I’ll admit it: The Taming of the Shrew boils my blood, and it’s all I can do to maintain my delicate reviewer’s composure and resist lobbing certain easily called-upon “–ist”s and “–ism”s like hand grenades. Anyone who’s seen Gil Junger’s 10 Things I Hate About You is more or less familiar with the play’s goings-on: Two sisters, Dr. Gentle and Miss High-Pitched Shriek, and the men who pursue them. The pathologically disagreeable Katherine (seen reading The Bell Jar in Junger’s adaptation—how very unsavory!) must be married off before the mass of suitors may descend upon the younger and more amenable Bianca, licking their lips and jangling their coin-purses.
 Awww, flowers from Flounder! A wacky Petruchio (Josh Carpenter) subdues a shrill Katherine (Ginna Hoben) in The Taming of the Shrew at Blackfriars Playhouse. |
What Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles fans may not know is that the shrew-taming action is cleverly wrapped up as a play-within-a-play (perk up those ears for metatheatrics, English majors!). Katherine and Bianca’s story is paraded before a drunken tinker, Christopher Sly, who has passed out and awoken, tricked by a few folks into thinking he’s some kind of nobleman.
So, The Taming of the Shrew itself is one large, comical diversion, and the American Shakespeare Center cast proved well versed in the art. Combining exceptionally strong individual performances, most notably Josh Carpenter’s Petruchio and Scot Carson’s three-role flexibility, with beautifully timed ensemble moments, the Blackfriars crew did everything it could to distract us from what is ultimately a morality play that comes out on the wrong end.
From tutus and a plush “Flounder” hat to Styrofoam pool noodles to Pat Benatar, the staging was quirky and engaging from start to finish, sagging only when Katherine, played by Ginna Hoben, opened her mouth. Unlike high-end automobiles, going from zero to stark, raving mad in 2.5 seconds makes for unsatisfying acting, and unfortunately the shrew herself did little to add nuance to the part. Instead, cast members whacked each other with props and shot water guns into the audience, with a “Look, over here!” volume and flourish. And it worked.
Staunton’s Blackfriars Playhouse simulates many aspects of the theater-in-the-round of Shakespeare’s day—universal lighting that allows the players to see the audience, audience members sitting on stage—and the result is a pleasant permeability between stage and seats. Early in the play, Scot Carson interrupts himself mid-line and growls a good-natured “Wake up!” into the front row. If there’s one thing the Blackfriars folks demonstrate, it’s flexibility: Whether dealing with a troublingly misogynistic (kaboom!) text or a drowsy attendee, this pack of actors meets the challenge with innovation and humor, and the result is an all-around worthwhile theater-going experience. Even if you’d rather the shrew went altogether untamed.