PETRUCHIO KNOWS BEST

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Directed by David Greenham; written by William Shakespeare
With: Timothy Davis-Reed, Janis Stevens, Jason Paradine, Kyle Knight, Frank Omar, Kristala Pouncy, Paul Buxton, Nick Gallegos, Henry Bazemore, Richard Price, Tracie Merrill, Maxim Blowen-Ledoux, Dustin Tucker, Greer Beckman, Sally Wood, and Michael Anthony
At The Theater At Monmouth in Monmouth, Maine
In repertory from July 8 to August 27

Reviewed by Laurie Meunier Graves

“Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you, / That triumph thus on my misery!”
—Katherina

There are no two ways around it. The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s problem plays. The story, simple and brutal, centers on the mean-tempered Katherina (Kate) and how she is brought to heel by the strong-minded Petruchio, who does this by denying her food, depriving her of sleep, and employing other nasty psychological tricks that probably wouldn’t fly with the Geneva Convention. By the end of the play, this wildcat of a woman has been so completely brainwashed by Petruchio that she has become a sort of Elizabethan Stepford wife, always ready to do her husband’s bidding without argument or fuss, and with a smile on her pretty face.

To say that this settles like a sour lump in the gorge of today’s feminists, men and women alike, is to put it mildly. We might laugh, albeit reluctantly at times, at what, in the hands of the right actors, is a very funny play. But the laughter is too often uncomfortable, and when the play is done, we can’t help but feel ashamed of ourselves for laughing at the total humiliation of a strong woman. Once again, Shakespeare has managed to take an unsympathetic character—after all, Kate really is a shrew—and make the audience think that maybe the punishment has gone too far. He did it with Malvolio in Twelfth Night and perhaps most famously with Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The same is true for Kate in The Taming of the Shrew. By the end, we feel sorry for her. Is that one of the points Shakespeare was trying to make? Only a fool can claim to know Shakespeare’s mind, but Shakespeare did seem to have a knack for eliciting sympathy for the various rogues, miscreants, and asses who inhabit his plays. I would argue that it is this sympathy that makes The Taming of the Shrew palatable—even if just barely—for modern audiences. In addition, the play might also serve as a warning, a sort of ghost of Christmas past, of where we’ve come from and what we might become. But more on that later.

In its production of The Taming of the Shrew, The Theater At Monmouth mined every small nugget of gold that could be found in this problem play. It was one of the best productions of The Taming of the Shrew that I have ever seen. I saw it on a preview night with a house full of restless, gum-chewing teenagers who had come in busloads, and performing for them must have been quite a challenge. There were a few verbal stumbles, which I’m sure will be worked out over time, but this year’s cracking cast brought so much passion, energy, and vitality to the performance that there was never a slack moment. (This bodes very well for the rest of the season.) I must admit I was not excited when I heard the play was set in the American West. I tend to like Shakespeare straight-up, where the actors and the text make the play come to life. However, the play’s director, David Greenham, managed to walk that fine line between “stupid and clever.” At times it was a tight squeak—the western accents, mercifully downplayed, tended be cloying—but Greenham did it. And without the western setting, the audience never would have had the pleasure of watching Michael Anthony, as Petruchio’s servant Grumio, fumble hilariously with his pistols. Anthony, who put me in mind of the actor Steve Zahn, was perfectly deadpan the whole time, which just made the routine even funnier. However, judging from Anthony’s performance in The Taming of the Shrew, I suspect that Anthony has such wonderful comic timing that he would be funny even with just a handkerchief as a prop.

Equally impressive was Richard Price, who played the servant Tranio. Nimbler and more expressive than Michael Anthony, Price didn’t make the mistake of overacting in this silly role. He seemed to be in complete control and was a delight to watch. In addition, his speech had a wonderful clarity and cadence.

Naturally, the success of The Taming of the Shrew hinges on the performances of the actors who play Kate and Petruchio, and Sally Wood and Timothy Davis-Reed did a fine job with their roles. As Kate, Sally Wood scrunched her face into a sour, hard-nut expression, which captured the woman’s inner turmoil. Kate’s younger sister Bianca is the favorite daughter, and, as a result, Kate has become bitter and humorless but not defeated as she lashes out at those around her. Wood’s own red hair helped to emphasize Kate’s fiery nature, and when the other characters cowered in front of her, we could certainly understand why. With his own reddish hair (although not as red as Wood’s), the sturdy Timothy Davis-Reed brought a willful, stubborn glow to Petruchio. This was a man who had come to town to find a rich wife, and find her he would. Love and temperament were unimportant. Money was what counted, and once Petruchio had latched onto the idea of marrying Kate, he wasn’t about to let her go. Davis-Reed made Petruchio perfectly believable, a flinty tyrant who was prepared to be reasonable and even loving as long as he got what he wanted. Both Wood and Davis-Reed did a terrific job of portraying Kate and Petruchio as “two tough cookies,” and how, beneath the fighting and abuse, there might even be attraction between them.

This being Shakespeare and a comedy, The Taming of the Shrew has subplots involving Bianca and various suitors as well as disguises, tricks, and a lot of tomfoolery. All of the other actors whipped through their roles with verve and were a delight to watch. However, special mention must go to Kyle Knight, a young actor with a very small part. Nevertheless, Knight’s presence was so graceful and elegant that my eye was drawn to him whenever he was on stage.

When the play was over, as I was going to my car, I overheard a conversation between two young women. One of them said to the other, “In the end, Kate gets screwed over. There’s no doubt about it.”

No, there isn’t, and this brings me to the conclusion that The Taming of the Shrew can be used as a cautionary tale. Petruchio couldn’t be clearer about the role of women when he asserts, “She [Kate] is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, / My household stuff, my field, my barn, / My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything…” We shouldn’t forget that in the not-so-distant past, women lost control of their property when they got married. They couldn’t vote, and they had little choice in how many babies they had. Those times seem far, far behind us, but there are some in this country and in this world who would like nothing better than to return to this period. Therefore, let’s not forget The Taming of the Shrew, which gives us an extreme example of what life could be like for women in the “good old days.”

 

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