Among Shakespeare's plays, TITUS ANDRONICUS has inspired far less love than many--it lacks the real depth of his greatest work--a good production can make use of the delightfully melodramatic story and the genuinely affecting moments within. Jane Howell envisions the play straightforwardly, directing it with sufficient flair to overcome the longeurs. Trevor Peacock is a good, weatherbeaten Titus and Hugh Quarshie a devious--yet human--Aaron; Eileen Atkins as Tamora gets a bit hammy.

not all of the acting is great (tamora, lucius) but the actors who play Titus and Aaron are absolutely fantastic and the staging is very bold. so far its the only one of the BBC shakespeares I've seen, and i'm hardly a shakespeare scholar or anything so i can't say how it measures up to the rest. titus andronicus is one of my favorite of his plays though, and i dug the shit out of this adaptation. oh, and it has the usual drawbacks of any made for tv movie.