Titus Andronicus

William Collins Books and Decca Records are proud to present ARGO Classics, a historic catalogue of classic prose and verse read by some of the world’s most renowned voices. Originally released as vinyl records, these expertly remastered stories are now available to download for the first time.

‘Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.’

A story of hatred and revenge, Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare’s most bloody revenge tragedy.

The Roman general Titus Andronicus returns from war with four prisoners who vow to take revenge against him. They rape and mutilate Titus' daughter and have his sons killed and banished. Titus kills two of them and cooks them into a pie, which he serves to their mother before killing her too. The Roman emperor kills Titus, and Titus' last remaining son kills the emperor and takes his place.

All of the Shakespeare plays within the ARGO Classics catalogue are performed by the Marlowe Dramatic Society and Professional Players. The Marlowe was founded in 1907 with a mission to focus on effective delivery of verse, respect the integrity of texts, and rescue neglected plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and the less performed plays of Shakespeare himself. The Marlowe has performed annually at Cambridge Arts Theatre since its opening in 1936 and continues to produce some of the finest actors of their generations.

Thurston Dart, Professor of Music at London University and a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge, directed the music for this production.

The full cast includes: Dennis Arundell; John Tydeman; William Devlin; Tony Church; Frank Duncan; Gordon Gardner; Richard Marquand; Roger Clissold; Jean England; Bob Jones; Roger Croucher; David Rowe-Beddoe; Anthony Jacobs; Peter Orr; Peter Woodthorpe; David King, Philip Strick, George Rylands; Jill Balcon; Susan Maryott; Barbara Lott.