“Titus Andronicus” – 1972

Review Excerpts

“SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYER WINS STANDING OVATION A standing ovation was accorded Randy Kim…for his portrayal of the title role in ‘Titus Andronicus’….The versatile Kim is a gifted young actor and as the aged Andronicus, surmounts much of his mannered stageyness to give us a heart-stopping, pulse-racing experience.”
               –Jacquelin Sidle, BURLINGTON FREE PRESS (8/4/1972) 

“ARENA’S ‘TITUS’ A POWERFUL EXPERIENCE….Randy Kim, one of the best actors we’ve ever seen at the Arena, outdoes himself in the title role of this production, and on opening night the crowd rose to its feet and applauded and shouted when he came on for his curtain call; it was impossible not to feel his had been as near perfect performance of this play as we are ever likely to see. Small in stature, in handsome robes and with the mien of one accustomed to command, Kim as the triumphant Roman general dominated the stage whenever he was on it. At first chauvinistically patriotic about the empire he has protected in battle for forty years, later disillusioned, broken, then revengeful when he sees the cruel corruption around him, he becomes a touching but never weak figure. Clean death, the instantaneous killing by his own hand of a son he thinks unfaithful to Rome, doesn’t seem cruel to; only cheating, lies, false witness and conspiracy shatter his dream-world of a noble Rome. Kim makes this utterly convincing, just as he does his bitter sorrow when his sons are basely murdered, their bloody heads, not their promised live bodies, brought to him when he he chops off his own hand (yes, onstage and shockingly realistic) in exchange. Most moving is his grief at the rape and maiming of his lovely daughter Lavinia…. This answers once and for all the idea (which we had shared) that Titus is not actable. Of its kind, it is dazzling.”
               –Ruth W. Page, SUBURBAN LIST (8/10/1972)

“’TITUS ANDRONICUS’ IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH….a monumental achievement, the most shattering evening of theatre I ever remember and, by far, the finest production I have seen in Vermont in 12 years of reviewing….the play would not work without an absolutely performance in the title role. Feidner has cast a young man, Randy Kim. In the role. Kim is Korean and Hawaiian, with some training, he told me, in Japanese Kabuki. His makeup transforms his rather boyish face into a fully expressive mask of a man of at least 70. Even his eyes change as they peer obliquely at the world betraying his years of successful soldiering. There is an Oriental richness to the performance, and the cultural difference enriches the play, setting Titus apart. Kim’s performance received a standing ovation on opening night and deserves it every night. The portrait of heroic age brutally betrayed by friend, foe, and himself, is unique, indelible, and penetrating. I thought I knew something about these questions, both from theatre and from life, but Mr. Kim told me things about how a man survives, expressing love for his friends and children even in the midst of unbelievable horrors that I did not know and appreciate knowing….I am not fully recovered from your evening.”
               –William Gilbert, BENNINGTON BANNER

“There were no guffaws this performance, for the performance was excellent and serious. The actors deserve much credit for this. Randy Kim engages sympathy for Titus beyond that provided for in the script….Our sympathy engaged and our disbelief suspended, we cannot dismiss the horror of the play and our reactions to it.”
               –Jennifer Kochman, VERMONT FREEMAN (8/1972)