James Karas
The Stratford
Festival is bringing its triumphal 2015 production of The Taming of the Shrew
to movie theatres.
Those who saw
the production at Stratford last summer will recall that Director Chris Abraham
directed, indeed choreographed, an extraordinary rendition of the play by
turning it into a love story. The degradation, humiliation and abuse of the
cursed Katherine (Deborah Hay) is there but in the end it is Petruchio (Ben
Carlson), the ultimate male chauvinist pig who is tamed. This Katherine has
spunk and intelligence to turn the tables on him and end the play on a note of
love.
Deborah
Hay (centre) as Katherina with members of the company. Photography by David Hou
The film,
directed by Barry Avrich, is an intelligent transfer of the stage performance
with some avoidable and needless errors. In some ways the HD movie is better
than the stage performance. There are many grimaces, facial expressions and
movements that one probably missed in the theatre but will catch in the movie.
In the final scene, for example, when Katherine is apparently humiliated to the
point of calling Petruchio her lord, her king and her governor and offers to
place her hand under his boot in token of her submission, the camera zeroes in
on his face. He is no longer the arrogant pig of the first act but is melting
with love. As the two leave to go to their wedding bed, Katherine grabs him and
pulls him in. We could not quite see all of this in the live theatre but we can
in the movie.
The brilliant
colours of the costumes and the set come out gloriously in high definition but
the real gain is the digital sound of the voices and Shakespeare’s text. No one
need miss a single word and the movie should become a major vehicle for gaining
audiences for Shakespeare, especially among the young.
Members of the company in The
Taming of the Shrew. Photography by David Hou.
The only issue I
have with Avrich is his overenthusiastic change of camera shots. When we have a
perfect view of a character or a scene, there is no need to keep clicking onto
close-ups or different angles. This goes from pointless to annoying and at
times it wrecks the scene. When Hortensio (Mika Shara) is kicked out with a
musical instrument broken around his neck, the joke is on him and he is the
only one that should be on camera. In his enthusiasm to change shots, Avrich
almost ruins the joke.
What does come
out however is Abraham’s detailed choreography of every scene, of every
gesture, of every facial expression and of every reaction. A superb cast is
even more enjoyable when seen close up. The praise I heaped on them in my stage
review remains unabated and in some respects increased. Tom Rooney as the
servant Tranio is swift of foot and of tongue and always entertaining. Brian
Tree is superb as Grumio, Petruchio’s ever-suffering servant.
Michael-Spencer-Davis
excels as Gremio, the foolish old suitor of Bianca (a funny Sarah Afful). Oh,
yes, the names may get confusing when reading the play – you are never in doubt
about who is who when watching the movie.
The next
Stratford HD offering will be Hamlet in April 23 which just happens to coincide
with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
______
The Taming of the
Shrew by
William Shakespeare being the HD movie from the 2015 Stratford Festival
production will be shown in Cineplex Theatres on March 13 and 15, 2016. For more information: www.cineplex.com/events
No comments:
Post a Comment