Shrew is a lot of fun

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

No doubt, it verges on the heretical to say that anyone could improve upon the work of the master of all playwrights, William Shakespeare. However, Bard on the Beach’s production of The Taming of the Shrew this year both condenses and embellishes the Bard’s original work to make it more enjoyable. For modern-day audiences that have many sources of entertainment to tempt them, the modifications – and, of course, the quality of the team mounting the production – make seeing Shrew worth prioritizing.

Director Meg Roe’s decision to dispatch with the some 2,000 words of dialogue that comprise the first two scenes of the play, the “induction,” is an excellent one. The induction sets up The Taming of the Shrew as a play within a play, but adds little else.

“I cut the induction,” Roe told the Vancouver Sun’s Peter Birnie in an interview that was published May 30, “because it gives me a big headache.”

It certainly would have given this reviewer a headache. The “play within a play” is more than enough.

Bard on the Beach’s Shrew begins with Lucentio – dapperly played by Jewish community member Anton Lipovetsky – and his servant, Tranio (Kyle Rideout), arriving in Padua, where, like every other man in town, Lucentio falls in love with Bianca (Dawn Petten). Her older sister, Katharina (Lois Anderson), aka “the Shrew,” must get married first, however.

Not discouraged by this fact, Lucentio disguises himself as a tutor, so that he can woo Bianca, while Tranio poses as his master, in order to gain her father’s consent. Also performing various machinations in an effort to win Bianca is Hortensio (Kevin Kruchkywich), who poses as a tutor as well, but, more effectively, convinces his friend, Petruchio (John Murphy), to try and tame “the Shrew” into marriage, which Petruchio happily does, as the dowry is large.

There are other obfuscations, much witty repartee and myriad twists and turns that, because this is a Shakespearean comedy after all, lead to multiple weddings. And, of course, Kate is tamed, and goodly tamed.

Even knowing how the play would end, and as aggressively and gratingly as Anderson plays Kate at the beginning, as a woman living in Canada in 2012, I couldn’t shake the hope that Petruchio would fail in transforming her. At the same time, I hate to admit, the end-of-play Kate is much more likable and intelligible as a result of his efforts. Anderson plays the process wonderfully and believably, and her Kate, while perhaps trained into obedience, still seems to retain an independent spark – so much so that I still harbor the thought that, after the curtain was drawn and she and Petruchio returned home, so to speak, she would not hesitate to challenge him, at least in private.

The entire cast, without exception, brings much energy and fun to the production, and they act their parts and communicate the dialogue with apparent ease. One of the most humorous aspects of this production is the expanded role of the Widow, who is not actually mentioned in the play until Act 4 and doesn’t speak until Act 5. In Roe’s version, the Widow – who ends up marrying Hortensio – appears several times in earlier acts, always in black mourning attire, getting married and then, almost before the priest’s blessing is complete, widowed once again, as her latest husband succumbs to a deadly bee sting, gun shot or other mishap. These pantomimed episodes are an inspired addition by Roe and the Widow is perfectly played by Jewish community member Susan Coodin.

Other standouts in a standout cast include Kayvon Kelly as Grumio, Petruchio’s manservant, and Shawn Macdonald as Gremio, one of Bianca’s more elderly suitors. The colorful and elaborate costumes by Mara Gottler and the music chosen by composer and sound designer Patrick Pennefather place the production soundly in the adapted version’s time period of the late 1700s/early 1800s, and the scenery design by Kevin McAllister makes creative and functional use of Bard on the Beach’s Mainstage in Vanier Park, where The Taming of the Shrew is on until Sept. 22. For tickets ($21-$40) and information on the other plays being presented this summer, visit bardonthebeach.org or call 604-739-0559.

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