THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Shakespeare's Globe and the Bolshoi Ballet

03.08.2016


Two Shrews on the same day, with little in common save [some] characters and the bare bones of the plot.
The Globe's new production, set in Ireland one hundred years ago, the time of the Easter Rising, seeks to add emancipation to the mix. Stylish costumes in subdued tones; the company's shoes, untenanted, face upstage at the start – they are discarded again before the jig at the end.
Caroline Byrne's production paints a grimly patriarchal world – her Kate – a strong Aoife Duffin - begins as a rough fighter, but ends broken and bowed by Edward MacLian's rudesby Petruchio. The all-Irish cast includes many impressive performances, not least the lively servants – all played by women, including Helen Norton as a lugubrious Grumio, and superb comedy from Imogen Doel and Molly Logan, capturing to perfection the mischievous charm of the boy apprentices. Amy Conroy has a nice double as the Tailor, and the Widow, given a signficant presence throughout the piece.
An Irish band provides an atmospheric underscore.
This is an uncompromising, often darkly violent production, which is a timely reminder that the themes beneath the comedy are still sadly relevant here and now.
A very different Katherine in Jean Christophe Maillot's ballet for the Bolshoi, though she does suffer a wintry journey and a hard bed. But she is subjugated, or seduced, in that same bed, with an agitated Grumio [Georgy Gusev] adjusting the wayward sheets.
Set to a tuneful assortment of Shostakovich – Tahiti Trot for the wedding feast – Maillot's choreography is witty and slick. Impeccably danced by Bolshoi stars Ekaterina Krysanova and Vladislav Lantratov as the Shrew and her tamer, with his shaggy mane and overcoat. Olga Smirnova is a gauche, demure Bianca, with Semyon Chudin as her lover Lucentio – they have a delightful Gadfly pas-de-deux in Act One.

The design, by Ernest Pignon-Ernest – stark, geometric and white, save for Bianca's blue and Kate's green – could well have been done in Shostakovich's lifetime, rather than just two years ago. Another stylish touch is the enigmatic prologue in which the Housekeeper [!?] teasingly trades heels for pointe shoes, warming up as the large orchestra – xylophones and saxes – is tuning up.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Shakespeare's Globe on Tour at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds

05.09.13

for The Public Reviews

This week the grubby red and white circus tent is pitched on the stage of the wonderfully restored Regency playhouse opposite the brewery. This touring Taming of the Shrew opened in Portsmouth back in June, and has played "wet and windy Cambridge" and "boiling Malta" amongst many other venues. It'll finish in Singapore ...

This is a predominantly young company, enjoying the doubling and the disguises. A chirpy, cheeky style, reminding us of what Shakespeare's "little eyasses" must have been like, the boy companies who were so popular with the play-going public.

Christopher Sly, the drunkard who is duped in the Induction, is a cocky Geordie Kate Lamb, later Katerina, more than a match for Leah Whitaker's swaggering, flowing-maned Petruchio – "I am rough and woo not like a babe," she assures us with a knowing look and a bone-crushing handshake. Their first encounter is tense and tentative; Kate is almost eager for their first kiss, but her submissive speech in the closing moments cleverly wrongfoots Petruchio, who is clearly appalled by her effusive abasement, and is reluctant to pocket his winnings.

Excellent comic support from the company, including Remy Beasley as Tranio and Becci Gemmell as Lucentio, Joy Richardson as the Widow and an asthmatic, cricketing Gremio, Olivia Morgan as the two blondes [Biondello and Bianca], Nicola Sangster as Hortensio and Kathryn Hunt, with a variety of throaty chuckles, as, amongst others, a long-suffering Grumio and a lovely Yorkshire Baptista.

Joe Murphy's production has many moments to relish, Kate being left at the church, the horseburgers in cardboard cartons. Corin Buckeridge's music is well used [these are multi-talented actor/musicians] – some catchy period songs, a cello for the wedding party, Kate's siren sax to herald the jig. But, rather like the costumes – hunting pink, concert-party flannels, seventies wedding suit – the music lacks a cohesive style. Petruchio as aviator [flying goggles – Grumio his mechanic] is a nice touch for "what happy gale blows you to Padua ?"

It's a decade since the last all-female Shrew at the Globe, but only last year that Toby Frow's production was the hit of the season. Best if you can put those two out of your mind, and imagine this fresh and feisty show on a warm evening outdoors, with strawberries in your hamper to match those Bianca shares on stage – Minack in Cornwall will be their last al fresco date !

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

Shakespeare's Globe on Tour

11.06.13

Their grubby red and white fairground booth is pitched back home in the Globe this week, after opening in Portsmouth, and before going on to Bungay, Bury St Edmunds and the Bodleian, amongst many other British venues, not to mention international dates in Malta, Austria and the Far East.

This is a predominantly young company, enjoying the doubling and the disguises. Watching them reminds us of what Shakespeare's "little eyasses" must have been like, the boy companies who were so popular with the play-going public.

Christopher Sly, the drunkard who is duped in the Induction, is a cocky Geordie Kate Lamb, later Katerina, more than a match for Leah Whitaker's swaggering Petruchio – "I am rough and woo not like a babe," she assures us with a knowing look and a bone-crushing handshake. Kate is almost eager for their first kiss, but her submissive speech in the closing moments cleverly wrongfoots Petruchio, who is clearly embarrassed by her effusive abasement.

Excellent comic support from the company, including Remy Beasley as Tranio and Becci Gemmell as Lucentio [pictured], Joy Richardson as the Widow and an asthmatic, cricketing Gremio, Olivia Morgan as the two blondes [Biondello and Bianca], Nicola Sangster as Hortensio and Kathryn Hunt as, amongst others, a lovely Yorkshire Baptista.

Joe Murphy's production has many moments to relish, Kate being left at the church for one, and Colin Buckeridge's music is well used [these are multi-talented actor/musicians], though like the costumes – hunting pink, concert-party flannels, seventies wedding suit – it lacks a cohesive style.

It's a decade since the last all-female Shrew at the Globe, but only last year that Toby Frow's production was the hit of the season. Best if you can put those two out of your mind, and imagine this fresh and feisty show on a warm evening outdoors, with strawberries in your hamper to match those on stage …

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Shakespeare's Globe
26.06,12

Christopher Sly – too often absent altogether in modern productions of the Shrew – is a very forceful presence at the start of Toby Frow’s bold production for the Globe.

Crucially, he links the 21^st century crowd of groundlings to the period action of the play, and once he’s convinced he’s a lord, he joins them for the first few scenes, though for reasons amply apparent as the drama unfolds, he does not make a return visit at the end.

The main event is traditional in approach, fresh and fast-paced, with some memorable performances.

In her Globe début, Samantha Spiro makes a compact but frighteningly feisty Kate. She’s perhaps best known for being Barbara Windsor [whose shade is not entirely absent here], but she makes a superb shrew, even if her change of heart, beautifully delivered, is not especially convincing.

Her Petruchio is an amazing tour de force from Simon Paisley Day.

Strength, stillness and silliness combine in a very watchable turn; his wedding apparel has to be seen to be believed.

Among many other joys, Pierce Quigley’s grumpy Grumio, wearily following his master around with a bucket and a pair of coconut shells. Original practices indeed.