Titus the Clownicus
August 22, 2007
By Jeff Favre
It takes a lot of guts, creativity, and plenty of big foam noses to turn Shakespeare’s most violent play into a family-friendly comedy. But Angela Berliner and the Actors’ Gang have done so with this 50-minute adaptation of Titus Andronicus. Berliner’s script is easy for children to follow while including many jokes meant for adults. The cast and director-percussionist Justin Zsebe expertly mix clown-style physical comedy with solid storytelling theatre to create a funny and thoughtful performance.
Berliner strips the story to its essence, retaining only the major characters and crucial plot points. In her world, where everyone is dressed in oversized shoes and wacky wigs, Titus (Ethan Kogan) is a hero of the red-nosed clowns who have defeated Tamora Clown (Melanie Lewis) and the green-nosed clowns. Tamora Clown is to wed the red-nosed emperor Sillyninus (George Ketsios), but she swears revenge on Titus and his red-nosed family, including daughter Laughinia (Emilia Herman). Tamora Clown is aided by her sons, Cheeron (Seth Compton) and Dummytrius (Dillon Bush), as well as her lover, Aaron the Bore (R.J. Jones). Things get messy with water balloons, flying rubber chickens, and a slow-motion pie fight that replaces mass murder.
Kogan, as Titus, serves as the head clown. With a boisterous line delivery and an ability to nail a corny joke, he provides the foundation for the production. Herman’s Laughinia is equally funny, in particular when she can speak only Spanish after eating peanut butter (in Shakespeare’s version, the character’s tongue is cut off). The cast includes a few school-age members from the Gang’s educational outreach program, including Jorge Manuel, who during the production is “forced” to perform an advertisement for the company’s current production of Gulliver’s Travels.
Zsebe is able to convey a somewhat complex series of events in a style that is easy to follow. And his cast never overacts, never goes for laughs by sacrificing content. The costumes, by Ann Closs-Farley, are a key to the production’s success. The red-nosed-clown outfits include yellow raincoats and what appear to be red-checked tablecloths, while the green-nosed clowns are wearing suits of what look like black garbage bags. The contrast helps to easily identify the families — as well as simply being enjoyable.
Who knew Titus could be so funny? Apparently the Actors’ Gang did.
Presented by the Actors’ Gang at Media Park,
9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City.
Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m. Aug. 11-Sep. 2.
(310) 838-4264. www.theactorsgang.com.
Take a look at the LA Times review of the Actors’ Gang production of “Titus Clownicus” I costumed currently playing at “Media Park” in Culver City.
WITH THE KIDS
A lot of pies, no lopped-off hands in Actors’ Gang’s ‘Titus the Clownicus’
In the kid-friendly adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, violence begets violence, but nobody gets seriously hurt.
Just desserts
(Ken Hively / LAT)
HOW to turn Shakespeare’s goriest play into a family romp? The Actors’ Gang approach: Throw in rubber chickens, water balloons and clowns.
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Shakespeare’s vengeful epic “Titus Andronicus” is truly nasty, with mass murder, mutilation, cannibalism and blood galore. The Actors’ Gang, the edgy, well-regarded small theater company co-founded by actor Tim Robbins, has reimagined the tale as “Titus the Clownicus,” defanging it with comedy and a moral: Violence — even if it comes as a pie in the face — begets violence.
The show runs weekend mornings in free outdoor performances through Sept. 9 in Media Park in Culver City, adjacent to the company’s home base at the Ivy Substation.
In the original, conquering Roman general Titus returns home with the defeated queen of the Goths and her sons in tow. The older son is killed at Titus’ order, and then Titus’ daughter Lavinia is assaulted by Queen Tamora’s surviving sons, who cut out her tongue and lop off her hands for good measure. Ick. And that’s just for starters.
The Gang’s commedia dell’arte version, loosely adapted by playwright Angela Berliner, pits Titus’ Red Nose clowns against the Queen’s Green Nose clowns.
“The first challenge was in not making it terrifying for families,” yet still delivering the moral of the tale, said director Justin Zsebe, who also recorded a comic pastiche of pop songs as a score for the show.
Costume designer Ann Closs-Farley and set designer François-Pierre Couture contributed found-object visual humor, enhancing the feel of a troupe of ragtag traveling players — portrayed by adult professionals, plus three students from the company’s education program for grade school through high school (and a few key puppets). They perform on a small stage resembling a cutout of the Ivy Substation behind them.
“Once we found the ‘in’ into the play, making it a clown show,” Berliner said, “it almost wrote itself. Instead of violence and hands being lopped off and killings, you have pie fights or water balloon fights.”
HERE, for instance Titus’ daughter, “Laughinia,” fares markedly better: In a Punch-and-Judy-style burlesque, she’s pelted with water balloons and fed peanut butter — causing her to speak only Spanish — and her hands are stuck in one of those little woven Chinese finger traps.
“Adults who happen to know the play will pick up on the references,” Zsebe said. “A lot of them we fly through with a line reference or a staging reference” — such as the suspicious birth of the Queen’s “no-nose” baby — “and then keep it going.”
Two clown-nosed pies stand in for the play’s cannibalistic feast. The scene comes with a disclaimer referring to a certain ubiquitous fairy tale. The gentle reminder of a theme common to such childhood fare is meant to deflect any parental dismay.
“I thought that baking the sons into pies would be a problem,” Berliner said, “but then I remembered ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ and I didn’t think I needed to cut that out.”
The gooey, slapstick end to this clown war, delivered with “a sort of Actors’ Gang-style timeliness,” Berliner said, points up how “the ridiculous and irrational fear of the other can breed a cycle of violence.”
This is the company’s second unlikely Shakespearean family outing. Last year, “Pericles” (incest, violence, prostitution) became “Pericles on the High Seas,” a G-rated vaudeville also written by Berliner. She’s already plotting next year’s romp — based on “King Lear.”
lynne.heffley@latimes.com
‘Titus the Clownicus’
Where: Media Park,
9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City
When: 11 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Ends: Sept. 9
Price: Free
Running time: 45 minutes
Contact: (310) 838-4264, www.theactorsgang.com
