Word: playing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...with all this emphasis on themes of change, the end product somehow seems stagnant throughout most of the evening. Bensussen uses Shakespeare’s lesser-known induction to the play as a sort of meta-theatrical framing device. This prelude to the show drops us into a typical bar atmosphere, complete with pretzels. A drunk stumbles in off the street, and the staff of the Wild Cat decides to play a prank on him, invoking the help of a drunken entourage who are forced to act out a play as punishment for not paying their...
Thus begins the actual story of “Shrew.” Bensussen manipulates this play-within-a-play trope to great success for the majority of the opening scenes. The actors take on their roles with the delightful awkwardness of children in a school play—scripts in hand, direction shouted at them mid-scene, and endearingly over-the-top line readings. Yet as the show progresses, the actors become more comfortable in their roles, and the production shifts from a clever tongue-in-cheek commentary on social performativity into a relatively normal presentation of Shakespeare?...
...production claims to conjure the ragged, gruff spirit of a bar, but it consistently fails to do so. In his introduction to the play, ASP Artistic Director Allyn Burrows invites the audience to “Get in, sit down, shut up, and hold on!” Yet even Kate, Shakespeare’s famous anti-heroine, feels oddly timid. Poorly executed fight choreography abounds, such as Kate’s unconvincing knee-to-the-crotch and the lame food fight which opens the second act. By that point, it feels as if the titular “shrew?...
...acting is consistent, with a few standout performances. Benjamin Evett does admirably as both the drunken Christopher Sly and Petruchio, the conniving, arrogant man who weds Kate against her will and then domesticates her. He plays the obnoxious male bravado of the role to perfection, but again, this directorial move seems to invoke the ideas of gender relations in the play above themes of transformation. Beyond that, the casting (which includes eight men and only one woman, playing Kate) seems to play towards the gender themes as well. Bensussen may have been intrigued by Kate’s transformation rather...
...He’s kind of a force of nature,” Murphy said. “He’s one of those guys you have to account for on every play...