The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0705 Thursday, 18 October 2007
From: Hardy M. Cook <
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
Date: Thursday, October 18, 2007
Subject: Problem Shrews
Dear SHAKSPEReans,
This past weekend, my family and I saw the opening production of the
season at the Shakespeare Theatre, _ The Taming of the Shrew_ (directed
by Rebecca Bayla Taichman, her first with the company, and starring
Christopher Innvar and Charlayne Woodard as Petruchio and Kate with Lisa
Birnbaum as Bianca and J. Fred Shiffman, Michael Milligan, and Aubrey K.
Deeker as her suitors).
I have been deeply influenced by Emily Detmer's essay "Civilizing
Subordination: Domestic Violence and The Taming of the Shrew" (SQ 48
(1997): 273-94): "If readers and teachers fail to take seriously the
experience of Petruchio's abuse, and thus identify more strongly with
him than with Kate, they risk complicity with an ideology that
authorizes oppression as long as it is achieved without physical violence."
Despite my problems with the play, I was prepared to set my misgivings
aside and let this production speak for itself; after all the production
was directed by a woman and the program essay was written by Barbara
Hodgdon (see http://www.shakespearetheatre.org/plays/articles.aspx?&id=571).
However, from the moment Petruchio returned Kate's slap and subdued her
by twisting her ear and holding her so that she could not move, my
difficulties returned.
During the car ride home, in response to my query about whether it is
still possible to stage this play in the twenty-first century, Melissa
my older daughter tried to suggest a couple of scenarios. Her first
suggestion was to have a totally unsympathetic Petruchio as abuser with
the production's being an exploration of the Stockholm syndrome. Her
second thoughts were to stage the play as a scam from start to finish.
The idea of the scam was suggested in the closing moments of this
production but no suggestion of a scam before this point was evident.
She was during the ride able to fill in all the details and she
continues to ponder his suggestion.
I continue to wonder if _Shrew_ can still successfully be staged and if
so, how?
_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook,
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>
DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the
opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the
editor assumes no responsibility for them.
|
