William Shakespeare must be smiling down on local theater impresario Dale Gutzman these days, as Gutzman’s Off the Wall Theatre continues its production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Gutzman demonstrates a lot of guts for staging such a play as Shrew in the middle of the Me Too movement, but he seems to make the 400-year transition from Shakespeare’s time to ours look easy.
For starters, this production is staged in modern-day dress (with a few minor adjustments). An all-white backdrop is smeared with blood, or red paint, to indicate the play’s fervid nature. Piles of beer cans litter the floor to emphasize the crude nature of Padua, where the play takes place. The atmosphere reminds one of an unkempt fraternity house. The house music, by “The Smiths,” further conveys this sense of dissonance and disruption.
Before the introduction of Katherine, the “shrew” referred to in the title, one is tossed into a frat party honoring beauty pageant winner, Bianca (Jenny Kosek). As the submissive, lovely and plastic-looking Bianca, Kosek glows with all the attention being paid to her. In one corner sits older sister Katherine (Alicia Rice). She internally rages at all the fuss made over her sister, and her occasional outbursts embarrass her businessman father, Baptista (James Strange). He makes it apparent that the obedient Bianca is his favorite child, which further inflames Katherine.
A pair of Bianca’s prospective suitors who attend the party (Jeremy C. Welter and James Feeley) are disappointed to hear that Baptista will not consider her marriage until the unruly Kate is wed.
Further complicating this scene is the arrival of Lucentio (Nathan Danzer), a tall, good-looking university student who sees and immediately falls in love with Bianca. All this pining for Bianca sets the stage for matchmaking, with Katherine as the prime target.
Conveniently, a handsome, unmarried drifter named Petruchio (Jake Russell) arrives in Padua. He tells Bianca’s suitors that his goal is to find a wealthy wife who can provide all the comforts he requires. They believe that Katherine’s father will be more than agreeable to this exchange, as he just wants to rid himself of the unruly Kate.
As the dueling couple, Alicia Rice and Jake Russell are well-matched as Kate and Petruchio. Under Gutzman’s clever direction, their verbal sparring becomes physical as well. Katherine is working out in the mansion’s “gym” when Petruchio sees her and tries to cool her temper. Each of her verbal jabs is punctuated with a literal jab at a portable boxing bag. Petruchio tries hard to win her heart, but soon ends up in a heap on the beer can-strewn floor.
The seduction of Bianca continues, with Jeremy C. Welter showing his comic abilities as a punk rocker/music teacher. His lecherous moves during Bianca’s music lessons are a humorous highlight here, especially when gauging Kosek’s reaction to his advances. Although Kosek seemingly follows her father’s wishes, she goes along with a scheme to marry the man of her choice (Lucentio).
Meanwhile, Kate is subjected to Petruchio’s “taming,” which includes starving her and forbidding her to wear fine clothing. Petrucho claims that nothing is good enough for Kate, even going so far as to don a lady’s beret that is deemed “unsuitable” for Kate. When Petruchio finally gives in, Kate begins to realize the nature of this “game.” As Gutzman suggests in his opening remarks, who is really being tamed here?
The large cast does a fine job of finessing Shakespeare’s Elizabethan language. Stand-out performances among the lesser roles include James Strange as Baptista, Jeremy C. Welter as Hortensio, Nathan Danzer as Lucentio, and Max Williamson as Grumio, the quick-witted but much-abused servant. Actor Caitlin Kujawski Compton (as Biondella) is to be commended for memorizing many pages of obscure exposition and delivering them with rapid-fire speed.
Some of the other actors could take their cue from Kujawski Compton, as pacing was a bit slow on opening night. One can imagine this tiny quibble disappearing as the actors get more practice with moving around the small set.
