyers, telling the story of a particularly gruesome scene in the play, are currently being sketched out by our in house animator and all round artistic genius Jordan Nichols. We will be able to share those with you within the next week or so. Get ready for lots of black and white, with eye-catching splashes of red blood.

Just to save you from some of the extreme anxiety you are all no doubt feeling in anticipation of the flyer, here is a peek at the (very very very) rough photoshoot used to map out the panels for Jordan.



Thursday 6 June 2013

On the Subject of Swearing...

      Considering the evidence shown below and the somewhat stressful situation show in the video in the previous post (all our own fault of course), I'm pretty impressed we only swore twice.

Especially with our foul mouthed director on the loose....



Hmm doesn't really bode well for future interviews.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

The Story so Far!

So, the story so far... In the manic past couple of weeks (lots of) mistakes have been made and even more lessons have been learnt. Our first outing to the Fringe has certainly thrown up some interesting surprises. Firstly, offering a lot of piece of mind is the booking of accommodation, which, was more straightforward (yet very much more expensive!), than first thought . Deposit has been paid, so thats its come rain or shine, DTP will be in Edinburgh this summer.

The absolute joy of writing a press release was next in the agenda, its surprising how difficult it is to write about a show you've been working on constantly on... for six months. Nevertheless, the press release was submitted on time, much to the relief of the hard-up production team...

Speaking of which, as with any start up theatre company, funds and backing are the constant headache with ideas of how to convince people to give us their hard-earned cash at the forefront of everyone's minds. In light of this, a Kickstarter page was more than necessary. Over four days we wrote, filmed and edited a promo video for this page. The plan for the video went from a very structured, pretty serious, corporate, Apprentice-esque one to a much more.... interesting one shall we say. The intense, gripping storyline will keep you hooked throughout the more wordy interviews and hopefully convince you to hand over some sweet cash for some even sweeter prizes.

As soon as the page is approved by the Kickstarter hierarchy the link to the page and video will be posted everywhere. So STAY POSTED!

Hopefully this time around we will not be reduced to this babbling state:





I think we did pretty well there only swearing twice...?

Sunday 2 June 2013

Music!

Todd Garber shall be composing the music for the production once again, featuring tracks from the original run plus some new additions it is certainly going to be one of the highlights of the production! Stay tuned for some taster tracks in the near future...

Thursday 30 May 2013

Welcome to the team Ben!

What perfect timing! Fringe program is launched and we complete our cast! We're delighted to welcome Ben Purkiss in the role of Quintus!

Wednesday 22 May 2013

It may be late but here is the review of the original Shoreditch run

Review: Titus Andronicus by Robyn Strachan

5 stars

The Rag Factory is a strange, seedy little venue. Tucked in a side street just off Brick Lane, its entrance masked by a dusty curtain, it doesn’t look suitable to host an illegal rave, never mind a theatrical production. However, ultimately none of that mattered as the UCL Drama Society’s production of Titus Andronicus was magnificent. A sparse, stripped-back affair, Titus proved that, for a production to be a triumph, all that is needed is the right choice of play and some superb acting talent. Daniel Garber, Scarlett Young, Lily Fisher and the entirety of the cast should be immensely proud of what they have achieved.
The flyers handed out on the way in promised ‘a living, breathing, bleeding graphic novel’, which was reflected in both the stage set-up and elements of the direction. Whilst a gimmicky approach tends to distract from a production of Shakespeare, the use of cleverly stylised animated panels meant that the graphic treatment complimented, not overwhelmed. The Society utilised the limited space at the venue very well; although scenery and lighting was minimal, this allowed both the acting and Shakespeare’s wonderful language to dominate.
Titus Andronicus is a strange beast which does not slot neatly into the Shakespearian canon. An attempt to tap into the revenge tragedy genre so beloved by his contemporaries, it matches extreme and often brutal violence with elevated language and a predominant sense of moral ambiguity. This production was successful partially because of its treatment of violence. By forcing stylised, Tarantino-esque atrocities into tension with harrowing realism, the violence never felt gratuitous. For instance, Lavinia’s horrific rape and mutilation was excellently realised by the sublime Avy Tennison. It worked as a scene due to its mixed elements of naturalism and stylisation, allowing for the human tragedy to become forcefully apparent whilst avoiding voyeurism. By contrast, the climax of the play was pure comic-book abstraction and revelled in the grotesque – wholly appropriate in the context of this most violent of plays! Whilst the pronounced levels of violence throughout served to contextualise the world in which the play was set, it was an inspired decision to minimalize the levels of gore in the play. This allowed the isolated gory moments to shock due to their visceral nature.
Due to the (thankfully) less racist environment of twenty-first century Britain when compared to Elizabethan times, the casting of Aaron the Moor was always going to be a thorny issue. Guido Cavaciuti seems the inspired choice for this role. Lurching around the stage and luxuriating in his own sleazy callousness, he brought life and depth to a character many have dismissed as a mere prototype for Shakespeare’s more complex Iago. To succeed, Aaron must be evil without motivation – the Machiavel, the demi-devil – but retain energy and verve. Cavaciuti deserves praise for not allowing his role to descend to pantomime villainy and for his compelling, very physical performance. Similarly, Rach Jones brought both aristocratic coldness and a bloodthirsty savagery to her role as Tamora. As the arch-manipulator in the play, Tamora is reliant on her ability to charm and deceive. Jones has the uncanny ability to imbue her part with a lovely, eerie stillness which gives the impression that Tamora is thinking, biding her time. This is especially noteable when held in contrast with the raw eroticism displayed in her scene with Aaron.
However, this play belongs to Titus and by default to Ben Blackburn. He handled the part of the vengeful, tragic father with maturity and dynamism, and delivered his complex lines with clarity. What was particularly striking is that Blackburn’s acting taps so much into the tradition of great Shakespearian actors – it is measured, bold and focuses on vocal delivery as much as physical presence – and avoids naturalism. This seems essential for a role as iconic and as difficult as Titus Andronicus and Blackburn should be commended for this. Kenneth Branagh should watch out!
In the end, the quality of the acting and direction of Titus Andronicus was such that the failings of its venue could be ignored. Curtain concealing the cast behind the stage falling down, to reveal people in full costume blinking at the audience? Didn’t matter. Audience straining to see past the first row of chairs when the action moved to the floor? Irrelevant. The thumps and cheers of what can safely be assumed to be a children’s birthday party from the room next door? Who cares! This was a marvellous production, and one which is ultimately compelling not because of its extreme violence, but because of its intelligence. The cast hope to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which seems the next logical step for something which is this strong. But ultimately, my opinion is irrelevant - to quote from Titus, ‘But, soft! methinks I do digress too much’! Head down to Shoreditch and see the play for yourself. Just watch out for the pasties.
5 Stars​

Monday 20 May 2013

Tom Sanders returns!!!

In a dramatic turn of events Tom Sanders rejoins the cast! Following a critically acclaimed performance in Titus at the Rag Factory, Tom will be taking the role of Chiron. The whole team are delighted to have him back!

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Programme!!

Here we are! At last...

https://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/titus-andronicus-1


Its never too early to start booking tickets....

NEW BLOG UP AND RUNNING!

We'll be updating this as much as possible with production and rehearsal process...

Stay TUNED!