Act I
Interestingly, it begins with a drunk guy outside the
theatre, making something of an ass of himself. He ends up with the groundlings
inside and eventually makes his way onto the stage while talking on his cell
phone. He then passes out. Of course, he is Christopher Sly. The other actors
come onto the stage to discuss what’s to be done with him, and before we know
it, we are into the play. What a brilliant way of presenting the induction. I’m
thrilled that it’s included at all, for it’s often cut. But in this version not
only is it included, but it’s handled ingeniously. While Christopher Sly is in
modern clothing, most of the others are in period costume, or are getting into
period costume. In fact, Christopher Sly is put into period costume as well
before he is woken. Christopher bends down to ask an audience member if he is a
lord. The guy tells him he is. Christopher Sly and the person pretending to be
his wife step into the audience to watch the play.
Lucentio (Joseph Timms) and Tranio (Jamie Beamish) step
above as the others enter. Katherina (Samantha Spiro) rushes at Gremio (Michael
Bertenshaw) after his “To cart her”
remark. She is then violent with Hortensio (Rick Warden). It is clear from the
start that Bianca (Sarah MacRae) is full of shit, putting on an act for her
father and others. And Katherina is shown to have some cause for her anger, as
she is locked out of her own home at one point. That doesn’t stop her, of
course. Samantha Spiro sinks her teeth into this role, as well as bares them.
Lucentio has a delightful excitement and youthfulness in his spoken passion for
Bianca. During the exchange between Lucentio and Tranio, Christopher Sly shouts
out a few comments from the audience: “Vile,
intolerable, not to be endured!” In the text, Christopher Sly isn’t heard
from after the second scene, which some consider a weakness of the play. Petruchio
(Simon Paisley Day) and Grumio (Pearce Quigley) enter from the audience. (By
the way, the actor who plays Christopher Sly also plays Petruchio, which is
great. He disappeared into the audience as Christopher Sly, and reappears from
the audience as Petruchio.) Grumio is hilarious with his sometimes dry
delivery. Petruchio then uses Grumio’s head to knock on Hortensio’s door.
Grumio actually kicks a bucket over when Petruchio says his father is deceased,
and again when Petruchio mentions his father again. (Productions of this play
love to make jokes about the deceased father.)
Act II
Bianca runs onto the stage, bound and blindfolded.
Katherina enters behind her with a whip, hitting the floor near her with it.
Katherina unties her hands, but knocks her down. Bianca strikes back, but upon
Baptista’s entrance immediately falls down and takes to sobbing. And we get a
moment when Katherina seeks affection from her father, but doesn’t get it.
Tranio takes great pleasure in his role as master Lucentio, and is a joy to
watch. I love Petruchio’s delivery of “Why,
that is nothing.” Rather than having the lute around Hortensio’s head,
Katherina tosses the broken instrument onto the stage after Hortensio says “Why no” He then finishes: “for she hath broke the lute to me.” And
on “And through the instrument my pate
made way,” Petruchio holds the instrument up to his own face, looking
through the large hole in it. Petruchio gets delight in hearing Hortensio’s
story of Katherina’s words to him. There is a nice moment when Katherina first
sees Petruchio, and is quiet, clearly curious about it. When Petruchio says “Why, here’s no crab,” he walks backwards
on all fours like a crab. Petruchio chases her through the audience at one
point. They are absolutely fantastic together.
Act III
Bianca clearly enjoys the attention given her by
Hortensio and Lucentio in disguise. After “despair
not,” Bianca kisses Lucentio. Biondello (Tom Godwin) is excellent when
describing Petruchio on the way to his wedding. And eventually he –
understandably – drives Baptista mad. Petruchio’s goofy attire includes a
cooking pot as a hat. This production borrows the old Monty Python gag of
Grumio tapping two coconut halves together to imitate the sound of a horse. After
the wedding, Petruchio puts Katherina on Grumio’s back, and away they ride into
the audience. Everyone laughs at Bianca’s joke, but of course Gremio’s joke
falls flat. The intermission comes at the end of Act III Scene ii. After the
intermission, Petruchio’s servants perform a song. They then exit, and Grumio
enters to begin Scene iii. His line “my horse is tired” of course has the
meaning that he himself is tired. But he speaks of two horses, which makes less
sense when Grumio is the only horse. There is a lot of play during the dinner
scene, the scene in which Katherina never gets to eat. Then Lucentio and Bianca
are above, while Tranio and Hortensio are below, spying on their love-making.
Bianca’s delivery of the lines about taming hints at how she’ll react later
during the wager.
Act IV
Katherina struggles to thank Petruchio for the meat he
presents to her. And she is hilarious as she watches Hortensio stuff his face
with the meat. The roles of haberdasher and tailor are combined into one, as
usual, and Grumio models the tailor’s gown. Grumio’s delivery of “I confess the cape” is hilarious. There
is a touching moment at the end of Act IV Scene i, where Katherina tears up,
exhausted. The scene about the sun/moon is done really well, and Katherina is
funny when addressing Vincentio as “Young
budding virgin.” Vincentio then turns the joke back on them, directing “fair sir” to Katherina and “merry mistress” to Petruchio, a
wonderful touch.
Act V
Music and an air of celebration begin the fifth act. The
men take some joy in the bet, stomping and thumping in unison when the servant
goes to bid Bianca and then the widow to come. Katherina is clearly in on it
when she is ordered to remove her cap. Katherina kneels down at the end of her
speech, putting out her hand for Petruchio to step on. Petruchio takes her hand
in his and they kiss. Petruchio and Katherina exit into the audience at end,
while others engage in a dance. They then reappear above, and the dance takes
on a livelier vibe.
This production of The
Taming Of The Shrew was directed by Toby Frow, and was directed for the
screen by Ross MacGibbon.
Time: 167 minutes
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