Act One of American Stage's Taming of the Shrew is so successful, it's possible not to notice the major pitfall that director Todd Olson has avoided along the way. That pitfall is sexism; namely, Shakespeare's assumption that a woman with fight in her is a shrew in need of taming. Consider one of Shakespeare's male characters who's easily provoked – say, Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. No one in Romeo says that Tybalt's for taming, no one acts as if he needs to be starved and sleep-deprived until he loses his feistiness and truckles to his abusive spouse. But that's precisely the punishment that Katherine endures on her way to becoming husband Petruchio's slavering lapdog, and if a director's not careful, we moderns just might find ourselves rooting for the wrong team. In fact, I've seen at least one Taming that didn't correct for contemporary attitudes – this was at the FSU/Asolo Conservatory in Sarasota – and in it Kate came across as a strong female battling patriarchy, Petruchio was a lout and no better than a torturer, and Kate's final submission to her unscrupulous husband seemed like brainwashing pure and simple, much to be regretted.
But director Olson avoids this problem through comic exaggeration. Olson's Kate, played impeccably by Karen Marie Garcia, is no admirably strong female; she's instead a wild animal, a rampaging panther dangerous to society, to her own family, to anyone who dares get anywhere near her. She hits, she kicks, she ties up her sister and threatens her own father, she's all malice and malevolence and if anyone's crazy enough to want to go to bed with her, well, good luck and guard your body parts. Not that Petruchio is any less extreme than his fiancee; as imagined by Olson and portrayed by Jeremy Childs, he's a fortune-hunter with tunnel vision, devoted to the dowry that comes with Kate's hand, and pushed to strong measures as much by his own temperament as by a nearly insuperable challenge. One of the best visual jokes of a production studded with visual humor is the construction worker's hardhat Petruchio wears to his wedding: this is the least of protective devices he's going to need as Kate's partner. And even in a hardhat, he earns our anxiety: can he really, convincingly, dominate the indomitable? It's all to Olson's credit that we actually feel suspense even as we encounter this classic comedy for the umpteenth time. And to his credit also is the colorful world he creates around Kate and Petruchio – a world of deliberately mismatched costumes, acting styles, musical themes. The most noticeable element here is Mark Kobak's costuming – business suits, farmer's overalls, bright silver trousers, western wear, French beret, college student's sweater. A rock star and a hayseed, a can-can girl and a paterfamilias all share the stage in this postmodern mélange of types and attitudes, and mirabile dictu, it works. We never know what visual joke will be played on us next, we smile as an imaginary car driven by a chauffeur passes by in the 16th century, we have no trouble harmonizing a Renaissance lute with a cell phone. And the slapstick energy that animates it all couldn't be more welcome: in the outdoor setting of Demens Landing, this no-holds-barred comedy plays wonderfully, enchantingly.
That
doesn't mean there aren't drawbacks – for example, subplots that turn out to be hard to follow, a second act that can't equal the first in intensity. Baptista Minola of Padua has two daughters, not one, and if it's easy to grasp Petruchio's campaign to tame Kate, it's too difficult to follow daughter Bianca and her many suitors. This latter plot involves so many impostures, so many strategems and deceits, we can't at every moment say for certain who's where and why. And then there's the problem of anti-climax in Act Two, the fact that aside from some early scenes with Petruchio and Kate, much of the comedy seems to flag in this latter half. We've never fully understood the character played by Julie Rowe – some sort of androgyne servant? – but now Jorge Acosta comes on in drag, as someone's wife, and we can't for a minute understand just what he's doing there. Most of Act One was one daring gambit after the next; some of Act Two feels like a muddled winding-down, a perhaps inevitable loss of energy. When the last rhymed couplet is finally spoken, we're more than ready to go home.
Still, we've seen a production with notably good acting. Most outstanding are the two principals, plus Joe Parra as Baptista, Brian Webb Russell and Michael Dayton as suitors Hortensio and Gremio, and Brian Shea as Petruchio's much-put upon servant Grumio. But in fact all the participants here have mastered Shakespeare's language and successfully Americanized it; there's not a word in the whole show that's not accompanied by the right emotion, not a "monologue" where there should be, simply, life expressing itself. Joseph P. Oshry's lighting couldn't be better, and the device of having a character call out the act and the scene fits very well with the generally intrepid nature of the staging. Adrin Puente's set, showing the exterior of three houses in Padua, is competent if not revelatory – one wonders why this one aspect of the show is so conventional – and Olson's sound design includes some stubbornly modern Italian songs. And speaking of songs, you'll particularly enjoy the tune at the end of Act One, in which the cast prepares us for the imminent intermission.
So, yes, this one's worth seeing. It's got brilliant directing, first-class acting and delightful design. It also has defects, but they're relatively minor.
Twenty years ago, Shakespeare in the Park had its start with – you guessed it – The Taming of the Shrew.
This anniversary production – with wit, verve and style – does the tradition proud.
To Catch A Thief. Trevor Keller, artistic director of Gypsy Productions, has informed the St. Petersburg police of his intentions to file charges against his theater company's treasurer for alleged larceny of company funds. According to Keller, approximately $4,000 in Gypsy funds was embezzled, leaving the theater group with next to nothing. "We were left with zero, but due to a generous landlord of mine and a donation, we were able to open a new account, so we have a little bit to get started with the current production [Torch Song Trilogy]."
Anyone wishing to help Gypsy Productions, which specializes in plays on gay themes, should send a check made out to Gypsy Productions, Inc. to Trevor Keller, 733 Fifth Ave. N., #13, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701. Contributions are tax deductible.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 3, 2005.
