After nine performances, the cast of Acrosstown Repertory Theatre’s production of “The Taming of the Shrew” realized men and women see their play differently. As Petruchio, the play’s domineering leading man, pats his wife Katherine on the head and remarks “good girl,” female audience members audibly cringe, while male audience members often laugh.
Director Andrea Young knew it would be a challenge to highlight both the humor of the play and its disturbing implications. She decided to use an all-female cast, staging the play as a 1960s sitcom inspired by “I Love Lucy.” She felt the audience would be more comfortable with an all-female interpretation of overtly masculine characters, allowing them to explore the sexism of the time without losing Shakespeare’s wit.
“I had a friend that said ‘The more I think about the show, the more I'm uncomfortable and don't like it,’” Young said. “And, yes, that's the point.”
Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” has garnered controversy over its 400-year existence due to its sexist themes and depiction of domestic abuse. It follows several characters on a mission to marry the beautiful Bianca Minola, whose older sister Katherine is labeled as a “shrew” for her independence and rebelliousness. Petruchio marries Katherine and proceeds to abuse her into submission.
Young considers her take on the play as more of an edit than an adaptation. She kept all of the original dialogue, making only a few changes for clarity. It’s in her inclusion of subtle, dark details that her directorial vision shines through. Her characterization of Petruchio varies between a cartoonish, ultra-macho man and a sinister villain.
“Not only is he a villain, he's a very likable villain,” she said. “He's charming and funny and smart, and he's a bad guy.”
When Lola Bond got the role of Petruchio, she was shocked when reading through the script. She expected to play a character similar to Heath Ledger in “10 Things I Hate About You,” which is based on the play. Instead, she was met with an abusive manipulator.
“I realized I am playing who I hate,” she said. “I'd venture the vast majority of the women I know have been, at the very least, belittled by this man or made to feel purposely uncomfortable by this man.”
When playing the character, Bond highlighted Petruchio’s bravado and interrupted it with flashes of his sinister intentions. When Petruchio and Katherine first meet, their initially charming, witty banter quickly becomes unsettling as Petruchio physically tries to take control of Katherine.
When Petruchio is not boasting loudly to other characters, high-fiving and fraternizing with them, he addresses the crowd or Katherine in moments of chilling sincerity. The audience, usually laughing with Petruchio, sat in silence as Bond turned to the crowd to demand, “He that knows better how to tame a shrew, now let him speak.”
“People tell me, ‘You freaked me out,’” Bond said. “‘You were so gross. You were terrifying. You made me feel uncomfortable.’ And every time, I'm like, ‘Good. I did my job.’”
Bond and Kate Clement, who plays Katherine, agreed it was the trust they have in one another that allows them to portray the destructive dynamic between their characters. Clement is quick to defend her character and said today she would be easily hailed as an independent, forward-thinking woman who “doesn’t take crap from anybody.”
The audience met Katherine in a blouse and pants as she smoked a cigarette disdainfully. She concluded the play in her wedding dress, her will deteriorated at the hands of her husband after he starved and exhausted her. Clement enjoyed Young’s decision to never have the lead characters reconcile, as many interpretations of the play do.
“There were just some moments where I was just like, ‘When do they start liking each other?’” Clement said. “But we got a pleasant surprise that she doesn't like him.”
Clement remembered bringing her husband to see the play. She knew he understood the men in the play were meant to be laughed at, serving as hypermasculine caricatures of men that women might encounter in their daily lives. But ultimately, he can never fully grasp what Katherine is going through, she said. Just as Bond said, every woman has known a Petruchio; Clement felt every woman has been a Katherine.
“There are women in this room every single night that have felt what Kate has felt,” she said.
“The Taming of the Shrew” continues through April 6, with shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $25 and available through ART’s website.
Contact Juliana DeFilippo at jdefillipo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @JulianaDeF58101
Juliana DeFilippo is a first-year journalism major and general assignment Avenue reporter. In her free time, she loves to read and work on crossword puzzles.
