title: Til Schweiger

text: Onscreen, Schweiger first appeared as an actor in 1989 in the TV series "Lindenstraße". His first film role came in 1991 with "Manta, Manta". Additional TV and film roles followed, including "Der bewegte Mann" ("Maybe, Maybe Not"), "Männerpension" ("Jailbirds"), "Das Mädchen Rosemarie" ("A Girl Called Rosemary"), "Bastard" ("Bandyta"), "Der große Bagarozy" ("The Devil and Ms. D."), "Was tun, wenn's brennt" ("What to Do in Case of Fire?"), "Les Daltons vs. Lucky Luke", "The Red Baron", "Wo ist Fred" ("Where is Fred?"), "Phantomschmerz" ("Phantom Pain"), "Männerherzen" ("Men in the City"), and others.


title: Til Schweiger

text: Schweiger has also appeared as a supporting actor in American films, including "Already Dead", "King Arthur", "In Enemy Hands", "Magicians", "", "Driven", "SLC Punk!", "Investigating Sex", "Joe and Max", "The Replacement Killers" and "New Year's Eve". He wore a Nazi uniform for the first time in his career for his role in "Inglourious Basterds" but, as Quentin Tarantino revealed, "only because his character was killing Nazis."


title: Til Schweiger

text: Schweiger then appeared in the US productions "The Courier" with Mickey Rourke, "This Means War" (2012), with Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon and more recently in 2013 as Darko in "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman" with Shia LaBeouf among others. He also made an appearance in 2014's "Muppets Most Wanted". His latest big screen appearance was in David Leitch's "Atomic Blonde".


title: Til Schweiger

text: Schweiger married American model Dana Carlsen on 19 June 1995. They have four children: Valentin Florian Schweiger (born 1995), Luna Marie Schweiger (born 1997), Lilli Camille Schweiger (born 1998), and Emma Tiger Schweiger (born 2002). Schweiger and Carlsen separated in 2005 and were divorced in 2014.


title: Til Schweiger

text: Schweiger lives in Mallorca, Spain, and his neighbour is German former cyclist Jan Ullrich. In August 2018, Ullrich was arrested for allegedly breaking onto Schweiger's property and threatening him.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Mrinalini Vikram Sarabhai (11 May 1918 – 21 January 2016) was an Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. She was the founder and director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry, in the city of Ahmedabad. She received Padma Bhushan in 1992 and Padma Shri in 1965. She also received many other citations in recognition of her contribution to art.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Mrinalini was born to a Tamil Brahmin father and Malayali Nair mother in present-day Kerala on 11 May 1918. Her parents were Subbarama Swaminathan, a distinguished lawyer with degrees from Harvard and London Universities, practised criminal law at Madras High Court, and A.V. Ammukutty, better known as Ammu Swaminathan, a social worker, an independence activist, and later a parliamentarian. She attended a boarding school in Switzerland for two years, where, she received her first lessons in the Dalcroze school, a Western technique of dance movements. She was educated at Shantiniketan under the guidance of Rabindranath Tagore where she realised her true calling. She then went for a short time to the United States where she enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. On returning to India, she began her training in the south Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam under Meenakshisundaram Pillai and the classical dance-drama of Kathakali under the legendary Guru Thakazhi Kunchu Kurup.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Mrinalini married the Indian physicist Vikram Sarabhai who is considered to be the Father of the Indian Space Program in 1942. She has a son, Kartikeya and a daughter Mallika who too went on to attain fame in dance and theatre. Mrinalini founded Darpana in Ahmedabad in 1948. A year later, she performed at the Théâtre national de Chaillot in Paris.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Mrinalini and Vikram had a troubled marriage. According to biographer Amrita Shah, Vikram Sarabhai had a void in his personal life he sought to fill by dedicating himself to applying science for social good.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Besides choreographing more than three hundred dance dramas, she has also written many novels, poetry, plays and stories for children. She was the chairperson of the Gujarat State Handicrafts and Handloom Development Corporation Ltd. She was also one of the trustees of the Sarvodaya International Trust, an organisation for promotion of Gandhian ideals, and was also the chairperson of the Nehru Foundation for Development (NFD). Her autobiography is titled "Mrinalini Sarabhai: The Voice of the Heart".


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Her father, Subbarama Swaminathan was a barrister at the Madras High Court and principal of the Madras Law College. Her mother was Ammu Swaminathan. Her elder sister Lakshmi Sehgal was the commander-in-chief of Subhas Chandra Bose's 'Rani of Jhansi Regiment' of the Indian National Army ( Azad Hind Fauj). Her elder brother, Govind Swaminathan, was a barrister who practised in Madras as a specialist in constitutional and criminal law apart from civil law and company law; he was the attorney general for Madras State (now Tamil Nadu).


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Mrinalini Sarabhai has been awarded by the Indian government with the national civilian awards Padma Bhushan in 1992 and the Padma Shri in 1965. She was honoured with the Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa (LittD) by the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK in 1997. She was also the first Indian to receive the medal and Diploma of the French association Archives Internationales de la Danse. She was nominated to the Executive Committee of the International Dance Council, Paris in 1990 and awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, New Delhi in 1994. She was presented with a gold medal by the Mexican Government for her choreography for the Ballet Folklorico of Mexico.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: The Darpana Academy of Performing Arts celebrated its golden jubilee on 28 December 1998, with the announcement of the annual "Mrinalini Sarabhai Award for Classical Excellence", in the field of classical dance.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: "Mrinalini Sarabhai: The Artist and Her Art", a documentary film based on her life released in 2012. It was directed by Yadavan Chandran and produced by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: She was the first recipient of the Nishagandhi Puraskaram, an annual award of the Government of Kerala. The award was presented in 2013. She was awarded the Dhirubhai Thakar Savyasachi Saraswat Award in 2014.


title: Mrinalini Sarabhai

text: Regina Cassandra portrayed her in Sony LIV's series Rocket Boys based on the life of Vikram Sarabhai and Homi J. Bhabha.


title: Song structure

text: Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and the 12-bar blues. Popular music songs traditionally use the same music for each verse or stanza of lyrics (as opposed to songs that are "through-composed"—an approach used in classical music art songs). Pop and traditional forms can be used even with songs that have structural differences in melodies. The most common format in modern popular music is introduction (intro), verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, and chorus. In rock music styles, notably heavy metal music, there is usually one or more guitar solos in the song, often found after the middle chorus part. In pop music, there may be a guitar solo, or a solo performed with another instrument such as a synthesizer or a saxophone.


title: Song structure

text: The foundation of popular music is the "verse" and "chorus" structure. Some writers use a simple "verse, hook, verse, hook, bridge, hook" method. Pop and rock songs nearly always have both a verse and a chorus. The primary difference between the two is that when the music of the verse returns, it is almost always given a new set of lyrics, whereas the chorus usually retains the same set of lyrics every time its music appears." Both are essential elements, with the verse usually played first (exceptions include "She Loves You" by The Beatles, an early example in the rock music genre). Each verse usually employs the same melody (possibly with some slight modifications), while the lyrics usually change for each verse. The chorus (or "refrain") usually consists of a melodic and lyrical phrase that repeats. Pop songs may have an introduction and coda ("tag"), but these elements are not essential to the identity of most songs. Pop songs often connect the verse and chorus via a pre-chorus, with a bridge section usually appearing after the second chorus.


title: Song structure

text: The verse and chorus are usually repeated throughout a song, while the intro, bridge, and coda (also called an "outro") are usually only used once. Some pop songs may have a solo section, particularly in rock or blues-influenced pop. During the solo section, one or more instruments play a melodic line which may be the melody used by the singer, or, in blues or jazz improvised.


title: Song structure

text: Verse–chorus form consists of two main sections – a verse and chorus – that often contrast melodically, rhythmically, harmonically dynamically. Songs in verse–chorus form may also include introductory, transitional and concluding sections.


title: Song structure

text: The introduction is a unique section that comes at the beginning of the piece. Generally speaking, an introduction contains just music and no words. It usually builds up suspense for the listener so when the downbeat drops in, it creates a pleasing sense of release. The intro also creates the atmosphere of the song. As such, the rhythm section typically plays in the "feel" of the song that follows. For example, for a blues shuffle, a band starts playing a shuffle rhythm. In some songs, the intro is one or more bars of the tonic chord (the "home" key of the song). With songs, another role of the intro is to give the singer the key of the song. For this reason, even if an intro includes chords other than the tonic, it generally ends with a cadence, either on the tonic or dominant chord.


title: Song structure

text: The introduction may also be based around the chords used in the verse, chorus, or bridge, or a stock "turnaround" progression may be played, such as the I–vi–ii–V progression (particularly in jazz influenced pop songs). More rarely, the introduction may begin by suggesting or implying another key. For example, a song in C Major might begin with an introduction in G Major, which makes the listener think that the song will eventually be in G Major. A cliche used to indicate to the listener that this G Major section is in fact the dominant chord of another key area is to add the dominant seventh, which in this case would shift the harmony to a G chord. In some cases, an introduction contains only drums or percussion parts that set the rhythm and "groove" for the song. Alternately the introduction may consist of a solo section sung by the lead singer (or a group of backup singers), or a riff played by an instrumentalist.


title: Song structure

text: The most straightforward, and least risky way to write an introduction is to use a section from the song. This contains melodic themes from the song, chords from one of the song's sections, and the beat and style of the song. However, not all songs have an intro of this type. Some songs have an intro that does not use any of the material from the song that is to follow. With this type of intro, the goal is to create interest in the listener and make them unsure of what will happen. This type of intro could consist of a series of loud, accented chords, punctuated by cymbal, with a bassline beginning near the end, to act as a pitch reference point for the singer. The intro also sets the story too.


title: Song structure

text: In popular music, a verse roughly corresponds to a poetic "stanza" because it consists of rhyming lyrics most often with an AABB or ABAB rhyme scheme. When two or more sections of the song have almost identical music but different lyrics, each section is considered one verse.


title: Song structure

text: Musically, "the verse is to be understood as a unit that prolongs the tonic...The musical structure of the verse nearly always recurs at least once with a different set of lyrics." The tonic or "home key" chord of a song can be prolonged in a number of ways. Pop and rock songs often use chords closely related to the tonic, such as iii or vi, to prolong the tonic. In the key of C Major, the iii chord would be E Minor and the vi chord would be A Minor. These chords are considered closely related to the tonic because they share chord tones. For example, the chord E Minor includes the notes E and G, both of which are part of the C Major triad. Similarly, the chord A Minor includes the notes C and E, both part of the C Major triad.


title: Song structure

text: Lyrically, "the verse contains the details of the song: the story, the events, images and emotions that the writer wishes to express...Each verse will have different lyrics from the others." "A verse exists primarily to support the chorus or refrain...both musically and lyrically." A verse of a song, is a repeated sung melody where the words change from use to use (though not necessarily a great deal).


title: Song structure

text: An optional section that may occur after the verse is the pre-chorus. Also known as a "build", "channel", or "transitional bridge", the pre-chorus functions to connect the verse to the chorus with intermediary material, typically using subdominant (usually built on the IV chord or ii chord, which in the key of C Major would be an F Major or D minor chord) or similar transitional harmonies. "Often, a two-phrase verse containing basic chords is followed by a passage, often harmonically probing, that leads to the full chorus." Often, when verse and chorus use the same harmonic structure, the pre-chorus introduces a new harmonic pattern or harmony that prepares the verse chords to transition into the chorus.


title: Song structure

text: For example, if a song is set in C Major, and the songwriter aims to get to a chorus that focuses on the dominant chord (G Major) being tonicized (treated like a "home key" for a short period), a chord progression could be used for the pre-chorus that gets the listener ready to hear the chorus' chord (G Major) as an arrival key. One widely used way to accomplish this is to precede the G Major chord with its own ii–V chords. In the key given, ii of G Major would be an A minor chord. V of G Major would be D. As such, with the example song, this could be done by having a pre-chorus that consists of one bar of A minor and one bar of D. This would allow the listener to expect a resolution from ii–V to I, which in this case is the temporary tonic of G Major. The chord A minor would not be unusual to the listener, as it is a shared chord that exists in both G Major and C Major. A minor is the ii chord in G Major, and it is the vi chord in C Major. The chord that would alert the listener that a change was taking place is the D chord. There is no D chord in C Major. A listener experienced with popular and traditional music would hear this as a secondary dominant. Harmonic theorists and arrangers would call it V/V or "five of five", as the D chord is the dominant (or fifth) chord of G Major.


title: Song structure

text: The terms "chorus" and "refrain" are often used interchangeably, both referring to a recurring part of a song. When a distinction is made, the chorus is the part that contains the hook or the "main idea" of a song's lyrics and music, and there is rarely variation from one repetition of the chorus to the next. A refrain is a repetitive phrase or phrases that serve the function of a chorus lyrically, but are not in a separate section or long enough to be a chorus. For example, refrains are found in the Beatles' "She Loves You" ("yeah, yeah, yeah"), AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long", Paul Simon's "The Sound of Silence", and "Deck the Halls" ("fa la la la la").


title: Song structure

text: The chorus or refrain is the element of the song that repeats at least once both musically and lyrically. It is always of greater musical and emotional intensity than the verse. "The chorus, which gets its name from a usual thickening of texture from the addition of backing vocals, is always a discrete section that nearly always prolongs the tonic and carries an unvaried poetic text." In terms of narrative, the chorus conveys the main message or theme of the song. Normally the most memorable element of the song for listeners, the chorus usually contains the hook.


title: Song structure

text: An optional section that may occur after the chorus is the post-chorus (or postchorus). The term can be used generically for any section that comes after a chorus, but more often refers to a section that has similar character to the chorus, but is distinguishable in close analysis. The concept of a post-chorus has been particularly popularized and analyzed by music theorist Asaf Peres, who is followed in this section.


title: Song structure

text: Characterizations of post-chorus vary, but are broadly classed into simply a second chorus (in Peres's terms, a "detached postchorus") or an extension of the chorus (in Peres's terms, an "attached postchorus"). Some restrict "post-chorus" to only cases where it is an extension of a chorus (attached postchorus), and do not consider the second part of two-part choruses (detached postchorus) as being a "post"-chorus.


title: Song structure

text: As with distinguishing the pre-chorus from a verse, it can be difficult to distinguish the post-chorus from the chorus. In some cases they appear separately – for example, the post-chorus only appears after the second and third chorus, but not the first – and thus are clearly distinguishable. In other cases they always appear together, and thus a "chorus + post-chorus" can be considered a subdivision of the overall chorus, rather than an independent section.


title: Song structure

text: Characterization of a post-chorus varies, beyond "comes immediately after the chorus"; Peres characterizes it by two conditions: it maintains or increases sonic energy, otherwise it's a bridge or verse; and contains a melodic hook (vocal or instrumental), otherwise it's a transition.


title: Song structure

text: Lyrics of attached post-choruses typically repeat the hook/refrain from the chorus, with little additional content, often using vocables like "ah" or "oh". Examples include:


title: Song structure

text: Hybrids are also common (Peres: "hybrid postchorus"), where the post-chorus keeps the hook from the chorus (like an attached postchorus), but introduces some additional content (hook or melody, like a detached postchorus.


title: Song structure

text: A bridge may be a "transition", but in popular music, it more often is "...a section that contrasts with the verse...[,] usually ends on the dominant...[,] [and] often culminates in a strong re-transitional." "The bridge is a device that is used to break up the repetitive pattern of the song and keep the listener's attention...In a bridge, the pattern of the words and music change." For example, John Denver's "Country Roads" is a song with a bridge while Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a song without one.


title: Song structure

text: In music theory, "middle eight" (a common type of bridge) refers to a section of a song with a significantly different melody and lyrics, which helps the song develop itself in a natural way by creating a contrast to the previously played, usually placed after the second chorus in a song.


title: Song structure

text: By adding a powerful upbeat middle eight, musicians can then end the song with a hook in the end chorus and finale.


title: Song structure

text: The conclusion or (in popular-music terminology) outro of a song is a way of finishing or completing the song. It signals to the listeners that the song is nearing its close. The reason for having an outro is that if a song just ended at the last bar of a section, such as on the last verse or the last chorus, this might feel too abrupt for listeners. By using an outro, the songwriter signals that the song is, in fact, nearing its end. This gives the listeners a good sense of closure. For DJs, the outro is a signal that they need to be ready to mix in their next song.


title: Song structure

text: In general, songwriters and arrangers do not introduce any new melodies or riffs in the outro. However, a melody or riff used throughout the song may be re-used as part of an outro. Generally, the outro is a section where the energy of the song, broadly defined, dissipates. For example, many songs end with a fade-out, in which the song gets quieter and quieter. In many songs, the band does a ritardando during the outro, a process of gradually slowing down the tempo. Both the fade-out and the ritardando are ways of decreasing the intensity of a song and signalling that it is nearing its conclusion.


title: Song structure

text: For an outro that fades out, the arranger or songwriter typically repeats a short section of the music over and over. This can be the chorus, for example. An audio engineer then uses the fader on the mixing board to gradually decrease the volume of the recording. When a tribute band plays a cover song that, in the recorded version ends with a fade-out, the live band may imitate that by playing progressively quieter.


title: Song structure

text: Another way many pop and rock songs end is with a tag. There are two types of tags: the instrumental tag and the instrumental/vocal tag. With an instrumental tag, the vocalist no longer sings, and the band's rhythm section takes over the music to finish off the song. A tag is often a vamp of a few chords that the band repeats. In a jazz song, this could be a standard turnaround, such as I–vi–ii–V or a stock progression, such as ii–V. If the tag includes the tonic chord, such as a vamp on I–IV, the bandleader typically cues the last time that the penultimate chord (a IV chord in this case) is played, leading to an ending on the I chord. If the tag does not include the tonic chord, such as with a ii–V tag, the bandleader cues the band to do a cadence that resolves onto the tonic (I) chord. With an instrumental and vocal tag, the band and vocalist typically repeat a section of the song, such as the chorus, to give emphasis to its message. In some cases, the vocalist may use only a few words from the chorus or even one word. Some bands have the guitar player do a guitar solo during the outro, but it is not the focus of the section; instead, it is more to add interesting improvisation. A guitar solo during an outro is typically mixed lower than a mid-song guitar solo. All songs have a outro and also use a fade out and fade in technique called segue and that’s how segue comes into play. Examples that use this outro with a fade out as your conclusion or outro would be Stereo World or Descend By Feeder and also I’m Not Ashamed by Newsboys also has this technique of using the fade out as a outro for your conclusion. Some songs don’t use fade out some songs use a end like Hanson If Only and other songs will have both end and fade out combine both of them together as your outro like NSYNC I Want You Back and also Tearin Up My Heart are use these technique. Some songs use both fade out and fade in to accomplish a segue. The songs Chump, Longview, Falling For You, Pink Triangle, Shade, and Swim are examples that use this technique. This comes in handy for composing a studio album.


title: Song structure

text: An elision is a section of music where different sections overlap one another, usually for a short period. It is mostly used in fast-paced music, and it is designed to create tension and drama. Songwriters use elision to keep the song from losing its energy during cadences, the points at which the music comes to rest on, typically on a tonic or dominant chord. If a song has a section that ends with a cadence on the tonic, if the songwriter gives this cadence a full bar, with the chord held as a whole note, this makes the listener feel like the music is stopping. However, if songwriters use an elided cadence, they can bring the section to a cadence on the tonic, and then, immediately after this cadence, begin a new section of music which overlaps with the cadence. Another form of elision would, in a chorus later in the song, to interject musical elements from the bridge.


title: Song structure

text: A solo is a section designed to showcase an instrumentalist (e.g. a guitarist or a harmonica player) or less commonly, more than one instrumentalist (e.g., a trumpeter and a sax player). Guitar solos are common in rock music, particularly heavy metal and in the blues. The solo section may take place over the chords from the verse, chorus, or bridge, or over a standard solo backing progression, such as the 12-bar blues progression. In some pop songs, the solo performer plays the same melodies that were performed by the lead singer, often with flourishes and embellishments, such as riffs, scale runs, and arpeggios. In blues- or jazz-influenced pop songs, the solo performers may improvise a solo.


title: Song structure

text: An "ad lib" section of a song (usually in the coda or outro) occurs when the main lead vocal or a second lead vocal breaks away from the already established lyric and/or melody to add melodic interest and intensity to the end of the song. Often, the ad lib repeats the previously sung line using variations on phrasing, melodic shape, and/or lyric, but the vocalist may also use entirely new lyrics or a lyric from an earlier section of the song. During an ad lib section, the rhythm may become freer (with the rhythm section following the vocalist), or the rhythm section may stop entirely, giving the vocalist the freedom to use whichever tempo sounds right. During live performances, singers sometimes include ad libs not originally in the song, such as making a reference to the town of the audience or customizing the lyrics to the current events of the era.


title: Song structure

text: There is a distinction between ad lib as a song section and ad lib as a general term. Ad lib as a general term can be applied to any free interpretation of the musical material.


title: Song structure

text: Thirty-two-bar form uses four sections, most often eight measures long each (4×8=32), two verses or A sections, a contrasting B section (the bridge or "middle-eight") and a return of the verse in one last A section (AABA). The B section is often intended as a contrast to the A sections that precede and follow it. The B section may be made to contrast by putting it in a new harmony. For example, with the jazz standard "I've Got Rhythm", the A sections are all tonic prolongations based around the I–vi–ii–V chord progression (B in the standard key); however, the B section changes key and moves to V/vi, or D in the standard key, which then does a circle of fifths movement to G, C and finally F, setting the listener up for a return to the tonic Bb in the final A section.


title: Song structure

text: The "I've Got Rhythm" example also provides contrast because the harmonic rhythm changes in the B section. Whereas the A sections contain a vibrant, exciting feel of two chord changes per bar (e.g., the first two bars are often B–g minor/c minor–F), the B section consists of two bars of D, two bars of G, two bars of C and two bars of F. In some songs, the "feel" also changes in the B section. For example, the A sections may be in swing feel, and the B section may be in Latin or Afro-Cuban feel.


title: Song structure

text: While the form is often described as AABA, this does not mean that the A sections are all exactly the same. The first A section ends by going back to the next A section, and the second A section ends and transitions into the B section. As such, at the minimum, the composer or arranger often modifies the harmony of the end of the different A sections to guide the listener through the key changes. As well, the composer or arranger may re-harmonize the melody on one or more of the A sections, to provide variety. Note that with a reharmonization, the melody does not usually change; only the chords played by the accompaniment musicians change.


title: Song structure

text: Verse-chorus form or ABA form may be combined with AABA form, in compound AABA forms. That means that every A section or B section can consist of more than one section (for example Verse-Chorus). In that way the modern popular song structure can be viewed as a AABA form, where the B is the bridge.


title: Song structure

text: AAA format may be found in Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'", and songs like "The House of the Rising Sun", and "Clementine". Also "Old MacDonald", "Amazing Grace", "The Thrill Is Gone", and Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the "Edmund Fitzgerald"".


title: Song structure

text: AABA may be found in Crystal Gayle's "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are", and The Beatles' "Yesterday".


title: Song structure

text: ABA (verse/chorus or chorus/verse) format may be found in Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (chorus first) and The Rolling Stones's "Honky Tonk Woman" (verse first).


title: Song structure

text: ABAB may be found in AC/DC's "Back in Black", Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville", The Archies's "Sugar, Sugar", and The Eagles's "Hotel California".


title: Song structure

text: ABABCB format may be found in John Cougar Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good", Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It?", and ZZ Top's "Sharp Dressed Man". Variations include Smokey Robinson's "My Guy", The Beatles's "Ticket to Ride", The Pretenders' "Back on the Chain Gang" (ABABCAB), Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (ABABCBAB), and Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (ABABCABCAB).


title: Austin Reaves

text: Austin Tyler Reaves (born May 29, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers and the Oklahoma Sooners.


title: Austin Reaves

text: Reaves attended Cedar Ridge High School in Newark, Arkansas. He won back-to-back Class 2A state titles in his first two years. Reaves scored 73 points in a triple-overtime win over Forrest City High School. As a senior, he averaged 32.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, leading his team to a Class 3A state title. Reaves was named MVP of the state tournament after averaging 43.3 points through four games. He was a two-time Class 3A All-State selection. On January 20, 2016, he committed to playing college basketball for Wichita State over offers from South Dakota State and Arkansas State.


title: Austin Reaves

text: Entering his freshman season at Wichita State, Reaves underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He had been playing through the injury since his junior year of high school. As a freshman, he averaged 4.1 points per game in a reserve role. After the season, Reaves underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, which had dislocated three times during his college career, causing him to miss games. On January 28, 2018, he posted a sophomore season-high 23 points and four assists in a 90–71 win over Tulsa. Reaves made seven three-pointers in the first half, the most in a half in program history. As a sophomore, he averaged 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds per game, shooting 42.5 percent from three-point range.


title: Austin Reaves

text: After his sophomore season, Reaves transferred to Oklahoma and sat out the following season due to NCAA transfer rules. During his redshirt year, he weight trained and gained 20 lbs (9.1 kg). On March 7, 2020, Reaves recorded a career-high 41 points, six assists and five rebounds in a 78–76 win over TCU. He led a 19-point second-half comeback and made the game-winning shot with 0.5 seconds remaining. As a redshirt junior, Reaves averaged 14.7 points, 5.3 rebounds and three assists per game and was named to the Big 12 All-Newcomer Team. On December 6, he posted a senior season-high 32 points, nine assists and six rebounds in an 82–78 win against TCU. In the second round of the NCAA tournament, Reaves scored 27 points in an 87–71 loss to top-seeded Gonzaga. As a senior, he averaged 18.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, earning First Team All-Big 12 honors. On March 31, Reaves declared for the 2021 NBA draft, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.


title: Austin Reaves

text: After going undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft, Reaves signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on August 3, 2021. On September 27, he was signed to a standard NBA contract. On October 22, Reaves made his NBA debut, scoring eight points off the bench in a 115–105 loss to the Phoenix Suns. On December 15, he scored 15 points, on 5-of-6 shooting from three, grabbed 7 rebounds, and hit a game-winning 3-pointer in a 107–104 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.


title: Austin Reaves

text: During the Lakers' season finale on April 10, 2022, in a 146–141 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets, Reaves notched the first triple-double of his career, and put up career highs in points, rebounds, and assists, with 31 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists.


title: Austin Reaves

text: Reaves is the son of Nicole Wilkett and Brian Reaves. Both of his parents played college basketball for Arkansas State. His mother averaged 21.3 points per game and earned all-conference honors as a senior, while his father tied for third in program history with 384 career assists. Reaves' brother, Spencer, played college basketball for North Greenville and Central Missouri before embarking on a professional career. Reaves credits his brother for sparking his interest in basketball.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: Mysterious Skin is a 2004 coming-of-age film written and directed by Gregg Araki, adapted from Scott Heim's 1995 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who both experienced sexual abuse as children, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), while the other (Brady Corbet) retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: "Mysterious Skin" premiered at the 61st Venice International Film Festival in September 2004, although it was not more widely distributed until May 2005 without a rating. It grossed $2.1 million at the box office and received critical acclaim. Psychologists have praised "Mysterious Skin" for its accurate depiction of the long-term effects of child sex abuse.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: Two eight-year-old Little League teammates, Neil McCormick and Brian Lackey, both experience life-altering events during the summer of 1981 in Hutchinson, Kansas. Neil, the son of an irresponsible single mother and already discovering his own homosexuality, is sexually abused by the Little League coach, who leaves town after that summer. Brian, whose parents are often neglectful or busy working, only remembers that it started to rain during a game. The next thing he remembers is being in the crawl space of his house with a bloody nose, having no memory of the intervening five hours.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: Neil views the coach's abuse as love, and develops an attraction to older men. He begins working as a hustler at the age of 15, and continues doing so three years later when he moves to New York City, where his best friend, Wendy Peterson, now lives. In New York, Neil has an emotional encounter with a client, Zeke, who is dying from AIDS and (instead of sex) only wants to feel another person's touch. Afterward, Neil begins withdrawing from sex work and takes a job at a sandwich shop with assistance and encouragement from Wendy.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: Brian suffers from chronic nosebleeds, blackouts, and bedwetting for years after coming to in the crawl space. He also has recurring dreams about being touched by a strange, bluish hand, which eventually lead Brian to suspect he may have been abducted by aliens. Another boy wearing the same Little League uniform begins to appear in these dreams later on. At 18, Brian meets a woman named Avalyn Friesen, who also believes she was abducted by aliens. They start to form a friendship, but when she makes sexual advances toward him, he panics and refuses to speak to her again.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: Brian sees a photo of his Little League team as he tries to untangle his confused memories, recognizing a young Neil as the other boy from his dreams. Meanwhile, after a client brutally rapes and beats him, Neil returns to Hutchinson to spend Christmas with his mother. There, Neil and Brian meet for the first time in over a decade. After breaking into the house that was previously rented by the Little League coach, Neil tells Brian what happened that night: the coach offered to drive Brian home with Neil after a baseball game was rained out, as Brian did not have a ride. Instead, they all went to the coach's house, where the coach performed sex acts on the boys and made them perform sex acts on each other. At one point, Brian collapsed face-first onto the floor, giving him a bloody nose, while a porch light caused the atmosphere to have an eerie blue color. Having finally learned the truth, Brian breaks down crying and is comforted by Neil as Christmas carolers sing “Silent Night".


title: Mysterious Skin

text: Both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michelle Trachtenberg, by the time the film went into production, were looking for independent films where making money was not the main goal. Trachtenberg was filming "EuroTrip" (2004) in Prague when she first received the script, and quickly decided to join production. Gordon-Levitt was especially praiseful of Araki for allowing him to join production, and commented in a 2005 interview: "It is a really different role for me, and I'll always be really grateful to Gregg for believing that I could do a role like this. I've played the nice kid, and the smart one or funny one and even the angry one, but Gregg was the first one to call me sexy, and I'll always be really grateful for that." Araki approached Gordon-Levitt, who was by then struggling to find work for over a year, after seeing him in "Manic" (2001). Made on a low budget, filming commenced in August 2003 and lasted only three weeks, which gave the cast and crew no possibility of doing retakes.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: A number of measures were taken to avoid exposing the child actors to the sexual and abusive aspects of the story. Although their parents were given the entire shooting script to review, the boys were given separate scripts which included only the activities they would be performing, and their roles and the characters' relationships were explained to them in innocent terms. All of the sexual abuse involving children is implied rather than being directly depicted, and the scenes in which this seduction and abuse takes place were filmed with each actor performing alone and addressing the camera rather than the other actor, then edited together, so the children did not see or hear the performance by the adult actor playing the abuser.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: "Mysterious Skin" received an 86% "Certified Fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 109 reviews with an average rating of 7.40/10. The site's consensus states: "Bold performances and sensitive, spot-on direction make watching this difficult tale of trauma and abuse a thought-provoking, resonant experience." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the film has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 32 reviews.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: Lou Lumenick from the "New York Post" commented, "Not for the squeamish, but it is a beautifully crafted and thoughtful film that genuinely provokes." Ella Taylor from LA Weekly wrote “A warped, but beautiful and strangely hopeful, coming-of-age tale.” Roger Ebert gave "Mysterious Skin" 3.5 out of a possible 4 stars, describing it as "at once the most harrowing and, strangely, the most touching film I have seen about child abuse." Steven Rhea of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars, stating that "Mysterious Skin" ultimately "manages to deal with its raw, awful subject matter in ways that are both challenging and illuminating." Gordon-Levitt was praised by critics for his performance, and the actor has stated that people on the streets had come up to him to applaud his performance in the film. His portrayal of a teenage hustler inspired director Scott Frank to cast him in "The Lookout" (2007).


title: Mysterious Skin

text: According to psychologist Richard Gartner, the novel "Mysterious Skin" is an uncommonly accurate portrayal of the long-term effect of child sexual abuse on boys.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: The US MPAA rated the film NC-17, which the studio appealed unsuccessfully. The film was released theatrically in the US without a rating.


title: Mysterious Skin

text: "Mysterious Skin" was the subject of some controversy in Australia, where the Australian Family Association requested a review of its classification, seeking to have the film outlawed due to its depiction of pedophilia. They suggested that the film could be used by pedophiles for sexual gratification or to help them groom children for sexual abuse. The six-member Classification Review Board voted four-to-two in favour of maintaining an R18+ rating. The controversy is referenced in a review excerpt from "The Sydney Morning Herald" on the Region 4 DVD that reads: "How anyone could have wanted it banned is beyond me"; film critic Margaret Pomeranz expressed that the film does more for the case against pedophilia, stating: "People who do indulge in crimes like that, if they saw this film they would understand the damage that they do."


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: FC Barcelona Bàsquet (English: FC Barcelona Basketball), commonly referred to as FC Barcelona () and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional basketball club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a part of the FC Barcelona multi sports club, and was founded on 24 August 1926, which makes it the oldest club in the Liga ACB. The club, which competes in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, is one of the most successful basketball clubs domestically as well as internationally. Two times European champions, Barça completed a triple crown in 2003 by winning the season's league, cup and EuroLeague. Their home arena is the Palau Blaugrana, which was opened on 23 October 1971. They share the facilities with the roller hockey, futsal, and handball teams of the club.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: Some of the well-known players that have played with the team included Pau Gasol, Rony Seikaly, Marc Gasol, Anderson Varejão, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jaka Lakovič, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Dejan Bodiroga, Gianluca Basile, Ricky Rubio, Juan Antonio San Epifanio, Saša Đorđević, and Tony Massenburg.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: FC Barcelona also has a reserve team, called FC Barcelona Bàsquet B, that plays in the Spanish 2nd-tier LEB Oro.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: Founded on 24 August 1926, the club entered its first competition in 1927, playing in the "Campionat de Catalunya de Basquetbol" (Catalan Basketball Championship). During these early years, basketball in Catalonia was dominated by clubs such as "CE Europa", "Laietà BC" and "Société Patrie" (later "CB Atlètic Gràcia") and it was not until the 1940s that FC Barcelona became established as a basketball team. During this decade they won six "Copas del Generalísimo de Baloncesto" and were runners-up once. In 1956 they were founding members of the Liga Española de Baloncesto and finished as runners-up. In 1959 they won Spanish basketball's first-ever league and cup double.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: The 1960s and 1970s saw the team in decline. In 1961 the club president Enric Llaudet dissolved the team in spite of its popularity. However, in 1962, the club was reformed after a campaign by the fans. In 1964 the league's "Primera División" was cut from fourteen teams to eight and the club found themselves in the "Segunda División" after not finishing between the two first qualified teams in the relegation playoffs. However they quickly returned to the top division after being crowned "Segunda" champions in 1965. During the 1970s the club was persistently overshadowed by its rivals Real Madrid and Joventut.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: In the 1980s club president Josep Lluís Núñez gave the team his full support with the aim of making the club the best in Spain and Europe. His support produced results and during the decade inspired by their coach Aíto García Reneses and players like Juan Antonio San Epifanio (better known as Epi), Andrés Jiménez, Sibilio, Audie Norris and Solozábal, the club won six Spanish championships, five Spanish cups, two European Cup Winners' Cups, the Korać Cup and the World Championship. However the European Cup remained elusive, ending as runners-up in 1984.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: The club built on this success during the 1990s, winning a further four Spanish championships and two Spanish cups. They were still unable to win the European Cup despite playing in a further four finals in 1990, 1991, 1996 and 1997. They also made a record six EuroLeague Final Four appearances. The star player during this era was Juan Antonio San Epifanio.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: Their persistence eventually paid off and in 2003, inspired by Dejan Bodiroga, Gregor Fučka, Šarūnas Jasikevičius and Juan Carlos Navarro, they won the EuroLeague, beating Benetton Treviso 76–65 in front of a packed Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. They repeated the feat in 2010, defeating Olympiacos by a wide 86–68 in Paris, and that October, they made further history when they beat the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers – including Kobe Bryant and FCB Bàsquet alumnus and Barcelona native Pau Gasol – 92–88 at the Palau Sant Jordi as part of the 2010 NBA Europe Live Tour. The match was also notable for being both a match-up between the reigning NBA and EuroLeague champions and the first time a European team had won against a defending NBA champion. Two FCB Bàsquet players in that game – captain Navarro and point guard Ricky Rubio – either had or went on to play in the NBA.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: In the following years, Barcelona would stay on top of Spanish basketball, playing almost all league and cup finals against rival Real Madrid. From 2012 until 2014, Barcelona managed to reach the Euroleague Final Four. However, it could not reach further than the semifinals. Barcelona won the Spanish Championship in 2014, but the next few seasons became absolute disasters, both in the Euroleague, and the Spanish League. However, the team saw a return to form in the Copa del Rey, which was won in 2018, in 2019 and in 2021 defeating Real Madrid on all three finals. In 2021 the Spanish Championship was won for the 19th time —the first in seven years— and only a narrow defeat against Anadolu Efes in the championship game of the 2021 EuroLeague Final Four prevented the Catalan giants from winning the competition for the third time.


title: FC Barcelona Bàsquet

text: From 2004 until 2007 the club was sponsored by the Winterthur Group, a Swiss insurance company with offices in Barcelona since 1910, which led to the team featuring the birthplace of Joan Gamper, the club's founder, on their shirts. In 2006 the Winterthur Group was taken over by AXA, leading to a change in the club name. In the 2008–09 season, the club's sponsorship changed to Spanish insurer Regal (a division of Liberty Seguros, the Spanish subsidiary of American insurer Liberty Mutual). This sponsorship finished in June 2013.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: Susan Eloise Hinton (born July 22, 1948) is an American writer best known for her young-adult novels (YA) set in Oklahoma, especially "The Outsiders" (1967), which she wrote during high school. Hinton is credited with introducing the YA genre.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: In 1988 she received the inaugural Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her cumulative contribution in writing for teens.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name as the author of "The Outsiders", her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965. The book was inspired by two rival gangs at her school, Will Rogers High School, the Greasers and the Socs, and her desire to empathize with the Greasers by writing from their point of view. She wrote the novel when she was 16 and it was published in 1967. Since then, the book has sold more than 14 million copies. In 2017, Viking Press stated the book sells over 500,000 copies a year.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: Hinton's publisher suggested she use her initials instead of her feminine given names so that the very first male book reviewers would not dismiss the novel because its author was female. After the success of "The Outsiders", Hinton chose to continue writing and publishing using her initials because she did not want to lose what she had made famous and to allow her to keep her private and public lives separate.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: In interviews, Hinton has stated that she is a private person and an introvert who no longer does public appearances. However, she has revealed that she enjoys reading (Jane Austen, Mary Renault, and F. Scott Fitzgerald), taking classes at the local university, and horseback riding. Hinton also stated in an interview with "Vulture.com" that she enjoys writing fan fiction.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: She resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband David Inhofe, a software engineer, after meeting him in her freshman biology class at college.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: Film adaptations of "The Outsiders" (March 1983) and "Rumble Fish" (October 1983) were both directed by Francis Ford Coppola; Hinton co-wrote the script for "Rumble Fish" with Coppola. Also adapted to film were "Tex" (July 1982), directed by Tim Hunter, and "That Was Then... This Is Now" (November 1985), directed by Christopher Cain. Hinton herself acted as a location scout, and she had cameo roles in three of the four films. She plays a nurse in Dallas's hospital room in "The Outsiders". In "Tex", she is the typing teacher. She also appears as a sex worker, propositioning Rusty James in "Rumble Fish". In 2009, Hinton portrayed the school principal in "The Legend of Billy Fail".


title: S. E. Hinton

text: Hinton received the inaugural 1988 Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American YA librarians, citing her first four YA novels, which had been published from 1967 to 1979 and adapted as films from 1982 to 1985. The annual award recognizes one author of books published in the U.S., and specified works "taken to heart by young adults over a period of years, providing an 'authentic voice that continues to illuminate their experiences and emotions, giving insight into their lives'." The librarians noted that in reading Hinton's novels "a young adult may explore the need for independence and simultaneously the need for loyalty and belonging, the need to care for others, and the need to be cared for by them."


title: S. E. Hinton

text: In 1992 she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa by the University of Tulsa, and in 1998 she was inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame at the Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers of Oklahoma State University–Tulsa.


title: S. E. Hinton

text: The five YA novels, her first books published, are Hinton's works most widely held in WorldCat libraries. All are set in Oklahoma.


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Tawny Newsome (born February 24, 1983) is an American musician, comedian, and actress best known for playing Chelsea Leight-Leigh on "Bajillion Dollar Propertie$," co-starring in "Space Force" and the third season of "Brockmire," and co-hosting the podcast "Yo, Is This Racist?". She is also a singer in the band Four Lost Souls. She voices one of the main characters, Beckett Mariner, on "".


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Originally from Vacaville, California, where she grew up on a ranch, Newsome attended DePaul Theatre School in Chicago, where she started her comedy career with Second City.


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Newsome was a backup singer in a touring Talking Heads tribute band. This later led to her being cast in "Documentary Now!" in a similar role.


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Newsome's first major television roles were as Chelsea Leight-Leigh on "Bajillion Dollar Propertie$" and Nina on "The Comedy Get Down".


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Newsome has been a co-host of the podcast "Yo, Is This Racist?" alongside Andrew Ti since 2018. She also appears as a frequent guest on podcasts such as "Comedy Bang! Bang!" and "Spontaneanation with Paul F. Tompkins".


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Newsome is also a musician and is a member of the band Four Lost Souls alongside Jon Langford, Bethany Thomas, and John Szymanski. The group released a debut self-titled album in 2017.


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Newsome was in the main cast of "Brockmire" in its third season. She was also cast in the 2019 ABC pilot "Woman Up". She was cast as a lead voice in the CBS All Access series "".


title: Tawny Newsome

text: Since 2020, Newsome has co-hosted "Star Trek: The Pod Directive," the official "Star Trek" podcast, along with comedian Paul F. Tompkins.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Titus, a general in the Roman army, presents Tamora, Queen of the Goths, as a slave to the new Roman emperor, Saturninus. Saturninus takes her as his wife. From this position, Tamora vows revenge against Titus for killing her son. Titus and his family retaliate.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: "Titus Andronicus" was initially very popular, but by the later 17th century it was not well esteemed. The Victorian era disapproved of it, largely because of its graphic violence. Its reputation began to improve around the middle of the 20th century, but it is still one of Shakespeare's least respected plays.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Shortly after the death of the Roman emperor, his two sons, Saturninus and Bassianus, quarrel over who will succeed him. Their conflict seems set to boil over into violence until a tribune, Marcus Andronicus, announces that the people's choice for the new emperor is Marcus's brother, Titus, who will shortly return to Rome from a victorious ten-year campaign against the Goths. Titus arrives to much fanfare, bearing with him as prisoners Tamora, Queen of the Goths, her three sons Alarbus, Chiron, and Demetrius, and her secret lover, Aaron the Moor. Despite Tamora's desperate pleas, Titus sacrifices her eldest son, Alarbus, to avenge the deaths of twenty-five of his own sons during the war. Distraught, Tamora and her two surviving sons vow to obtain revenge on Titus and his family.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Meanwhile, Titus refuses the offer of the throne, arguing that he is not fit to rule and instead supporting the claim of Saturninus, who then is duly elected. Saturninus tells Titus that for his first act as emperor, he will marry Titus's daughter Lavinia. Titus agrees, although Lavinia is already betrothed to Saturninus's brother, Bassianus, who refuses to give her up. Titus's sons tell Titus that Bassianus is in the right under Roman law, but Titus refuses to listen, accusing them all of treason. A scuffle breaks out, during which Titus kills his own son, Mutius. Saturninus then denounces the Andronici family for their effrontery and shocks Titus by marrying Tamora. Putting into motion her plan for revenge, Tamora advises Saturninus to pardon Bassianus and the Andronici family, which he reluctantly does.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: During a royal hunt the following day, Aaron persuades Demetrius and Chiron to kill Bassianus so that they may rape Lavinia. They do so, throwing Bassianus's body into a pit and dragging Lavinia deep into the forest before violently raping her. To keep her from revealing what has happened, they cut out her tongue and cut off her hands. Meanwhile, Aaron writes a forged letter, which frames Titus's sons Martius and Quintus for the murder of Bassianus. Horrified at the death of his brother, Saturninus arrests Martius and Quintus and sentences them to death.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Some time later, Marcus discovers the mutilated Lavinia and takes her to her father, who is still shocked at the accusations levelled at his sons, and upon seeing Lavinia, he is overcome with grief. Aaron then visits Titus and falsely tells him that Saturninus will spare Martius and Quintus if either Titus, Marcus, or Titus' remaining son, Lucius, cuts off one of their hands and sends it to him. Though Marcus and Lucius are willing, Titus has his own left hand cut off by Aaron and sends it to the emperor. However, a messenger brings back Martius's and Quintus's severed heads, along with Titus's own severed hand. Desperate for revenge, Titus orders Lucius to flee Rome and raise an army among their former enemy, the Goths.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Later, Lavinia writes the names of her attackers in the dirt, using a stick held with her mouth and between her arms. Meanwhile, Aaron is informed that Tamora has secretly given birth to a mixed-race baby, fathered by Aaron, which will draw Saturninus's wrath. Though Tamora wants the baby killed, Aaron kills the nurse to keep the child's race a secret and flees to raise his son among the Goths. Thereafter, Lucius, marching on Rome with an army, captures Aaron and threatens to hang the infant. In order to save the baby, Aaron reveals the entire revenge plot to Lucius.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Back in Rome, Titus's behaviour suggests he might be deranged. Convinced of Titus's madness, Tamora, Demetrius, and Chiron (dressed as the spirits of "Revenge", "Murder", and "Rape", respectively) approach Titus in order to persuade him to have Lucius remove his troops from Rome. Tamora (as "Revenge") tells Titus that she will grant him revenge on all of his enemies if he convinces Lucius to postpone the imminent attack on Rome. Titus agrees and sends Marcus to invite Lucius to a reconciliatory feast. Revenge then offers to invite the Emperor and Tamora as well, and is about to leave when Titus insists that Rape and Murder stay with him. When Tamora is gone, Titus has Chiron and Demetrius restrained, cuts their throats, and drains their blood into a basin held by Lavinia. Titus tells Lavinia that he will "play the cook", grind the bones of Demetrius and Chiron into powder, and bake their heads into two pies.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The next day, during the feast at his house, Titus asks Saturninus if a father should kill his daughter when she has been raped. When Saturninus answers that he should, Titus kills Lavinia and tells Saturninus of the rape. When the Emperor calls for Chiron and Demetrius, Titus reveals that they were baked in the pie Tamora has just been eating. Titus then kills Tamora and is immediately killed by Saturninus, who is subsequently killed by Lucius to avenge his father's death. Lucius is then proclaimed Emperor. He orders that Titus and Lavinia be laid in their family tomb, that Saturninus be given a state burial, that Tamora's body be thrown to the wild beasts outside the city, and that Aaron be hanged. Aaron, however, is unrepentant to the end, regretting only that he did not do more evil in his life. Lucius decides Aaron deserves to be buried chest-deep as punishment and left to die of thirst and starvation, and Aaron is taken away to be punished thus.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The story of "Titus Andronicus" is fictional, not historical, unlike Shakespeare's other Roman plays, "Julius Caesar", "Antony and Cleopatra", and "Coriolanus", all of which are based on real historical events and people (or, in the case of "Coriolanus", presumed to have been at the time). Even the time in which "Titus" is set may not be based on a real historical period. According to the prose version of the play (see below), the events are "set in the time of Theodosius", who ruled from 379 to 395. On the other hand, the general setting appears to be what Clifford Huffman describes as "late-Imperial Christian Rome", possibly during the reign of Justinian I (527–565). Also favouring a later date, Grace Starry West argues, "the Rome of "Titus Andronicus" is Rome after Brutus, after Caesar, and after Ovid. We know it is a later Rome because the emperor is routinely called Caesar; because the characters are constantly alluding to Tarquin, Lucretia, and Brutus, suggesting that they learned about Brutus' new founding of Rome from the same literary sources we do, Livy and Plutarch." Others are less certain of a specific setting, however. For example, Jonathan Bate has pointed out that the play begins with Titus returning from a successful ten-year campaign against the Goths, as if at the height of the Roman Empire, but ends with Goths invading Rome, as if at its death. Similarly, T. J. B. Spencer argues that "the play does not assume a political situation known to Roman history; it is, rather a summary of Roman politics. It is not so much that any particular set of political institutions is assumed in "Titus", but rather that it includes "all" the political institutions that Rome ever had."


title: Titus Andronicus

text: In his efforts to fashion general history into a specific fictional story, Shakespeare may have consulted the "Gesta Romanorum", a well known thirteenth-century collection of tales, legends, myths, and anecdotes written in Latin, which took figures and events from history and spun fictional tales around them. In Shakespeare's lifetime, a writer known for doing likewise was Matteo Bandello, who based his work on that of writers such as Giovanni Boccaccio and Geoffrey Chaucer, and who could have served as an indirect source for Shakespeare. So, too, could the first major English author to write in this style, William Painter, who borrowed from, amongst others, Herodotus, Plutarch, Aulus Gellius, Claudius Aelianus, Livy, Tacitus, Giovanni Battista Giraldi, and Bandello himself.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: However, it is also possible to determine more specific sources for the play. The primary source for the rape and mutilation of Lavinia, as well as Titus' subsequent revenge, is Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (), which is featured in the play itself when Lavinia uses it to help explain to Titus and Marcus what happened to her during the attack. In the sixth book of "Metamorphoses", Ovid tells the story of the rape of Philomela, daughter of Pandion I, King of Athens. Despite ill omens, Philomela's sister, Procne, marries Tereus of Thrace and has a son for him, Itys. After five years in Thrace, Procne yearns to see her sister again, so she persuades Tereus to travel to Athens and accompany Philomela back to Thrace. Tereus does so, but he soon begins to lust after Philomela. When she refuses his advances, he drags her into a forest and rapes her. He then cuts out her tongue to prevent her from telling anyone of the incident and returns to Procne, telling her that Philomela is dead. However, Philomela weaves a tapestry, in which she names Tereus as her assailant, and has it sent to Procne. The sisters meet in the forest and together plot their revenge. They kill Itys and cook his body in a pie, which Procne then serves to Tereus. During the meal, Philomela reveals herself, showing Itys' head to Tereus and telling him what they have done.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: For the scene where Lavinia reveals her rapists by writing in the sand, Shakespeare may have used a story from the first book of "Metamorphoses"; the tale of the rape of Io by Zeus, where, to prevent her from divulging the story, he turns her into a cow. Upon encountering her father, she attempts to tell him who she is but is unable to do so until she thinks to scratch her name in the dirt using her hoof.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Titus's revenge may also have been influenced by Seneca's play "Thyestes", written in the first century AD. In the mythology of Thyestes, which is the basis for Seneca's play, Thyestes, son of Pelops, King of Pisa, who, along with his brother Atreus, was exiled by Pelops for the murder of their half-brother, Chrysippus. They take up refuge in Mycenae and soon ascend to co-inhabit the throne. However, each becomes jealous of the other, and Thyestes tricks Atreus into electing him as the sole king. Determined to re-attain the throne, Atreus enlists the aid of Zeus and Hermes, and has Thyestes banished from Mycenae. Atreus subsequently discovers that his wife, Aerope, had been having an affair with Thyestes, and he vows revenge. He asks Thyestes to return to Mycenae with his family, telling him that all past animosities are forgotten. However, when Thyestes returns, Atreus secretly kills Thyestes's sons. He cuts off their hands and heads, and cooks the rest of their bodies in a pie. At a reconciliatory feast, Atreus serves Thyestes the pie in which his sons have been baked. As Thyestes finishes his meal, Atreus produces the hands and heads, revealing to the horrified Thyestes what he has done.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Another specific source for the final scene is discernible when Titus asks Saturninus if a father should kill his daughter when she has been raped. This is a reference to the story of Verginia from Livy's "Ab urbe condita" (). Around 451 BC, a decemvir of the Roman Republic, Appius Claudius Crassus, begins to lust after Verginia, a plebeian girl betrothed to a former tribune, Lucius Icilius. She rejects Claudius' advances, enraging him, and he has her abducted. However, both Icilius and Verginia's father, famed centurion Lucius Verginius, are respected figures and Claudius is forced to legally defend his right to hold Verginia. At the Forum, Claudius threatens the assembly with violence, and Verginius' supporters flee. Seeing that defeat is imminent, Verginius asks Claudius if he may speak to his daughter alone, to which Claudius agrees. However, Verginius stabs Verginia, determining that her death is the only way he can secure her freedom.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: For the scene where Aaron tricks Titus into cutting off one of his hands, the primary source was probably an unnamed popular tale about a Moor's vengeance, published in various languages throughout the sixteenth century (an English version entered into the Stationers' Register in 1569 has not survived). In the story, a married nobleman with two children chastises his Moorish servant, who vows revenge. The servant goes to the moated tower where the man's wife and children live, and rapes the wife. Her screams bring her husband, but the Moor pulls up the drawbridge before the nobleman can gain entry. The Moor then kills both children on the battlements in full view of the man. The nobleman pleads with the Moor that he will do anything to save his wife, and the Moor demands he cut off his nose. The man does so, but the Moor kills the wife anyway, and the nobleman dies of shock. The Moor then flings himself from the battlements to avoid punishment.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Shakespeare also drew on various sources for the names of many of his characters. For example, Titus could have been named after the Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who ruled Rome from 79 to 81. Jonathan Bate speculates that the name 'Andronicus' could have come from Andronicus V Palaeologus, co-emperor of Byzantium from 1403 to 1407, but, since there is no reason to suppose that Shakespeare might have come across these emperors, it is more likely that he took the name from the story "Andronicus and the lion" in Antonio de Guevara's "Epistolas familiares". That story involves a sadistic emperor named Titus who amused himself by throwing slaves to wild animals and watching them be slaughtered. However, when a slave called Andronicus is thrown to a lion, the lion lies down and embraces the man. The emperor demands to know what has happened, and Andronicus explains that he had once helped the lion by removing a thorn from its foot. Bate speculates that this story, with one character called Titus and another called Andronicus, could be why several contemporary references to the play are in the form "Titus & ondronicus".


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Geoffrey Bullough argues that Lucius's character arc (estrangement from his father, followed by banishment, followed by a glorious return to avenge his family honour) was probably based on Plutarch's "Life of Coriolanus". As for Lucius' name, Frances Yates speculates that he may be named after Saint Lucius, who introduced Christianity into Britain. On the other hand, Jonathan Bate hypothesises that Lucius could be named after Lucius Junius Brutus, founder of the Roman Republic, arguing that "the man who led the people in their uprising was Lucius Junius Brutus. This is the role that Lucius fulfills in the play."


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The name of Lavinia was probably taken from the mythological figure of Lavinia, daughter of Latinus, King of Latium, who, in Virgil's "Aeneid", courts Aeneas as he attempts to settle his people in Latium. A. C. Hamilton speculates that the name of Tamora could have been based upon the historical figure of Tomyris, a violent and uncompromising Massagetae queen. Eugene M. Waith suggests that the name of Tamora's son, Alarbus, could have come from George Puttenham's "The Arte of English Poesie" (1589), which contains the line "the Roman prince did daunt/Wild Africans and the lawless Alarbes." G. K. Hunter has suggested Shakespeare may have taken Saturninus's name from Herodian's "History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus", which features a jealous and violent tribune named Saturninus. On the other hand, Waith speculates that Shakespeare may have been thinking of an astrological theory which he could have seen in Guy Marchant's "The Kalendayr of the shyppars" (1503), which states that Saturnine men (i.e. men born under the influence of Saturn) are "false, envious and malicious."


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Shakespeare most likely took the names of Caius, Demetrius, Marcus, Martius, Quintus, Æmilius, and Sempronius from Plutarch's "Life of Scipio Africanus". Bassianus's name probably came from Lucius Septimius Bassianus, better known as Caracalla, who, like Bassianus in the play, fights with his brother over succession, one appealing to primogeniture and the other to popularity.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Any discussion of the sources of "Titus Andronicus" is complicated by the existence of two other versions of the story; a prose history and a ballad (both of which are anonymous and undated).


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The first definite reference to the ballad "Titus Andronicus' Complaint" is an entry in the Stationers' Register by the printer John Danter on 6 February 1594, where the entry "A booke intitled a Noble Roman Historye of Tytus Andronicus" is immediately followed by "Entred also vnto him, the ballad thereof". The earliest surviving copy of the ballad is in Richard Johnson's "The Golden Garland of Princely Pleasures and Delicate Delights" (1620), but the date of its composition is unknown.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The prose was first published in chapbook form some time between 1736 and 1764 by Cluer Dicey under the title "The History of Titus Andronicus, the Renowned Roman General" (the ballad was also included in the chapbook), however it is believed to be much older than that. The copyright records from the Stationers' Register in Shakespeare's own lifetime provide some tenuous evidence regarding the dating of the prose. On 19 April 1602, the publisher Thomas Millington sold his share in the copyright of "A booke intitled a Noble Roman Historye of Tytus Andronicus" (which Danter had initially entered into the Register in 1594) to Thomas Pavier. The orthodox belief is that this entry refers to the play. However, the next version of the play to be published was for Edward White, in 1611, printed by Edward Allde, thus prompting the question of why Pavier never published the play despite owning the copyright for nine years. Joseph Quincy Adams, Jr. believes that the original Danter entry in 1594 is not a reference to the play but to the prose, and the subsequent transferrals of copyright relate to the prose, not the play, thus explaining why Pavier never published the play. Similarly, W. W. Greg believes that all copyright to the play lapsed upon Danter's death in 1600, hence the 1602 transferral from Millington to Pavier was illegitimate unless it refers to something other than the play; i.e. the prose. Both scholars conclude that the evidence seems to imply the prose existed by early 1594 at the latest.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: However, even if the prose was in existence by 1594, there is no solid evidence to suggest the order in which the play, ballad and prose were written and which served as source for which. Traditionally, the prose has been seen as the original, with the play derived from it, and the ballad derived from both play and prose. Adams Jr., for example, firmly believed in this order (prose-play-ballad) as did John Dover Wilson and Geoffrey Bullough. This theory is by no means universally accepted however. For example, Ralph M. Sargent agrees with Adams and Bullough that the prose was the source of the play, but he argues that the poem was also a source of the play (prose-ballad-play). On the other hand, Marco Mincoff rejects both theories, arguing instead that the play came first, and served as a source for both the ballad and the prose (play-ballad-prose). G. Harold Metz felt that Mincoff was incorrect and reasserted the primacy of the prose-play-ballad sequence. G.K. Hunter however, believes that Adams, Dover Wilson, Bullough, Sargent, Mincoff and Metz were "all" wrong, and the play was the source for the prose, with both serving as sources for the ballad (play-prose-ballad). In his 1984 edition of the play for "The Oxford Shakespeare", Eugene M. Waith rejects Hunter's theory and supports the original prose-play-ballad sequence. On the other hand, in his 1995 edition for the "Arden Shakespeare" 3rd Series, Jonathan Bate favours Mincoff's theory of play-ballad-prose. In the introduction to the 2001 edition of the play for the "Penguin Shakespeare" (edited by Sonia Massai), Jacques Berthoud agrees with Waith and settles on the initial prose-play-ballad sequence. In his 2006 revised edition for the "New Cambridge Shakespeare", Alan Hughes also argues for the original prose-play-ballad theory, but hypothesizes that the source for the ballad was exclusively the prose, not the play.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Ultimately, there is no overriding critical consensus on the issue of the order in which the play, prose and ballad were written, with the only tentative agreement being that all three were probably in existence by 1594 at the latest.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The earliest known record of "Titus Andronicus" is found in Philip Henslowe's diary on 24 January 1594, where Henslowe recorded a performance by Sussex's Men of ""Titus & ondronicus"", probably at The Rose. Henslowe marked the play as "ne", which most critics take to mean "new". There were subsequent performances on 29 January and 6 February. Also on 6 February, the printer John Danter entered into the "Stationers' Register" "A booke intitled a Noble Roman Historye of Tytus Andronicus". Later in 1594, Danter published the play in quarto under the title The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus (referred to by scholars as Q1) for the booksellers Edward White and Thomas Millington, making it the first of Shakespeare's plays to be printed. This evidence establishes that the latest possible date of composition is late 1593.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: There is evidence, however, that the play may have been written some years earlier than this. In 1614, Ben Jonson wrote in a preface to "" that "He that will swear, "Jeronimo" or "Andronicus" are the best plays, yet shall pass unexcepted at, here, as a man whose judgement shows it is constant, and hath stood still these five and twenty, or thirty years." The success and popularity of Thomas Kyd's "The Spanish Tragedy", to which Jonson alludes, is attested by many contemporary documents, so by placing "Titus" alongside it, Jonson is saying that "Titus" too must have been extremely popular in its day, but by 1614, both plays had come to be seen as old fashioned. If Jonson is taken literally, for the play to have been between 25 and 30 years old in 1614, it must have been written between 1584 and 1589, a theory which not all scholars reject out of hand. For example, in his 1953 edition of the play for the "Arden Shakespeare" 2nd Series, J.C. Maxwell argues for a date of late 1589. Similarly, E.A.J. Honigmann, in his 'early start' theory of 1982, suggests that Shakespeare wrote the play several years before coming to London , and that "Titus" was actually his first play, written . In his "Cambridge Shakespeare" edition of 1994 and again in 2006, Alan Hughes makes a similar argument, believing the play was written very early in Shakespeare's career, before he came to London, possibly .


title: Titus Andronicus

text: However, the majority of scholars tend to favour a post-1590 date, and one of the primary arguments for this is that the title page of Q1 assigns the play to three different playing companies; Derby's Men, Pembroke's Men and Sussex's Men ("As it was Plaide by the Right Honourable the Earle of Darbie, Earle of Pembrooke, and Earle of Suſſex their Seruants"). This is highly unusual in copies of Elizabethan plays, which usually refer to one company only, if any. If the order of the listing is chronological, as Eugene M. Waith and Jacques Berthoud, for example, believe it is, it means that Sussex's Men were the last to perform the play, suggesting it had been on stage quite some time prior to 24 January 1594. Waith hypothesises that the play originally belonged to Derby's Men, but after the closure of the London theatres on 23 June 1592 due to an outbreak of plague, Derby's Men sold the play to Pembroke's Men, who were going on a regional tour to Bath and Ludlow. The tour was a financial failure, and the company returned to London on 28 September, financially ruined. At that point, they sold the play to Sussex's Men, who would go on to perform it on 24 January 1594 at The Rose. If one accepts this theory, it suggests a date of composition as some time in early to mid-1592. However, Jonathan Bate and Alan Hughes have argued that there is no evidence that the listing is chronological, and no precedent on other title pages for making that assumption. Additionally, a later edition of the play gives a different order of acting companies – Pembroke's Men, Derby's Men, Sussex' Men and Lord Chamberlain's Men, suggesting the order is random and cannot be used to help date the play.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: As such, even amongst scholars who favour a post-1590 date, 1592 is by no means universally accepted. Jacques Berthoud, for example, argues that Shakespeare had close associations with Derby's Men and "it would seem that "Titus Andronicus" must already have entered the repertoire of Derby's Men by the end of 1591 or the start of 1592 at the latest." Berthoud believes this places the date of composition some time in 1591. Another theory is provided by Jonathan Bate, who finds it significant that Q1 lacks the "sundry times" comment found on virtually every sixteenth-century play; the claim on a title page that a play had been performed "sundry times" was an attempt by publishers to emphasise its popularity, and its absence on Q1 indicates that the play was so new, it hadn't been performed anywhere. Bate also finds significance in the fact that prior to the rape of Lavinia, Chiron and Demetrius vow to use Bassianus' body as a pillow. Bate believes this connects the play to Thomas Nashe's "The Unfortunate Traveller", which was completed on 27 June 1593. Verbal similarities between "Titus" and George Peele's poem "The Honour of the Garter" are also important for Bate. The poem was written to celebrate the installation of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland as a Knight of the Garter on 26 June 1593. Bate takes these three pieces of evidence to suggest a timeline which sees Shakespeare complete his "Henry VI" trilogy prior to the closing of the theatres in June 1592. At this time, he turns to classical antiquity to aid him in his poems "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece". Then, towards the end of 1593, with the prospect of the theatres being reopened, and with the classical material still fresh in his mind, he wrote "Titus" as his first tragedy, shortly after reading Nashe's novel and Peele's poem, all of which suggests a date of composition of late 1593.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Other critics have attempted to use more scientific methods to determine the date of the play. For example, Gary Taylor has employed stylometry, particularly the study of contractions, colloquialisms, rare words and function words. Taylor concludes that the entire play except Act 3, Scene 2 was written just after "Henry VI, Part 2" and "Henry VI, Part 3", which he assigns to late 1591 or early 1592. As such, Taylor settles on a date of mid-1592 for "Titus". He also argues that 3.2, which is only found in the 1623 Folio text, was written contemporaneously with "Romeo and Juliet", in late 1593.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: However, if the play was written and performed by 1588 (Hughes), 1589 (Maxwell), 1591 (Berthoud), 1592 (Waith and Taylor), or 1593 (Bate), why did Henslowe refer to it as "ne" in 1594? R.A. Foakes and R.T. Rickert, modern editors of "Henslowe's Diary", argue that "ne" could refer to a newly licensed play, which would make sense if one accepts Waith's argument that Pembroke's Men had sold the rights to Sussex's Men upon returning from their failed tour of the provinces. Foakes and Rickert also point out that "ne" could refer to a newly revised play, suggesting editing on Shakespeare's part some time in late 1593. Waith sees this suggestion as especially important insofar as John Dover Wilson and Gary Taylor have shown that the text as it exists in Q1 "does" seem to indicate editing. However, that "ne" does actually stand for "new" is not fully accepted; in 1991, Winifred Frazer argued that "ne" is actually an abbreviation for "Newington Butts". Brian Vickers, amongst others, finds Frazer's arguments convincing, which renders interpretation of Henslow's entry even more complex.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The 1594 quarto text of the play, with the same title, was reprinted by James Roberts for Edward White in 1600 (Q2). On 19 April 1602, Millington sold his share in the copyright to Thomas Pavier. However, the next version of the play was published again for White, in 1611, under the slightly altered title "The Most Lamentable Tragedie of Titus Andronicus", printed by Edward Allde (Q3).


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Q1 is considered a 'good text' (i.e. not a bad quarto or a reported text), and it forms the basis for most modern editions of the play. Q2 appears to be based on a damaged copy of Q1, as it is missing a number of lines which are replaced by what appear to be guess work on the part of the compositor. This is especially noticeable at the end of the play where four lines of dialogue have been added to Lucius' closing speech; "See justice done on Aaron, that damned Moor,/By whom our heavy haps had their beginning;/Then afterwards to order well the state,/That like events may ne'er it ruinate." Scholars tend to assume that when the compositor got to the last page and saw the damage, he presumed some lines were missing, when in fact none were. Q2 was considered the control text until 1904, when the copy of Q1 now at the Folger Shakespeare Library was discovered in Sweden. Together with a 1594 printing of "Henry VI, Part II", the Folger's Q1 "Titus" is the earliest extant printed Shakespearean play. Q2 also corrects a number of minor errors in Q1. Q3 is a further degradation of Q2, and includes a number of corrections to the Q2 text, but introduces many more errors.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The "First Folio" text of 1623 (F1), under the title "The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus", is based primarily on the Q3 text (which is why modern editors use Q1 as the control rather than the usual practice in Shakespeare of using the "Folio" text). However, the "Folio" text includes material found in none of the quarto editions, primarily Act 3, Scene 2 (also called the 'fly-killing scene'). It is believed that while Q3 was probably the main source for the "Folio", an annotated prompter's copy was also used, particularly in relation to stage directions, which differ significantly from all of the quarto texts.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: As such, the text of the play that is today known as "Titus Andronicus" involves a combination of material from Q1 and F1, the vast majority of which is taken from Q1.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: An important piece of evidence relating to both the dating and text of "Titus" is the so-called 'Peacham drawing' or 'Longleat manuscript'; the only surviving contemporary Shakespearean illustration, now residing in the library of the Marquess of Bath at Longleat. The drawing appears to depict a performance of "Titus", under which is quoted some dialogue. Eugene M. Waith argues of the illustration that "the gestures and costumes give us a more vivid impression of the visual impact of Elizabethan acting than we get from any other source."


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Far from being an acknowledged source of evidence however, the document has provoked varying interpretations, with its date in particular often called into question. The fact that the text reproduced in the drawing seems to borrow from Q1, Q2, Q3 "and" F1, while also inventing some of its own readings, further complicates matters. Additionally, a possible association with Shakespearean forger John Payne Collier has served to undermine its authenticity, while some scholars believe it depicts a play other than "Titus Andronicus", and is therefore of limited use to Shakespeareans.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Although "Titus" was extremely popular in its day, over the course of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries it became perhaps Shakespeare's most maligned play, and it was only in the latter half of the 20th century that this pattern of denigration showed any signs of subsiding.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: One of the earliest critical disparagements of the play occurred in 1687, in the introduction to Edward Ravenscroft's theatrical adaptation, "Titus Andronicus, or the Rape of Lavinia. A Tragedy, Alter'd from Mr. Shakespeare's Works". Speaking of the original play, Ravenscroft wrote, "'tis the most incorrect and indigested piece in all his works. It seems rather a heap of rubbish than a structure." In 1765, Samuel Johnson questioned the possibility of even staging the play, pointing out that "the barbarity of the spectacles, and the general massacre which are here exhibited, can scarcely be conceived tolerable to any audience." In 1811, August Wilhelm Schlegel wrote that the play was "framed according to a false idea of the tragic, which by an accumulation of cruelties and enormities, degenerated into the horrible and yet leaves no deep impression behind." In 1927, T.S. Eliot argued that it was "one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written, a play in which it is incredible that Shakespeare had any hand at all, a play in which the best passages would be too highly honoured by the signature of Peele." In 1948, John Dover Wilson wrote that the play "seems to jolt and bump along like some broken-down cart, laden with bleeding corpses from an Elizabethan scaffold, and driven by an executioner from Bedlam dressed in cap and bells." He goes on to say that if the play had been by anyone other than Shakespeare, it would have been lost and forgotten; it is only because tradition holds that Shakespeare wrote it (which Dover Wilson highly suspects) that it is remembered, not for any intrinsic qualities of its own.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: However, although the play continued to have its detractors, it began to acquire its champions as well. In his 1998 book, "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human", Harold Bloom defended "Titus" from various critical attacks it's had over the years, insisting the play is meant to be a "parody" and it's only bad "if you take it straight." He claims the uneven reactions audiences have had are a result of directors misunderstanding Shakespeare's intent, which was "mocking and exploiting Marlowe," and its only suitable director would be Mel Brooks.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Another champion came in 2001, when Jacques Berthoud pointed out that until shortly after World War II, ""Titus Andronicus" was taken seriously only by a handful of textual and bibliographic scholars. Readers, when they could be found, mostly regarded it as a contemptible farrago of violence and bombast, while theatrical managers treated it as either a script in need of radical rewriting, or as a show-biz opportunity for a star actor." By 2001 however, this was no longer the case, as many prominent scholars had come out in defence of the play.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: "Titus Andronicus" is by no means the most brutal of Shakespeare's plays. More people die in "Richard III". "King Lear" is a much more cruel play. In the whole Shakespearean repertory I can find no scene so revolting as Cordelia's death. In reading, the cruelties of "Titus" can seem ridiculous. But I have seen it on the stage and found it a moving experience. Why? In watching "Titus Andronicus" we come to understand – perhaps more than by looking at any other Shakespeare play – the nature of his genius: he gave an inner awareness to passions; cruelty ceased to be merely physical. Shakespeare discovered the moral hell. He discovered heaven as well. But he remained on earth.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: In his 1987 edition of the play for the "Contemporary Shakespeare" series, A.L. Rowse speculates as to why the fortunes of the play have begun to change during the 20th century; "in the civilised Victorian age the play could not be performed because it could not be believed. Such is the horror of our own age, with the appalling barbarities of prison camps and resistance movements paralleling the torture and mutilation and feeding on human flesh of the play, that it has ceased to be improbable."


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Director Julie Taymor, who staged a production Off-Broadway in 1994 and directed a film version in 1999, says she was drawn to the play because she found it to be the most "relevant of Shakespeare's plays for the modern era." As she believes we live in the most violent period in history, Taymor feels that the play has acquired more relevance for us than it had for the Victorians; "it seems like a play written for today, it reeks of now." Jonathan Forman, when he reviewed Taymor's film for the "New York Post", agreed and stated: "It is the Shakespeare play for our time, a work of art that speaks directly to the age of Rwanda and Bosnia."


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Perhaps the most frequently discussed topic in the play's critical history is that of authorship. None of the three quarto editions of "Titus" name the author, which was normal for Elizabethan plays. However, Francis Meres does list the play as one of Shakespeare's tragedies in "Palladis Tamia" in 1598. Additionally, John Heminges and Henry Condell felt sure enough of Shakespeare's authorship to include it in the "First Folio" in 1623. As such, with what little available solid evidence suggesting that Shakespeare did indeed write the play, questions of authorship tend to focus on the perceived lack of quality in the writing, and often the play's resemblance to the work of contemporaneous dramatists.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The first to question Shakespeare's authorship is thought to have been Edward Ravenscroft in 1678, and over the course of the eighteenth century, numerous renowned Shakespeareans followed suit; Nicholas Rowe, Alexander Pope, Lewis Theobald, Samuel Johnson, George Steevens, Edmond Malone, William Guthrie, John Upton, Benjamin Heath, Richard Farmer, John Pinkerton, and John Monck Mason, and in the nineteenth century, William Hazlitt and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. All doubted Shakespeare's authorship. So strong had the anti-Shakespearean movement become during the eighteenth century that in 1794, Thomas Percy wrote in the introduction to "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry", "Shakespeare's memory has been fully vindicated from the charge of writing the play by the best critics." Similarly, in 1832, the "Globe Illustrated Shakespeare" claimed there was universal agreement on the matter due to the un-Shakespearean "barbarity" of the play.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: However, despite the fact that so many Shakespearean scholars believed the play to have been written by someone other than Shakespeare, there were those throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth century who argued against this theory. One such scholar was Edward Capell, who, in 1768, said that the play was badly written but asserted that Shakespeare did write it. Another major scholar to support Shakespeare's authorship was Charles Knight in 1843. Several years later, a number of prominent German Shakespeareans also voiced their belief that Shakespeare wrote the play, including A.W. Schlegel and Hermann Ulrici.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Twentieth century criticism moved away from trying to prove or disprove that Shakespeare wrote the play, and instead came to focus on the issue of co-authorship. Ravenscroft had hinted at this in 1678, but the first modern scholar to look at the theory was John Mackinnon Robertson in 1905, who concluded that "much of the play is written by George Peele, and it is hardly less certain that much of the rest was written by Robert Greene or Kyd, with some by Marlow." In 1919, T.M. Parrott reached the conclusion that Peele wrote Act 1, 2.1 and 4.1, and in 1931, Philip Timberlake corroborated Parrott's findings.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The first major critic to challenge Robertson, Parrott and Timberlake was E.K. Chambers, who successfully exposed inherent flaws in Robertson's methodology. In 1933, Arthur M. Sampley employed the techniques of Parrott to argue "against" Peele as co-author, and in 1943, Hereward Thimbleby Price also argued that Shakespeare wrote alone.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Beginning in 1948, with John Dover Wilson, many scholars have tended to favour the theory that Shakespeare and Peele collaborated in some way. Dover Wilson, for his part, believed that Shakespeare edited a play originally written by Peele. In 1957, R.F. Hill approached the issue by analysing the distribution of rhetorical devices in the play. Like Parrott in 1919 and Timberlake in 1931, he ultimately concluded that Peele wrote Act 1, 2.1 and 4.1, while Shakespeare wrote everything else. In 1979, Macdonald Jackson employed a rare word test, and ultimately came to an identical conclusion as Parrott, Timberlake and Hill. In 1987, Marina Tarlinskaja used a quantitative analysis of the occurrence of stresses in the iambic pentameter line, and she too concluded that Peele wrote Act 1, 2.1 and 4.1. In 1996, Macdonald Jackson returned to the authorship question with a new metrical analysis of the function words "and" and "with". His findings also suggested that Peele wrote Act 1, 2.1 and 4.1.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: However, there have always been scholars who believe that Shakespeare worked on the play alone. Many of the editors of the various twentieth century scholarly editions of the play for example, have argued against the co-authorship theory; Eugene M. Waith in his "Oxford Shakespeare" edition of 1985, Alan Hughes in his "Cambridge Shakespeare" edition of 1994 and again in 2006, and Jonathan Bate in his "Arden Shakespeare" edition of 1995. In the case of Bate however, in 2002, he came out in support of Brian Vickers' book "Shakespeare, Co-Author" which restates the case for Peele as the author of Act 1, 2.1 and 4.1.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: Vickers' analysis of the issue is the most extensive yet undertaken. As well as analysing the distribution of a large number of rhetorical devices throughout the play, he also devised three new authorship tests; an analysis of polysyllabic words, an analysis of the distribution of alliteration and an analysis of vocatives. His findings led him to assert, with complete confidence, that Peele wrote Act 1, 2.1 and 4.1. Vickers' findings have not been universally accepted.


title: Titus Andronicus

text: The language of "Titus" has always had a central role in criticism of the play insofar as those who doubt Shakespeare's authorship have often pointed to the apparent deficiencies in the language as evidence of that claim. However, the quality of the language has had its defenders over the years, critics who argue that the play is more linguistically complex than is often thought, and features a more accomplished use of certain linguistic motifs than has hitherto been allowed for.