~by Dena Burroughs
SHREWS EVERYWHERE - Theater Review
Those who have studied Shakespeare understand the difference a staged production can make to the overall meaning of a play through the way scenes are interpreted and performed, and how different directors can conceptualize a particular scene and change an entire performance through their vision. So when the same play happens to be performed in town in two different theaters and on the same dates, it brings the Shakespeare lover a perfect opportunity to watch and compare.
Such is the case currently with The Taming of the Shrew,
the Shakespeare comedy that is playing both at the Odyssey Theatre in
West Los Angeles until April 19 and at A Noise Within in Glendale until
May 17.
The production at the Odyssey (pictured to the left)
stars Jack Stehlin - also the artistic director - as Petruchio. He
delivers a manly character who makes amazing contact with the audience
during his monologues and who ends up with a docile Katherine, played by
Bridget Flanery. The couple end the play on their knees, sharing a
kiss, the union of a woman who is no longer a shrew and a grateful man
who apparently gets all that he wants. The production sets the action
in the 1910s and keeps the stage and the costumes simple. The cast also
includes Geoffrey Owens as Tranio. The program synopsis conspicuously
leaves out that Owens used to play “Elvin” in The Cosby Show, but who
can ever forget a face once on the Cosbys?
The production at A Noise Within is much more
elaborate. It has frequent stage changes, music is present almost as an
added character – Frank Sinatra and Mambo Italiano most notably - and
it includes a couple of dance numbers. The action is set in the 1950s,
so household items that Shakespeare would have never imagined – TV sets,
radios, heaters – are part of the scenery. Steve Weingartner plays
a cocky Petruchio nicely paired up to a seriously shrewish Allegra
Fulton. They end the play with kisses and laughter, leaving the
audience wondering which of the two is the most shrewish, but certain
that they are in fact each other’s perfect match.
Much to this reviewer’s dismay, neither production actually shows
the ripping of Katherine’s dress. Still, in this case, even two shrews
in the same city are not too many.
ANoiseWithin photo
