Ruby Nancy Review for Taming

Review by Ruby Nancy, originally posted March 7, 2008
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One of the best-known comedies attributed to William Shakespeare, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW has been reworked as musical comedy and film – as KISS ME KATE and "10 Things I Hate About You," just to mention a couple of the more famous interpretations. With so many adaptations and films, revivals and Shakespeare festivals, you can see this familiar script in some form almost anytime.

And just what is it that draws so many to this tale of Petruchio "taming" Katherina?

I suppose the answer is at least as varied as the different people who try to put their stamp on this theater mainstay, really. The full text reveals it as an impromptu performance designed as sport, so those who take the story literally can argue among themselves at will…

In no way is this a serious show, and its entertainment value possibly endures because the mix of ribald comedy and glorious language offers something for almost everyone – while leaving us all not quite satisfied with how things are wrapped up.

Though not the first one I read, SHREW was the first Shakespeare I saw on screen (courtesy of Elizabeth Taylor and my junior high English teacher) and the only one I’ve ever appeared in – and there also have been several versions of it here to review over the past decade-plus – so it is pretty familiar territory.

An added advantage (if you can call it that) of knowing the material is anticipating what comes next, and the loss of surprise is easily compensated by the intensity of expectation. In the case of the Prenzie Players, whose production of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW is the last Shakespeare play of their sixth season, you never know quite what to expect. Even when you know the lines by heart, there is still the very real prospect of surprise to be factored in with the ramped-up expectations this group engenders.

In the case of Prenzie’s SHREW, the first difference you notice is the milieu in which it takes place. The audience begins its experience in a rowdy bar, where an "open mic" night is underway. The very drunk tinker Christopher Sly (Eddie Staver III) attempts a guitar number, and after it goes badly, he becomes the butt of an elaborate prank. Big shot-slash-arts patron "Lord" John Turner gets a group of actors, who are partying at a nearby table, to pretend that Sly is a great noble who has hired them to entertain Sly and his "wife," a frumpy, be-wigged male actor (Dustin Oliver, who also plays a widow later, and who does both roles with wit). The resulting play-within-a-play is where the "taming" takes place.

By show’s end, Sly himself has been given lines and costume, and the resulting scenes are among the most hilarious in this comedic production. Staver’s willingness to play the boozy pedant to the hilt is absolute genius – so much so that I found myself repeatedly watching his Sly react to the "play," even at the risk of missing some of it myself. His open-mouthed reaction to Katherina’s capitulation speech is a priceless moment that will keep me chuckling for weeks, and his sexy, loose-limbed, completely inebriated turn here is just about as good as it gets.

And there are plenty of other great performances in this TAMING OF THE SHREW.

Beth Woolley, in the title role, plays Katherina with a raw energy that gets under your skin in surprising ways. Rather than interpreting the role "traditionally" – that is, Kate as a pretty-but-feisty redhead, Kate as a loveable little termagant, or Katherine who simply gets a kick out of tormenting those she feels superior to – Woolley’s Katherina is bedraggled and unhappy. With a lanky, unkempt un-style and a perpetual frown, she truly embodies an unnamed misery, lending an authentic betrayal to the character when she realizes just how quickly her mother is willing to hand her off. Her transformation has the feel of a boot camp grad or a recently-hazed pledge who feels their experience has taught them life-changing self-control.

Chris Moore’s Petruchio is likewise an unusual protrayal. Rather than the blustery egomania of a larger-than-life personality, his portrayal is reserved and intense. Quiet and self-possessed, tough-as-nails and completely controlled, his outrageous behavior and dress seem calculated rather than clownish. The result is more Putin than Yeltsin, shall we say, and his performance – as the relationship with Katherina develops – definitely grows into an unusually emotional, though suave, take on their final scene.

The sheer number of other fine performances make it impossible for a single review to do them all justice. However, standouts here include J.C. Luxton, whose deeply-vested performance as the bizarrely-garbed Grumio is as hilarious as it is downright odd, and Jaci Entwisle, whose smartly-dressed Baptista is as sharp as she is, well, hot. Jake Walker’s turns as Gremio and as a leather-clad tailor are both perfectly funny, and Bryan Woods (though he, like a handful of others in this cast, are reprising stock characters they have played in other shows) earns big laughs for his disguised tutor’s loss in a brief battle with Katharina.

What I particularly liked about director Jeremy Mahr’s brave take on the script (and that of Stephanie Burrough and Jill Bennin-Sullivan, who serve as assistant directors) is the straightforward way it handles the presentation of the quickly-improvised inner play. There’s no attempt to overlay the big scenes here with a wink-wink, nudge-nudge overture designed to appease those who think Petruchio is a jerk and Katherina is a fraud, or even acknowledge those who find some lines or scenes offensive – the actors just do the show and let the rest of us think what we will.

The result, full of big laughs and real emotion, is first-rate theater that brings us a classic without cliché. Don't miss Prenzie's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.