Review of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, on stage at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum.
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Willow Geer, Aaron Hendry, and Leo Knudson (read). Photo by Ian Flanders.
Could the fault, dear reader, be not in our Bard but in ourselves, that we are sensitive? Controversial among Shakespeare’s plays, the Taming of the Shrew could just as easily be called The Making of a Stepford Wife for its misogynistic proclamation of female submission to husbands. A number of interpretations are possible, of course, with varying degrees of charity towards the Bard. Much like many disquieting, dystopian scenarios presented in fiction, the play might indulge the reprehensible to serve as cautionary tale rather than endorsement. But I never have been convinced that the mere reenactment or illustration of what we find objectionable is equivalent to genuine moral indignation, let alone thoughtful refutation. The induction that launches the play-within-the-play, in which drunken tinker Christopher Sly is meanly tricked into believing he is a lord recovering from a long bout of insanity, is of no help. Shakespeare never revisits the frame at the play’s end – calling it a frame is misleading, since it is incomplete – thus missing the opportunity to use Sly and his deceivers to comment on the play presented to them. At the least, Taming of the Shrew seems a very dim light in the Bard’s otherwise shining canon of work – structurally suspect, characterized with an atypical lack of nuance, and revealing very little of the insight into our human condition that marks Shakespeare’s best work. Certainly, female characters have fared much better in his other plays, making Taming of the Shrew a peculiar anomaly.
While the text is the text, the play’s delivery can achieve some measure of ironic detachment from the material with the right troupe, enough to achieve a satirical rather than literal effect. Despite a promising start, the Theatricum Botanicum is not that troupe. The good news is that this is arguably the best production I have seen from the Theatricum in overall cast strength – setting aside quibbles such as helter-skelter costuming and the kitschy use of on-stage foley artists armed with slide whistles and the like. Unfortunately, the production is defeated by director Ellen Geer’s verbatim handling of the text.
It begins as a fittingly comical setup in which Shakespeare places the pieces on the board, with Gerald Rivers supplying a marvelously silly yet sympathetic Christopher Sly. But soon it becomes uncomfortably disturbing as the mercenary Petruchio – hardly a shrew whisperer – uses psychological tortures, such as food and sleep deprivation, to break Kate’s spirit of independence. He does it to the point she submits to perceiving reality in any way she is told. With an approach already steeped in the broadest strokes of physical comedy, the taming’s cruelty becomes exaggerated, abetted by performances that, while admirably energetic, lack temperance. Willow Geer, whose habit of leaving teethmarks on the scenery tends to upset ecologists, is well-suited to the role, but overly amplified to the point that the character flattens into two dimensions. Kate’s legitimate grievances against her father and sister become lost in Ms. Geer’s screeching performance. Are we meant to be so repelled by Kate’s own cruel behaviour that we would cheer her domestication and overlook the fundamental injustice of her coercion into marriage? Similarly, Aaron Hendry plays Petruchio with gusto and an undeniable, brash charisma; he is no mere actor in the play, but a force of nature. Yet the sheer, single-minded passion of his performance makes Petruchio quite the villain, however jolly, instead of a man with motivations more complex than a swashbuckler’s love of money and conquest.
Of course, the Theatricum does benefit from an almost unfair advantage over most other theatrical venues; a forested hillside amphitheater that affords three-dimensional staging. It makes other theatres seem stuck with a mere two-and-a-half. Yet their one-dimensional conception of Shakespeare’s oddity, hovering uncertainly between indulgence and caricature, makes deciding to shlep to beautiful Topanga Canyon for an intimate outdoor performance a toss-up.
On stage through September 29. Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga. For a complete schedule of performances and to purchase tickets, call 310-455-3723 or visit www.theatricum.com.
Frédérik Sisa is the Page's Assistant Editor and resident arts, entertainment, and culture critic. He invites you to visit his blog, Ink & Ashes, and join him on Twitter as he figures out this whole tweeting business.
