I always look forward to seeing productions by the
Independent Shakespeare Company, to seeing what they’ll bring to each play. And
I had an absolutely wonderful time at their Thursday, August 21st performance
of The Taming Of The Shrew.
I was a little sad to find that they cut the Induction. I
know that those first two scenes are almost always cut, but their exclusion
certainly changes the tone of the play itself. And I thought that this company
(if anybody) might actually keep those scenes in. That being said, the group
was quickly off and running, and any disappointment at that cut was soon gone.
Tranio and Lucentio enter through the audience at the start
of the play. This company always makes great use of the outdoor park setting,
and of the audience itself. At one point, Lucentio and Bianca go into the audience
to make out (which they actually did on my blanket – it’s always good to be in
the front). And later, Katherine, hungry, comes out into the audience,
desperate for food, and angry when none is offered to her.
Music plays a role in this production, with a
pianist/accordion-player and a singer as an important presence on stage (the
singer later becomes the Widow). And when we first meet Hortensio, he is wooing
Bianca with a song (accompanied by the man on accordion).
There is certainly a lot of physical humor in this
production, and quite a bit of silly business, as when Lucentio and Tranio
exchange clothes. Later, when Lucentio gives Bianca a lesson, they blow soap
bubbles. Most of the silliness works, the only exception being that whenever
Petruchio mentions his deceased father, everyone on stage crosses himself (it
gets a laugh, but is certainly one of the weaker jokes).
This production uses somewhat modern dress, like early
twentieth century, with Tranio carrying a camera in his first scene. Lucentio
is in a yellow suit and hat with a pink shirt. When Lucentio is disguised as a
scholar, he wears a black graduation gown and glasses, and of course carries a
stack of books. Likewise, when Hortensio enters disguised, he wears a
graduation robe (along with a fake moustache). And at one point, Bianca and
Lucentio wear roller skates. Grumio’s clown-like attributes are stressed in
this production, and he wears red pants and a jacket with patches on the
elbows. Petruchio himself seems fairly well off judging by his suit.
While Petruchio boasts, “Have I not in my time heard lions roar,” Grumio (Richard Azurdia) imitates a lion.
And he goes on to imitate the wind and so on. Petruchio is so delighted with
himself, getting a bit carried away, and it’s a wonderful moment. The entire
cast is fairly strong, and everyone has moments in which he or she shines. I
love Hortensio’s spot-on delivery when he tells Petruchio about Katherine’s
only fault. And Tranio is hilarious when he enters disguised as Lucentio,
greatly exaggerating his state. And as the play goes on, he gets more and more
into his role as Lucentio and is absolutely delightful. André Martin turns in an excellent
performance as Tranio, as does Sean Pritchett as Lucentio.
But the best performances are by the production’s two
leads – Luis Galindo as Petruchio, and Melissa Chalsma as Katherine. Katherine
has a flask in her garter when we first see her. She wears a red dress with a
black lace top over it, showing her vibrant and fiery personality. She is
clearly jealous of the gifts Bianca receives, as it one such gift which leads
her to bind Bianca at the beginning of Act II (we see her bind Bianca, rather
than Bianca entering already bound).
Bianca proves to be feisty too, fighting back while tied
to the chair. But then when Baptista enters, she quickly changes her
disposition and starts crying to elicit his sympathy and help. This is a
wonderful touch, because it hints at the play’s ending. Erika Soto does a great
job of making Bianca a more complete character. And I like that Bianca is
clearly attracted to the disguised Lucentio. I also love Bianca’s reading of “The taming-school! what, is there such a
place?” Her delivery indicates a certain amount of worry that it exists,
that it might be something she herself will have to go through.
I was glad to see a variation on the broken lute. The
lute in this case is a guitar, and when Hortensio says, “she hath broke the lute to me,” he holds up the guitar to show a
large hole in it, rather than entering with it on his head. And Petruchio’s
reaction is wonderful.
There is an excellent moment when Katherine and Petruchio
first meet, sizing each other up silently. Petruchio’s compliment “Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs” is
delivered honestly, and as such it clearly affects Katherine, which is nice.
(This production does a really good and careful job of building their
relationship, their attraction to each other.) She does go to strike him a
second time, and he grabs her wrist to stop her. Petruchio then holds Katherine
over his lap, and after “passing gentle,”
he spanks her. I love Katherine’s delivery of “Call you me daughter…wed to one half lunatic.” Katherine throws
things at Petruchio and dumps water on him from a watering can, which he delightfully
ignores, throwing her into even more of a rage. It’s a fantastic scene, and the
cast really shines.
Baptista keeps notes as Gremio lists off what he has to
offer Bianca. When Gremio says, “And may
not young men die as well as old,” he casually pulls out a knife and pares
his nails. I love this, because it indicates there is still life and still a
fight in the older man, which is necessary for him to believe he has any chance
at all with the young Bianca. Gremio’s line “Petruchio is Kated” is delivered as a joke, which falls flat with
the other characters on stage – a nice touch.
For the wedding scene, Petruchio enters from within the
audience. Grumio plays his horse, stealing the coconuts bit from Monty Python And The Holy Grail.
Petruchio enters in a black coat with patches on the elbows (drawing parallels
to Grumio’s clown-like quality), a black top hat and red bow tie. And on “thus I’ll visit her,” he removes his jacket
and shirt. And then on “even thus,”
he takes off his pants, revealing some sort of jungle attire. And when he turns
about, he elicits a huge laugh from the audience (you'll just have to see it). After the wedding, Grumio
wears a “Just Married” sign and tin cans when he enters, followed by Petruchio
and Katherine. Petruchio puts Katherine on Grumio’s back. He then returns with
a giant whip (the first use of it in this production). I know it’s expected,
but I was just a bit disappointed when it appeared. But it’s used very
sparingly in this production.
The dialogue between Grumio and Curtis in Act III Scene
iii is done with Grumio grunting and making other noises to answer Curtis’
questions regarding Katherine. Katherine then enters in disarray, followed by
Petruchio with the giant whip. As usual, the Haberdasher is cut, and the Tailor
presents both the hat and the dress. I love Katherine’s pointed and precise
delivery of “Love me or love me not, I
like the hat.” This production does a good job of finding moments of shared
joy between Katherine and Petruchio, as when they both laugh toward the end of
the Tailor’s scene. And it is very clear when Katherine catches on to the game.
When Katherine says to Vincentio, “bedazzled
with the sun,” she looks at Petruchio as she stresses “the sun.” And her big speech at the end (one that is rather difficult in modern times) is handled really well.
There is one twenty-minute intermission, coming at the
end of Act III Scene ii. This production of The
Taming Of The Shrew was directed by David Melville. There are a few more
opportunities to see this play before the season ends. Visit the company’s
website for the schedule.
By the way, the company has shirts for sale. Here is what the front looks like:
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