Panto-Speare

The Taming of the Shrew is an exceptionally tricky play to produce in this century if you don’t want it to come off as ridiculous and misogynistic. And I think the stylistic choice that Meg Roe made with this production at Bard on the Beach was both wise and effective given the subject matter.

Unfortunately for me, Pantomime (with some heavy lashings of Commedia Dell'arte) is a style I can barely tolerate. So while I can appreciate the skill and sound judgement used to effect this production, I did not particularly enjoy it.

Typical of Shakespeare’s comedies, The Taming of the Shrew is rife with mis-identity and disguised lovers. There’s not a lot to the plot, Baptisa has two daughters, the elder is shrewish, bad tempered and violent, the younger mild and fair. He will not allow any man to court his youngest daughter, Bianca, until her older sister, Kate, is wed. Bianca of course, has many suitors. A plot is hatched to marry Kate off and Kate’s suitor, Petrucio, proceeds to “tame the shrew”. Marriages all round etc etc.

Despite my distaste for this particular style of humour, I did enjoy some moments despite myself. A testament to the skill of the cast and creative team. The actors were fully committed to their choices and I have to admire that. I genuinely enjoyed comedic moments from John Murphy’s Petruchio and Kayvon Kelly’s Grumio. I was even moved by Lois Anderson’s Kate in Acts 4 and 5. Anderson’s “shrewishness” at the beginning felt unbelievable, but her frustration, joy and curiosity later in the play were utterly charming. I was particularly impressed by the scene in which the lovers intercept a traveller on the road. That scene for me is the essence of the play and I think it was handled perfectly.

My major concern at the outset was the likelihood of actors losing their voices before the end of the week, never mind the end of their extremely long run. I appreciate that a tent erected in the open air probably has the acoustics of a damp cushion, but shouting is never effective and is also abrasive on the ear. That said, most of the cast either warmed up or calmed down as the performance progressed. It was media night, it may just have been nerves.

There were a few instances where I felt the physical comedy overshadowed the comedy of the text. I know its Shakespeare and we’re trying to make it accessible, but intentionally covering speech so that those of us who would get the joke can’t hear it is inexcusable. Absolutely be lewd and crude and clownish, the script and subject matter beg for it! But when another actor is gesticulating wildly and loudly to cover a sharp and pithy quip, I feel insulted. The assumption is that the audience is not quick or intelligent enough to understand the script. An audience is made up of a variety of people, some of whom have never seen Shakespeare before and will find it intimidating, some who have studied Shakespeare for most of their lives. The genius of Shakespearean texts, is the way he mixes high and low brow humour, how he combines the intellectual and the crude, essentially pleasing everyone. 

And really that’s all I can say. The musical score was beautiful. The costumes were gorgeous and intentionally pompous. If you’re not a Shakespeare aficionado, or if you are, but you love pantomime, go and see this play and please add your comments below. I’d love an opinion to temper my own bias. If you’re like me and don’t enjoy situational comedies or slapstick, you might want to give this a miss.