The Taming of the Shrew

Published Thursday 14 February 2008 at 13:10 by Jeremy Brien

With the Bristol Old Vic in cold storage until at least Christmas 2009, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory artistic director Andrew Hilton has admitted a modicum of embarrassment at being in charge of what is currently the city’s main production company. If he continues to produce work of this clarity, however, he need not worry.

The Shrew is among the most testing and ironic of the comedies, with some even seeing it as the Bard’s revenge on his own shrewish wife. Hilton and his splendid principal players make sure the rollicking action is full of bustle and animation, while avoiding the element of burlesque that can make some pepped-up productions appear vulgar.

The key scene, of course, is Katherina’s submissive ‘Whole Duty of Woman’ speech which has outraged feminists down the ages. Here, Saskia Portway wisely avoids any tongue in cheek approach and, as is so important in the company’s familiar chamber approach to Shakespeare, stays solidly faithful to the text. Leo Wringer, as her boisterous wooer Petruchio, offers his own submission to the power of love right at the end, while Annabel Scholey and Oliver Le Sueur make sure the Bianca/Lucentio love match is an altogether more genteel affair.

Amid Shakespeare’s usual annoying coterie of sharp-tongued servants, Chris Donnelly’s bold Tranio and Oliver Millingham’s knowing Biondello emerge as largely audience-friendly, while Roland Oliver and Bill Wallis are suitably put upon as the elderly Baptista and Christopher Sly respectively.