Review: (Toronto) The (All Female) Taming of the Shrew

photo by Burdett Photography

All Hips and No Bite
by Spencer Malthouse

Turning and turning in the widening gyre, the actor cannot hear the director; things fall apart, the centre cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the stage. The (All Female) Taming of the Shrew is a lengthy and unoriginal presentation of this famous problem play. Jaybird Productions should have left it and director Jacqui Burke locked in their cell.

In homage, perhaps, to the Bard, the set is spartan – three risers, stacked, with a few signposts and furniture pieces for context. Setting this play “in the round” was ineffective as one row of the audience was clearly sitting behind the action and between the wings. A simple thrust would have worked far better and saved some audience members being trampled. The lighting is simple but effective in the space and the costumes vary widely in quality. 

Sunday Feature: Jacqui Skeete on playing the Shrew in an (all female) Taming

Playing A Woman In a Man’s World... 
In An All-Female Cast
by Jacqui Skeete

@JacquiSkeete

Jacqui Skeete is an actress, host, and producer. She is a graduate of York University’s Acting Program. Previous credits include an adaptation of Midsummer’s Night Dream (Speakeasy Productions), Oleanna (Jaybird Productions), Unconditional (Column 13), Pulp Fiction LIVE (Purple Octagon), and co-host/reporter of CosmoTV (Corus Entertainment).

The Play

Sometimes with Shakespeare’s plays there aren’t enough female roles to go around! So when word got out that Jaybird Productions was holding blind casting for an All Female Taming of The Shrew, I picked up my Shakespeare lexicons, did some roll downs and got to work on figuring out which character I wanted to audition for. Turned out I was still interested in a female role…I’ll get to Kate in a moment, but first…

Taming of The Shrew is a comedy about the courting and marriage of Katharina, a loud, headstrong young woman and Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona. Petruchio sets out to ‘tame’ his angry bride through physical and psychological tormenting…did I mention it’s a comedy? The sub-plot involves Bianca, who seems to be more quiet, obedient, and lady-like than Kate, and being so is more sought after by the men of Padua.   

Review: (Toronto) Taming of the Shrew

Sophie Goulet and Kevin MacDonald (photo by David Hou)

Hot Balls 
by Winna Tse

@tsewinna

How ballsy. That was my first thought after seeing The Taming of the Shrew (henceforth The Shrew) in High Park this year. It takes tremendous skill to pull off this contemporary adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays. Brought to us by Canadian Stage Production and the Department of Theatre at the Faculty of Fines Arts, York University, director Ted Witzel's refreshing rendition stays quite true to its original form. 

Review: (Ottawa) Taming of the Shrew

Knights in White Satin

by Valerie Cardinal

@vscardinal

This is probably one of the more authentic stagings of Shakespeare I’ve seen. As in the 16th century, the cast is all male. Unlike that time, the director is a woman. Although I have certain qualms about Shakespeare’s script, Eleanor Crowder brings in a female perspective that is evident in how the material is dealt with. 

Taming of the Shrew centres on two sisters, the sweet and beautiful Bianca and the shrewish Kate. Their father decrees that Kate must be married before Bianca in order to fend off the younger daughter’s suitors. These suitors gather together to pay the visiting Petruchio to marry Kate – if he can tame her. Of course, since this is Shakespeare, mistaken identities and shenanigans ensue.

Review: (Montreal) Taming of the Shrew

Rasmussen and McCooeye (photo by Antoine Yared)

First there is the problem of the play

Can our critic get over the fact that Shrew is "egregiously outdated"?

by Jessica Wei

Sometimes you have to regard Shakespeare as your octogenarian grandfather at family dinners who likes to get bourbon-drunk and spout remarks less than 21st century politically correct that you kind of have to just smile and shrug through, like, “I'm pretty sure she was actually Japanese, and probably not a communist, necessarily, but then again you've been through a war and, y'know, can't teach an old dog new tricks, sooooo.....”

My point is, it is very difficult to enjoy Taming of the Shrew. It has its uncomfortable lulls. The political message hasn't quite transcended the five hundred years since it was written. Women with sharp tongues don't need to be “trained” anymore, especially not by gold-digging courters who have to run a business arrangement through rich old papa before sliding into first base. This is just a fact, and when one is slouched in a lawn chair at Mount Royal Cemetery, trying to enjoy this egregiously outdated play, one needs to first get over the fact that in Elizabethan England, sexism just didn't really exist.