LAST MANGO IN PARIS

This is a review of the RSC’s current production of ‘Taming Of The Shrew’ at Stratford-upon-Avon. ‘The Shrew’ has presented dilemmas for every director and company in the last century, as they seek to find a way to house its problematic ending. This production managed to do exactly that, by ingeniously subverting key elements in the play. Shakespeare’s Lord of the induction in this version of ‘the Shrew’ was a lady, a high priestess puppeteer who pulled the strings of this production.

The play began in 21st century England, with a group of bawdy, drunken revellers from a stag party crashing onto stage, an ingenious Shakespearian layer conceived by director Connal Morrison referencing both the hunting and the wedding metaphors to prevalent in the play. Here we were witness to a prime example of contemporary masculinity at its worse; the objectification of women, the mandatory pre-wedding shag, and the ugliness of laddish yob culture.

The ‘players’ tumbled out of the back end of a huge lorry, reversed onto stage, part of the excellent set design by Francis O’Connor. In their posturing, they ridiculed the world of antiquated Shakespeare renditions – the kind that that is full of men in tights and huge bellowing acting by the likes of Geilgud and Donald Sinden. This slight at the effete, pompous and posed world of actors, delivered with zest and excellent timing, immediately drew me into this production’s ambitious illusion.

We were introduced to a world filled with sordid sexual violence, albeit comically delivered. Taming of the Shrew is a classic Shakespeare comedy, in which disguises are donned by key characters. Stephen Boxer transformed from the comic drunken layabout Sly, to a slick, suave and handsome Petruchio; the play shows no mercy to this key character, who is offered no redemption.

Star of the show was Kier Charles, who relished switching from servant Tranio to a camp, gauche portrayal of his master, Lucentio. Katherina, played in the natural Scottish accent of actress Michelle Gomez, was as craggy, hardy, wild, bitter-sweet and wonderful as highland heather. Kate’s Scottish accent is one of the many ways in which identity politics was tackled in this production. Bianca (Italian for ‘white’) was played by non-white actress Amara Karan. Later, a merchant was also played by a black actor, assuming a postured Jamaican accent and swagger, which white members of the cast attempted to copy (badly), while the house band played soca music. Music played an important part in the production, most notably in providing cartoon-like themes to accompany the cartoon-like set and action. Sometimes you felt as if you were in a Tom and Jerry film.

The hint of sexual violence is present throughout the production. In early scenes, it is comic, but quickly begins to hint at something so much darker. This production successfully manages to twist the play’s meaning into one that is presumably far from the one Shakespeare may have intended, or at least is far from what 17th century audiences may have perceived. ‘Taming Of The Shrew’ cannot be seen without consideration of gender politics. This production managed to tell a story, which we – as a society which is slowly growing to see mysogeny as a thing of the past – can be proud of.