Tragedy Titus Andronicus is the Bard's goriest work, and a new production is set to be one of the most extreme takes on it yet. It raises the question: why do we watch such brutality?

Good theatre has the power to really move us – a statement that's usually taken metaphorically, rather than literally. Yet when it comes to Shakespeare's bloodiest play, Titus Andronicus, its impact can be so visceral it causes audience members to faint. I should know: while reviewing a production at Shakespeare's Globe in London, back in 2014, its disturbingly violent scenes caused me to start to feel light-headed, even while safely sat down in my seat. Unfortunately, it was a bench with no back: before the end of the first half, I had fainted away completely, falling backwards and waking up in a stranger's lap.

Warning: this article contains some graphic descriptions of violence

And I was far from the only person to have such a full-bodied response to Lucy Bailey's production of this gory revenge tragedy: the press went wild for stories of "droppers", with more than 100 people fainting during the run – testament to the immense power of Shakespeare's writing, and the skill of performers, as well as to the props department's handling of litres of fake blood.

One of the Bard's earliest plays, written in 1591-2, and almost certainly his first tragedy, Titus Andronicus is a story of violent vengeance: Titus, a general of Rome, returns from wars against the Goths with their queen, Tamora, and her sons held as captives. When her eldest son is sacrificed by Titus, Tamora swears revenge – setting in motion a series of increasingly brutal acts that ends  with an infamous scene involving the baking of pies... Boasting 14 deaths, it is the most violent of all Shakespeare's plays – and now it's back on stage, with a new production opening at the UK's Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.