TAMING OF THE SHREW till 10 March 2007.
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW: William Shakespeare.
Propeller at RSC, Courtyard: Part of the Complete Works Festival.
Runs: 2h 50m, one interval.
RSC till 11 November, then touring nationally and internationally till 10 March 2007.
Full details www.propeller.org.uk
The unpalatable made bearable – with great joy and pain.
The Taming of the Shrew is OK as a play as long as you don’t take the violence against Kate seriously. But then you have to take it seriously - the play does. The play is seen to be what it is – a cruel play about making women do what you want by beating them up. The remarkable thing about this production is that the maleness of Propeller and its physical style enables the actors to fully confront this violence; we are more able to take the violence since we see Petruchio and Kate are both men and, crucially, the male Kate can give equal violence back. It doesn’t make it acceptable, it makes it possible to bear. The play becomes an intricate, multi-layered event and the message is truly disturbing.
Actors are warm flesh and blood – this is what makes theatre powerful. So we have in front of us, at the end of the play, a shattered woman mouthing words about her ‘lord and master’ because she’s afraid of him and what he’ll do – and the other characters are as horrified as we are. That it’s all done in the name of ‘love’ is all the more disturbing – and all the more real in our 21st century world. Hall’s production cleverly merges the drunken oaf (read here thug) Sly with Petruchio; that Sly seems to be acting out a kind of fantasy about treatment of women strengthens the play’s central theme.
Edward Hall and his Propeller company have achieved something little short of a miracle – even more so when you see that this sombre message is achieved within the framework of farce, knock-about, broad acting and costumes, and high, high energy.
Dugald Bruce Lockhart is splendid as Sly/Petruchio. He first appears as a bit of a lad; in fact he never loses this laddish charm. But as his confidence in his own cruelty grows so grows his sense of enjoyment in it. How nasty can you get? Yet, for all this, there are moments when he too seems disturbed by what he’s at – yet he’s powerless to stop himself.
Simon Scardifield’s Katherine is, well, superb. At first, in short dress, Kate lopes awkwardly around the acting space – this is a Kate not at home with herself. She offers spirited resistance to Petruchio but is simply not up to his brutish strength. As Petruchio lays into Kate Scardifield’s performance becomes more and more engrossing. His commitment to what he’s doing drags us into Kate’s nightmare world. Late in the second half Kate holds onto Petruchio’s leg, offering herself in love if only to stop this man’s torture. It’s a long time since I’ve been so disturbed by an image in a play.
Edward Hall and his company have created a thrilling ensemble performance, fast and fluid within Michael Pavelka’s witty and flexible settings.
Christopher Sly/ Petruchio: Dugald Bruce Lockhart.
Lucentio: Tam Williams.
Tranio: Tony Bell.
Biondello: Alasdair Craig.
Baptista: Bob Barrett.
Katherine: Simon Scardifield.
Bianca: Jon Trenchard.
Gremio: Chris Myles.
Hortensio: Jack Tarlton.
Grumio: Jason Baughan.
Curtis: Joe Flynn.
A Pedant: Jason Baughan.
The Tailor: Dominic Tighe.
Vincentio: Chris Myles.
The Widow: Dominic Tighe.
Director: Edward Hall.
Designer: Michael Pavelka.
Lighting Designers: Mark Howland and Ben Ormerod.
Music by: Propeller.
Text Adapted by: Edward Hall and Roger Warren.
2006-11-07 15:50:35