The Stage

The Taming of the Shrew

Published Monday 16 February 2004 at 12:30 by Peter Hepple

It is a fair bet that Gregory Doran’s production at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre will turn out to be the most popular production at Stratford this season, for he takes it at a rare clip, plunging us into a bustling Italian city scene, with what sounds like original folk music but is in fact composed by Paul Englishby. Stephen Brimson Lewis’ design is in mellow shades of brown and the set seems to be composed entirely of doors, which are slammed, beaten upon and kicked, initially by Alexandra Gilbreath, as bad-tempered a shrew as one can imagine, dishevelled in her clothing, sullen of face, cacophonous of voice.

Jasper Britton’s Petruchio positively relishes the chance to bring her to heel, masculinity rampant, confidence alarming. Katherina positively melts when faced with his irresistible force and it is even possible to feel sorry for her. Not a subtle treatment of the play then, and the better for it, even the final scene, which brings gasps from dyed-in-thewool feminists. Yet this gives it authenticity and brings it close to the spirit of Shakespeare’s own time.

If the principals take pride of place, there is much to enjoy in the performances of the other players, even those in the servant roles, such as Nicolas Tennant’s dirt-stained Grumio, Rory Kinnear’s swagger as Tranio and Simon Trinder’s north country Biondello. As their elders and supposed betters, Ian Gelder (Baptista), Paul Chahidi (Hortensio) and Christopher Godwin as an oldmaidish Gremio revel in their work. The younger leads, Eve Myles as Bianca and Daniel Hawksford as Lucentio, are a little colourless alongside the wildcat Gilbreath and the forceful Britton.

This show was reviewed prior to the website launch. A new review may be pending.