A Shakespeare Commentary Written by Heiner Müller Directed by Michael Gow With John Bell as Titus Andronicus Give me a staff of honor for mine age,
But not a sceptre to control the world. In a powerful new co-production, Bell Shakespeare and Queensland Theatre Company present Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome: A Shakespeare Commentary , a reworking of Shakespeare’s bloodiest play Titus Andronicus by German playwright Heiner Müller. Award-winning director Michael Gow directs John Bell in the lead role of Titus. Set in Rome in the aftermath of a war between the Romans and the Goths, celebrated military lead Titus returns victorious with the Goth queen in chains. But he returns to a battlefield of another kind – the ruthless, decadent and corrupt Roman court that threatens the future of the city he fought to protect. A tale of grim, grinding brutality with vengeance at its heart, this is a sharply political work that speaks as much of our world today as it does of Ancient Rome. As Titus moves from triumph to tragedy through the shattering consequences of revenge, the message of the futility of war is resounding. Director Michael Gow says: “Heiner Müller uses another writer’s world to comment on his own. He takes Shakespeare’s early, blood-soaked tragedy and comments on it with his own poetry to reflect on the violence of imperial power. “His searingly provocative examination of the nature of violence in our modern world will resonate profoundly with a 21st Century audience.” Heiner Müller started as a protégé of Bertolt Brecht and evolved into one of the great innovative poets of the 20th century, writing texts for the stage that seem to defy the limitations of theatre. Shortly before he died in 1995, he was appointed artistic director of Berliner Ensemble, Brecht's former company. | 
