Schändung

Based on Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

General Titus Andronicus victoriously returns from the war, only to find Rome barely recognizable. What was held together by intelligence, structure and justice, is now coming apart in a dangerous way. To restore order, Titus makes a human sacrifice, killing one of his prisoners, Alarbus the son of Tamora, Queen of the Goths. Instead of peace, this brings violence and anarchy. Tamora rises to become wife of the roman emperor and swears revenge. She has her two sons rape and brutally mutilate Titus' daughter Lavinia. As Lavinia falls for one of her tormentors in voiceless lust, Titus himself takes revenge for her rape.

What's so diabolical about Schändung is that they're all such terribly normal people...whose true motive is probably not revenge, but deadly weariness, a terrible boredom.... the whole company transforms into a talk show panel, whose members make statements fitting their type - the kind of realsatire that Strauss is renowned for. This makes the cut to the beginning of the action even more dramatic... human beings ending up as intended by a rape: as dirty, disposable objects, tossed by the wayside, carelessly disposed of in the dumpster.