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Both reviewers agree Rosebriar Shakespeare Company’s Taming of the Shrew offers a fun evening with a tawdry hue. Jill and Sean note that the lack of technical flair and some uneven performances detract from the overall effect, but dub the production worth seeing.
Rosebriar’s Hits with a Bawdy Shrew
 Lucentio (David Artrip), Bianca (Tahrea Maynard), Hortensio (Rudy Frias). Photo by Anne Holmes by Jill C. Hartley Rosebriar Shakespeare Company’s production of Taming of the Shrew is bawdy and brash—but that’s a good thing. This particular play is often confusing to follow for audiences due to its multiple cases of characters disguised as each other and the play within a play set-up. And while some of the players were a detriment to the clarity of the play, the key actors went beyond the basic feat of memorizing and spouting back their lines and took the time to clearly understand the script. This aided the audience when the story began to get complicated. This is Shakespeare as it should be. Director Danielle Mari highlights and celebrates Shakespeare’s cruder side, allowing the audience to see the Bard as he should be seen and creating an overall enjoyable evening. The stage really begins to sparkle when Petruchio (Steve Emerson), Grumio (Jason Abram Newsome) and Hortensio (Rudy Frias) begin plotting their scheme to get Baptista’s older daughter married off in order to free the younger for her many suitors. The three pick up what is a somewhat slow and laborious start to an otherwise engaging show. Emerson has an energy and life that lasts from start to finish, capturing the true spirit of the play and fully embodying the antics of Petruchio. Newsome is equally engaging and good for laughs throughout. The standout player of these top three gentlemen, however, is Frias. His subtle choices are humorous and fun to watch without pulling focus when he is on the sidelines. He makes you want him to be the winner of the fair Bianca (Tahrea Maynard). Speaking of Bianca, the leading ladies hold their own among the funny men. Maynard strikes a brilliant balance between the silly giggly giddiness of fought-over maiden and the ugly, snotty side she so successfully hides from her suitors. Kate (Britt Kline) is believable as the rough and tough older sister, and her transformation to an obedient and kind wife is equally well done. The stage livened with every entrance she made. The technical aspects of the show are simple, allowing the production to move locations easily, as it does several times in the run. The action of the play makes up for the lack of technical dazzle. Patrons can still catch Rosebriar Shakespeare Company’s Taming of the Shrew Saturday, November 14 at 7:30 at the Main Street Cruiser Theater (Groveport Elementary School, 715 Main St, Groveport). Tickets are free, though donations are welcome. The run finishes in a dinner theatre format at Elks Lodge Lancaster on Saturday, November 21. It’s worth the drive. Call 1-740-653-1561 for Lancaster reservations. ******* Jill Hartley is no stranger to the stage. As a founder and board member of Raconteur Theatre Company, she is often in over her head in theatre. She has a theatre degree from Otterbein College and a Masters in English Education from Mount Vernon University. |
Rosebriar’s Shrew Thorny, But Fun
 Petruchio (Steve Emerson) and Katharina (Britt Kline). Photo by Anne Holmes by Sean Reid, Esq. Shakespeare offers even the most seasoned theater company a minefield of issues to navigate. Beyond the complexities that come with the mounting of any production, there are the added issues of working with a script fraught with difficult language, and subject to the previous interpretation of thousands of performers and scholars alike. The question then becomes whether the company can overcome these challenges while providing a fresh production of a script that is hundreds of years old. Rosebriar Shakespeare Company’s production of Taming of the Shrew navigates these challenges reasonably well. Purists will like that Rosebriar has chosen to include the induction scenes often cut from other productions. These scenes establish the actual play as a play within a play. It has been suggested by scholars that these scenes were Shakespeare’s method of dealing with the somewhat troubling themes of misogyny that has brought the show no small amount of negative criticism. In Rosebriar’s production the inclusion of these scenes is an effort to illustrate and explore the absurdity of social identity and the complexities of love. These efforts seem to fall flat. The crux of the story, and it would seem especially so when one of the key themes is the absurdity of social identity, is the dynamic changes that occur in the leading characters. At one moment, the audience is meant to hate Petruchio (Steve Emerson) for his treatment of Kate (Britt Kline), and at the next laugh and commiserate with a misfortune that he has suffered. Likewise, within the script there are moments where the audience is given a glimpse of Kate’s vulnerability, and yet within this production those moments often seem overlooked. Throughout the play, most of the major characters go through these character transformations in some form, and yet throughout the production these changes are minimal if they are present at all. The result seems to be a loss of some of the complexities of the play and of the characters themselves. The show also seems to suffer from a lack of technical direction or concept. Given that this is a touring show, and this production was staged at an elementary school theater recognized as a historic landmark, certain limitations and challenges are to be expected, and Rosebriar handles those challenges well. Yet, in a show that involves a significant amount of disguises and fake or assumed identities there is an inconsistent and confusing approach to the technical elements of the production that seem to hurt the overall performance. Make no mistake, Rosebriar’s Taming of the Shrew offers a night of bawdy fun. While there are issues of clarity among some of the cast, Steve Emerson (Petruchio), Britt Kline (Katharina), Jason Abram Newsome (Grumio), and Rudy Frias (Hortensio) bring a vivacious energy and enviable talent to the stage that seems to infect those around them. It is the scene in which Petruchio, Grumio, and Hortensio are plotting the marriage of Katharina, so that they might be free to pursue Bianca (Tahrea Maynard) that truly allows the audience members to settle back and lose themselves in the production. Throughout the show, Emerson, Newsome, and Frias, bring an energy and subtle physical comedy that will have audience members laughing well after the show has ended. ***** Sean Reid studied theatre at Ashland University and currently works as an attorney focusing on small business and the creative arts. |
November 15th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Thank you so much for the great Review, Jill.
(I promise the three of us are SO much more attractive than the press photo above shows. Make reservations for next Saturday and you’ll see what I mean.}
:o)
November 20th, 2009 at 2:35 am
Sean, I agree that Taming of the Shrew is a production that is not for the faint of heart, or for Shakespeare “newbies” as it were. However, I respectfully disagree with several of your points. As a veteran of theater productions in my native Connecticut, I have personally dealt with navigating the “minefield” of Shakespeare, as you so eloquently put it. Maybe my opinion comes from having read this particular work before, but I thought that Rosebriar executed technical aspects of the play quite well. With the spaces they were performing in, it seems to me, having seen this particular production opening weekend, that the players and director were simply making the best of a less than perfect situation. I can say from experience that it is a serious challenge to perform in a space that is inadequate, both spatially and technologically. I thought that Ms. Mari did a more than acceptable job of navigating these technical pitfalls. The scene changes were tight, well executed, and easy to follow, despite the lack of any “real” set. While it certainly was not as the Bard would have it at the Globe,
I found the play enjoyable and easy to follow. I also believe that the players themselves gave excellent portrayals of their characters, on the whole. While there were a few moments that bordered on cartoonishness, the reactions of the audience (myself included) always seemed to be appropriate with regards to the action onstage. Also, while agree that Mr. Emerson, Mr. Newsome, and Mr. Frias did steal the show with their comedic antics, it is well worth noting that both leading ladies did an admirable job of holding their own with these very funny gentlemen. Ms. Kline, in my opinion, delivered a Kate that was very dynamic, as sympathetic and loving at the end of the story as she was reproachable and foul at the beginning. I also very much appreciated Ms. Maynard’s ability to immerse herself in the contradictions of her Bianca. I found her simultaneously beautiful yet reprehensible, doting yet unfeeling, and sly yet juvenile. All in all ,I felt that it was a very well directed and performed production, despite the technical challenges. I applaud the effort on the part of Rosebriar to bring well-acted Shakespeare to a world where the art of stage acting is, unfortunately, going downhill fast. Although this particular show is over, I give my full encouragement to anyone interested in seeing a Rosebriar production. Don’t let the small stages or simple sets distract you from what this is: Shakespeare with passion.