“The Taming of the Shrew” at the Rondo Theatre, Larkhall, Bath, June 18th-21st 2025.
By Ian Diddams, Devizine
Images by Josie Mae-Ross and Charlotte Emily
Shakespeare wrote several plays that were termed in the late nineteenth century “Problem Plays”. These were some of his works that didn’t easily fall into brackets such as comedy, tragedy or history – usually covering at least two of those – but also dealt with uncomfortable social problems. When one looks at the basic plot of “Shrew” its difficult with our twenty-first century spectacles on to not include it in this classification. Unadulterated misogyny, gas lighting, and mental and physical abuse within marriage are not viewed as comedic obviously … yet “Shrew” is universally billed as a comedy. The Rondo Theatre Company this week, however, sets to reflect these non-contemporary themes in a gender bent performance to highlight the inequalities and oddities of Shakespeare’s script.
It’s also a somewhat sumptuous treat – costumes (Harriet Hazelwood-Rose) are sublime with a red velvet theme running throughout, and the set whilst a very typical black box for Shakespeare nevertheless encompasses a balcony/second tier, an exciting addition at the Rondo.
Director Jazz Hazelwood-Rose had long planned this version of “Shrew”, using this gender-queered approach to (in their own words) “… examine how Shakespeare’s ‘comedy’ has a darker side that highlights how the gendered language we use affects how we see each other and interact with the world …”. That this is done so sublimely well is testimony to their vision, and the quality of the cast; very quickly the male v female “battle of the sexes” is forgotten, and the tale of bigotry and oppression just shines through. Alex Oliviere is simply phenomenal in her role as cock-sure (no pun intended!) Petruchio, wonderfully mirrored by initially surly and increasingly demure Toby Skelton as Katherine. Their stage chemistry builds throughout the play signifying not only Katherine’s submission to her husbands will, but also Petruchio’s adoration for her.
More than ably supporting them are Alana Wright as Hortensio, Megan Robertson as Lucentio, Charly Nehan as Tranio, Helen Taylor as Baptista, Yvonne Pauley as Gremio, and Charlotte Howard as Vincentio, to complete the female/male flips. Freddie Oliviere-Davies as Bianca performs the reverse Kate as it were, all light and softness – until married of course. Chris Constantine as Biondello and Matt Nation as Grumio follow a traditional casting, and both provide strong characterisation as Lucentio and Petruchio’s servants respectively, Matt Nation especially in an almost slapstick, court fool role. Teasel Howell, Will Prins, Sophie Turner, Ed Hodgkinson, and Moray Macdonald complete the cast as various servants, merchants, tailor, and rich widower.
The set as previously mentioned uses a two-level approach which is used very effectively – Geoff Rennie step forward for your design and implementation. Alex Latham provides the usual excellent “Technical Wizardry” and Steph Hazell and George Fletcher keep the whole thing running seamlessly as stage management.
In a time now where the main plot contains universally unacceptable traits – clearly more acceptable four hundred years ago – The Rondo’s production handles the subject matter with care and respect. This may not be a “problem play” by the usual definitions, but the jarring aspects of Petruchio’s “killing through kindness” are laid bare all the more through the gender queered approach.
“The Taming of the Shrew” is showing at the Rondo Theatre, Larkhall, Bath until Saturday 21st June, and is a perfect opportunity to see a lesser performed play from the canon… and if you aren’t that sure of the background plots in particular, you would do well, in advance, to “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” …
