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The Globe's Titus Andronicus in cinemas from March 26

William Houston as Titus. Photo credit: Simon Kane.

THE fifth season of Shakespeare’s Globe On Screen continues with one of the darkest and most seminal productions in the Globe’s history, Titus Andronicus, which will be screened in cinemas across the UK from Thursday, March 26, 2015.

Tickets to experience captivating theatre from the London home of Shakespeare are now on sale at www.onscreen.shakespearesglobe.com/.

This production revisited Lucy Bailey’s spectacular Globe production of 2006 and caused a stir throughout the UK media with staged violence so realistic that throughout its run the play saw audience members fainting in the stalls. The 2015 cinema release, the first Globe On Screen film to receive a 15 certification, will have audiences on the edges of their seats from start to grisly end.

Returning to Rome from a war against the Goths, the general Titus Andronicus brings with him the queen Tamora and her three sons as prisoners of war. Titus’ sacrifice of Tamora’s eldest son to appease the ghosts of his dead sons, and his decision to refuse to accept the title of emperor, initiates a terrible cycle of mutilation, rape and murder. And all the while, at the centre of the nightmare, there moves the villainous, self-delighting Aaron.

Shakespeare’s grisly early tragedy oscillates between pitch-black comedy, terrible violence and moments of the most profound human suffering. Grotesquely violent and daringly experimental, Titus was the smash hit of Shakespeare’s early career, and is written with a ghoulish energy he was never to repeat elsewhere.

The creative team – director Lucy Bailey, designer William Dudley and composer Django Bates – are renowned for their radically inventive approaches and collective fondness for blood and gore.

The cast for Titus Andronicus includes William Houston as Titus, Game of Thrones actress Indira Varma as Tamora, Obi Abili as Aaron, Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Lavinia, Matthew Needham as Saturninus and Ian Gelder as Marcus Andronicus.

Completing the cast are Steffan Donnelly, Dyfan Dwyfor, Samuel Edward-Cook, Paul Ham, Nicholas Karimi, Jake Mann, Brian Martin, Bryonie Pritchard, David Shaw-Parker and Jamie Wilkes.

Titus Andronicus Gallery

Read more about the 2015 Globe On Screen Season or visit www.youtube.com/ to watch the trailer. And to go behind the scenes of Titus Andronicus visit www.youtube.com/.