None of Shakespeare’s tragedies were as bloody and violent as his first, Titus Andronicus. Those who’ve never seen it before are often unprepared for what unfolds. It all begins when the triumphant general Titus returns from war and slays his enemy’s son, unwittingly triggering a relentless cycle of death and retaliation. There is cannibalism and rape, stabbings and mutilations. But there is also poetry. Fresh off his West End production of Macbeth with David Tennant, Max Webster directs this contemporary adaptation, which stars Simon Russell Beale in the title role. —Jeanne Malle