Critic’s Pick
If you’ve ever seen The Taming of the Shrew, you might remember it as the tale of an ill-tempered woman brought into line by an abusive, gold-digging suitor. In that simple summary, Shakespeare’s early comedy understandably doesn’t sit well with most modern audiences. But contemporary presenters of the show have a variety options to make it more palatable. In its current staging at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, guest director Kevin Hammond has utilized more than one of them.
While Shrew’s “induction” — a joke played on Christopher Sly, a drunkard tricked into believing he’s a lord — is often skipped, Hammond keeps it intact. That creates a frame for the story of Petruchio and Katherine, which becomes a play within a play by touring actors who are in on the ruse. Before the main tale begins there are two scenes with Sly (Frank Delaney), nearly 300 lines of text. Then he moves to seats behind the audience. Once there, the main story begins. Early on Sly is chastised for falling asleep. He denies the charge but adds, “Would ’twere done!” wishing it were finished. Then he disappears altogether. Hammond has Sly back onstage at play’s end, convinced he’s dreamed the whole silly thing.
Framed in this way, the story of the combative courtship feels more like a funny skit than a real recommendation for a happy marriage. In fact, Petruchio invites anyone in the audience who “knows better how to tame a shrew, now let him speak.” Nick Rose, a delight to watch in this rambunctious role, delivers the line straight to the audience and waits for a response. None offered, he shrugs and blusters on.
Rose’s performance reflects another option to mitigate the story’s offensiveness: He offers a subtle, winking knowledge that he’s overdoing things. At the same time, his actions are tempered with growing respect for the feisty Kate, played with tempestuous strength by Kelly Mengelkoch. When they show up for the marriage of Bianca (Caitlin McWethy), Kate’s cloyingly annoying sister, the “taming” is evident. But in this production it’s clearly the result of a kind of truce between the combatants for their mutual benefit. They’re well matched and they know it. In that way, Hammond has resolved Petruchio’s ill treatment of his wife.
Hammond, the artistic director of Humber River Shakespeare in Toronto, uses 15 members of Cincinnati Shakespeare’s company to their full comedic potential. Jeremy Dubin’s portrait of the comic servant Grumio, leaning heavily on Monty Python shtick, is hilarious. And Bianca’s many suitors — Geoffrey Barnes, Jim Hopkins, Billy Chace and Justin McCombs — milk every laugh they can from their efforts to woo her.
Hammond has added jolly camaraderie in the form of lusty, lewd songs that open the show’s two acts. They also make the production a tad longer (pushing three hours); today’s audiences might appreciate some judicious trimming of the competition for Bianca. But all in all, Cincinnati Shakespeare’s tale of how to “kill a wife with kindness” is a jolly romp.
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, presented by Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, continues through April 25.
This article appears in Apr 1-7, 2015.
