The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare's Petruchio is either played as an icon of male dominance or an abusive sexist swine. For the Old Globe, inventive director Ron Daniels negotiates a third possibility: as played by Jonno Roberts, he's a bumbling "rudesby" who may never have woo'd before. He and Kate (Emily Swallow) experience love at first sight, and she goes along with him. The strategy works, at least until the curtain falls. Roberts and Swallow are always entertaining, but it's hard to believe that even a Kate in love could withstand Petruchio's boot camp tactics. Bruce Turk (Grumio) and Donald Carrier (Hortensio) head a strong supporting cast (Bree Welch and Shirine Babb, as Bianca and a rich widow, suggest that marriage to these newlyweds will be no honeymoon). The director turns Ralph Funicello's spare, useful set into a hybrid world: part late Renaissance, part today, the latter including moves and gestures for the groundling in us all.
Worth a try. (Note: Shrew runs in repertory with King Lear and The Madness of George III.)
When
Ongoing until Sunday, September 26, 2010
Hours
| Sundays, 8pm |
| Tuesdays, 8pm |
| Wednesdays, 8pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 8pm |