Playwright: William Shakespeare
At: GroundUp Theatre at various Chicago Park District locations
Phone: 773-764-9916; free, but donations appreciated
Runs through: Aug. 5
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Ever since feminism rose to prominence in the late 1960s, The Taming of the Shrew has become a problem child in the Shakespearean canon. Before, it was easy to laugh at self-proclaimed fortune hunter Petruchio breaking the will of headstrong Kate.
Now on our age of better gender equity, The Taming of the Shrew can make audiences squirm. Any production nowadays has to sensitively treat its mean-spirited digs at women and find ways to make it jibe with modern sensibilities.
The plucky folks at GroundUp Theatre make a game attempt to address all this in a free outdoor touring production of Taming of the Shrew. Co-directors Sabrina Lloyd and Emily O'Neill, with adapter Don Aric Johnson, shake things up by overlaying the whole show with a circus/sideshow concept. They also switch the genders of characters ( and actors ) around to subvert some Elizabethan sexism.
Hence, Kate ( Connie Anderko ) becomes a feared whip-wielding ring master while Petruchio ( Ryan Jarosch ) become a barbell-lifting strongman in this circus comedy. In the gender department, a big shift occurs when ingenue Bianca is re-imagined as pretty-boy magician Biando ( Chris Zdenek ) , whose previous male suitors become 'female.'
I use quotes around 'female' because both women and men play these parts, including Beth Wolf as triumphant snake-charmer suitor 'Lucentia,' bearded lady Hortensia ( Sarah Sinsheimer ) and prissy tight-rope walker Gremia ( Niq Tognoni ) . A bevy of energetic and clowns round out the servant roles, particularly Rocco Drackett as Lucentia's co-conspirator servant, Tranio; Rebecca Coren as Biondello; and Laura Schwartz as Grumio.
The cast clearly is having a ball playing these roles, acrobatically tumbling on top of each other, singing oddly-placed plot songs by Peter Waldman and mugging up a storm in their colorful circus costumes. Alas, GroundUp's Taming of the Shrew looks more fun for the performers than it is for the audience to watch.
The tacked-on circus concept doesn't really add anything to Shakespeare's original plot or Italian locale of Padua. GroundUp's gender shifting also muddies the plot, especially when obviously male and female-looking characters unconvincingly disguise themselves as the other sex. The inclusion of the typically-cut Christopher Sly plot bookends also aren't too endearing.
It's admirable that GroundUp's Lloyd, O'Neill and Johnson try to bring some gender equity to this problematic play, particularly by making Kate do some of the post-marriage mind-game deprivations instead of just having Petruchio as manipulator. But this tampering doesn't make sense and smacks of politically-correct meddling.
Perhaps I'm being too harsh on a park show that comfortably allows families to cuddle up with blankets for a carefree evening of Shakespearean entertainment. Even if it doesn't make dramatic sense, GroundUp Theater's Taming of the Shrew certainly is fun and well-meaning.