Genesius Guild's The Taming of the Shrew" at Lincoln Park -- July 11 through 19.
Saturday, July 11, through Sunday, July 19, 8 p.m.
Lincoln Park, 1120 40th Street, Rock Island IL
One of the funniest and most presently controversial of William Shakespeare's comedies will be given a brand-new – and yet centuries-old – makeover in Genesius Guild's July 11 through 19 staging of The Taming of the Shew, director Cait Bodenbender's romantic farce that, as in the Bard's own day, will find its entire cast of characters composed of male performers.
Believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592, The Taming of the Shrew depicts the courtship of Petruchio and Katherina, the latter the play's headstrong, obdurate "shrew." Initially, Katherina is an unwilling participant in the relationship; however, Petruchio "tames" her with various psychological and physical torments, such as keeping her from eating and drinking, until she becomes a desirable, compliant, and obedient bride. The comedy's chief subplot features a competition among the suitors of Katherina's younger sister Bianca, who is seen as the "ideal" woman.
The Taming of the Shrew has been adapted numerous times for stage, screen, opera, ballet, and musical theatre, perhaps the most famous adaptations being Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate; McLintock!, a 1963 American Western comedy film, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara; and the 1967 film of the play, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The 1999 high-school comedy film 10 Things I Hate About You and the 2003 romantic comedy Deliver Us from Eva are also loosely based on the play.
The question of whether The Taming of the Shrew is misogynistic, however, has become the subject of considerable controversy. And to that end, director Cait Bodenbender – a longtime Genesius Guild veteran, co-founder of area verse-theatre troupe the Prenzie Players, and helmer of such area productions as the Mississippi Bend Players' Red – realized the smartest, and perhaps only, way to currently stage The Taming of the Shrew was as it was done in Shakespeare's day: with an all-male cast. Featured in Bodenbender's ensemble: Jamie Bodenbender; Josef Bodenbender; Andy Curtiss; Jonah Higgenbottom; Reader theatre reviewer Mischa Hooker; Andy Koski; Andy Lord; Jacob Lund; Ross Richhart; Joe Sager; Zach Ulmer; David Wellner; and Wiz Woolley.
As Bodenbender says: "The Taming of the Shrew is quite the quandary for modern theatre companies. On one hand, it's one of Shakespeare’s most well-known and best-loved plays, and for good reason. It’s crammed full of over-the-top characters, clever dialogue, and general hilarity. Much of the play is delightful to watch and just as much fun to be part of creating. On the other hand, there are aspects of the play that, to 21st-century audiences and theatre artists, are decidedly unenjoyable. As the play progresses, the protagonist we’ve been laughing with marries the 'shrew' mentioned in the play’s title, and, in order to 'tame' his too-argumentative, too-aggressive new wife, engages in 'humorous' behaviors that we now unequivocally recognized as abuse.
"As a result, when producing The Taming of the Shrew, theatres and directors are left with a choice to make. Do we play the abhorrent actions as comedy, in keeping with what seems to be the original intention? Do we present those actions as though they’re as truly abhorrent as they are, abandon comedy, and play the breaking of a woman’s spirit as the tragedy it is? Do we, as many modern productions do, attempt to find a way around the issue by making significant changes to either the text of the play or the way it’s performed? Or do we search for a way to allow the play to remain a comedy, without making light of or glossing over the domestic abuse that is an integral part of the text?
"For me, the first of those 'options' is no option at all, and, while the second and third are interesting, they don’t suit the Genesius Guild’s stage or audience. So our production embraces the last of those options, attempting to retain both the humor and the gravity of the play. It does this in a number of ways, the most notable being that we have returned to one of the casting conventions of Shakespeare’s time –in this production of The Taming of the Shrew, all of the characters will be played by men, including the female characters. And just as in the 1590s, their performances of the female characters are not intended to be campy or exaggerated. The actors are doing the best they can to authentically present as women. The illusion isn’t perfect, of course. And even if it were, there’s no erasing the fact of the actors’ masculinity. The audience will know, just as Shakespeare’s audience did, that the women they see on stage are being played by men.
"This awareness changes how a play is experienced by the people watching it. It reminds the audience that what they’re watching is a performance, a facsimile of life that may contain truths but isn’t actually reality, and that the things that happen to the characters in the course of the play are not really experiences at all, but rather the facsimile of experiences. It’s interesting to consider any of Shakespeare’s plays within the context of casting conventions that necessarily distance the audience from the emotions being portrayed on the stage, but it is especially interesting to consider The Taming of the Shrew in that context. In our production of Taming, we hope that reminding the audience of that distance will make room for the performers to present both as the characters in the play and as their authentic selves, allowing us to enthusiastically embrace the play’s humor and unflinchingly confront the gravity of the abuse it depicts."
Genesius Guild's The Taming of the Shrew will be performed in Rock Island's Lincoln Park July 11 through 19, with performances Saturdays and Sundays at 7 p.m. Although admission is free, donations are gratefully accepted, and more information is available by visiting Genesius.org.
