Colleen Murphy

The Society for the Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius Colleen Murphy

The Society for the Destitute Present Titus Bouffonius presents five characters who shelter at the Society for the Destitute and who get a $500 grant from Arts Educational Outreach to put on a play. They decide to do Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus because it has the most murders, but as you might predict, this is not your average night of Shakespeare. Shocking, outrageous and stupidly funny, the characters often forget their lines, forget what play they are in, say whatever the hell they want to, or refuse to stay dead when they are killed. And, as only clowns are able, they turn the tables on us, the audience, and present us with our own foibles in a way that is both hilarious and inevasible. With the inspired marriage of Shakespearian text like, I plead my passions for Lavinia's love, and inspired contemporary dialogue like, You merciless piss-flapping dick-weed twat-waffle slug, and the French clown technique of bouffon. Audaciously satirical and physical, the play is an unflinching look at war, rage and grief through characters who yearn for beauty in the grotesqueness of our world today.