James Karas
Director Caroline Byrne
Dramaturg Moma Regan
Set
Designer Chiara Stephenson
Choreographer Emma Martin
Physical
Comedy
Director Joe Dieffenbacher
Katherine Kathy Rose O’Brien
Petruchio Edward MacLiam
Lucentio Aaron Heffernan
Bianca Genevieve Hulme-Beaman
Tranio
Imogen Doel
Hortensio
Colm Gormley
Baptista Gary Lilburn
Grumio Helen Norton
Vincentio
Louis Dempsey
Continues
in
repertory at Shakespeare’s Globe, South bank, London, England
**** (out of
five)
The Taming of
the Shrew is not an easy play to produce and
every director must find a way of dealing with its disgusting misogynist and
the cruelty and humiliation meted on Katherine “the shrew” by the obnoxious
Petruchio.
Director
Caroline Byrne’s approach to the play is to set it in Ireland at the time of
the Easter Uprising in 1916. Katherine would have been right at home in the
misogynistic society of Ireland but the point is that the men who issued The
Proclamation of Independence were well aware of the position of women and
promised them equality. They delivered nothing.
Edward MacLiam as Petruchio and Aoife Duffin as Katherine.Photograph:
Marc Brenner
Byrne delivers a
boisterous, rambunctious and wild production that is highly physical and never
hesitates to use the audience to provoke laughter. One character borrows a
bottle of water from a yardling, for example, drinks a bit and pours the rest
on another character.
There are Irish
ballads to lighten the mood and some choreography including a wedding with a
priest and confetti being tossed at the couple.
There is no
shortage of cruelty towards Katherine when Petruchio tries to “tame” her and we
can rationalize his conduct as being cruel to be kind or that she will
eventually gain the upper hand after he is through with his “taming” and she
pretends to be tamed. That is nonsense, of course, and perhaps simply wishful
thinking to defend the indefensible.
Kathy Rose
O’Brien is a spirited and at times a ferocious Katherine. We do believe that in
the end she will take the upper hand with her husband or that love will prevail
and the taming will have been unnecessary. We laugh so much and we worry or
should worry that we may seem to be condoning Petruchio’s cruelty.
Edward MacLiam
is a robust and blustering Petruchio whose Irish lilt makes it almost
impossible to dislike him. Genevieve Hulme-Beaman’s Bianca is attractive
without being insipid and I find that preferable to her appearing as a wimp.
She has to use some trickery, after all, to get her man. The servants Tranio,
Biondello, and Grumio are played by women for no apparent reason and surely there
is no need for one. They do terrific work.
Byrne and her
Dramaturg Moma Regan have done away with the scenes with Sly that open and
close The Taming which is a play-within-a-play. Regan is responsible
for the lyrics of the songs.
The issues that
the play illustrates remain but we do get a terrifically funny production of a
play and a superior night at the theatre.
No comments:
Post a Comment