Brush up your Shakespeare
Friday night I saw The Taming of the Shrew at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. With Dennis on the way, I didn't want to risk taking in the closing show on Saturday.
This was actually the first time I've seen Shakespeare's original. I've seen Kiss Me, Kate a few times, but never Taming. So I wasn't clear on some of the plot elements going into the play.
Continuing the theme of placing this year's plays in near-contemporary period (As You Like It in early 1900s England, Coriolanus in 1920s Italy), this one was in 1950s Italy. The costume designer deliberately used Sophia Loren as inspiration for Kate. And when Tranio comes back on stage after buying a suit to disguise himself as Lucentio, OMG. Have you ever seen a bright chartreuse sharkskin suit?
The acting was superb, as I've come to expect from ASF. It was odd, though, seeing the actress who played drama so well with the "Three Tragic Queens" (Marie Antoinette, Lady Macbeth, and Tamara from Titus Andronicus) as albadger dubbed her, play physical comedy as Kate. She kept falling on her ass, crossing her eyes and otherwise emoting with all her facial features. However talented they are as actors, though, the leads are getting a bit long in the tooth to be playing young Kate and Petruchio. But Shakespeare is all about suspension of disbelief.
The rep season at ASF closed this weekend. We get a treat, though, from the graduate acting students in August. They will be performing A Winter's Tale. So, when I get back from my SF trip, I will have to quick like a bunny decide what night that week I want to see someone "Exit, pursued by a Bear".
This was actually the first time I've seen Shakespeare's original. I've seen Kiss Me, Kate a few times, but never Taming. So I wasn't clear on some of the plot elements going into the play.
Continuing the theme of placing this year's plays in near-contemporary period (As You Like It in early 1900s England, Coriolanus in 1920s Italy), this one was in 1950s Italy. The costume designer deliberately used Sophia Loren as inspiration for Kate. And when Tranio comes back on stage after buying a suit to disguise himself as Lucentio, OMG. Have you ever seen a bright chartreuse sharkskin suit?
The acting was superb, as I've come to expect from ASF. It was odd, though, seeing the actress who played drama so well with the "Three Tragic Queens" (Marie Antoinette, Lady Macbeth, and Tamara from Titus Andronicus) as albadger dubbed her, play physical comedy as Kate. She kept falling on her ass, crossing her eyes and otherwise emoting with all her facial features. However talented they are as actors, though, the leads are getting a bit long in the tooth to be playing young Kate and Petruchio. But Shakespeare is all about suspension of disbelief.
The rep season at ASF closed this weekend. We get a treat, though, from the graduate acting students in August. They will be performing A Winter's Tale. So, when I get back from my SF trip, I will have to quick like a bunny decide what night that week I want to see someone "Exit, pursued by a Bear".