At Baltimore Theatre Project through October 10th, Motte & Bailey prod. continues their ongoing exploration of Shakespearean musical mashups that pair classic works from the Bard's canon with selection from a playlist of Rock's greatest hits. The fourth in a tetralogy of such inventive, original pairings, this latest edition from the mad-science mind of director Hannah Fogler combines Shakespeare's goriest, gruesomest play—the wild ride that is Titus Andronicus—with music from the "Bat out of Hell" albums of Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman.
The result promises "a high-octane, gothic rock revenge finale that will leave you shocked, awed, and possibly more than a little bloody." And they aren't messing around with that last bit, even offering a VIP Splash Zone experience to sit in the pit and get splattered. Or, as the company thrillingly puts it, anyone "with enough moxie to withstand the in-your-face campy horror up close can sit in the first few rows and experience the shredding guitars, operatic drama, and dark comedy while also getting drenched in blood in their complimentary white t-shirt: a "wearable canvas for the copious amount of stage blood guaranteed to fly." Just as Shakespeare intended, honestly.
For it should be noted that in formulating his play from accounts of Roman history, Shakespeare also drew liberally from one of the goriest and gruesomest of classical tragedies, Seneca's brutal play Thyestes, that recounts the grim tale of the cursed House of Atreus, and features a father forced to consume a pie made from his own slaughtered offspring. An inspiration for a generation of violent, blood-soaked revenge tragedies that dominated Shakespearean stages (also a source for Hamlet, for instance), Titus Andronicus includes all manner of violence—emotional, physical, psychic, and more—on its relentless march through mayhem.
To complement this, the "Bat out of Hell" albums were themselves derived from, or inspired by, theatrical-musical hybrids:L Jim Steinman was originally moved to match the music of Meat Loaf with source material from a Rock version of Peter Pan, the musical Neverland. So in many ways, Fogler and company are continuing a long and storied tradition.
Which you can hear more about in our conversation, and see onstage at Baltimore Theatre Project. More information is online here: https://theatreproject.org/
