Shakespeare's Shrew takes her revenge

7:38pm Monday 5th May 2008

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GAGS, giggles and gimmicks are one way of attempting to present a difficult Shakespeare play to today’s audience.

The Taming of the Shrew – with its dominant theme of a male subjugating a feisty female – is not easy viewing.

Conal Morrison, for the Royal Shakespeare Company, piles a load of laughs on to a play within a play in his search for the solution.

A riotous stag night in 2008 leaves reveller Christopher Sly, literally, on the garbage heap as a troupe of travelling players arrives. From a loud-mouthed slob, recognisable in most cities after 2am, he enters the action and becomes 17th century bully-boy Petruchio (Stephen Boxer).

Spikey Katherina (Michelle Gomez) scares off any man who comes near her but until she’s wed her more submissive sister (Amara Karan) can’t marry either. When Petruchio arrives seeking a fortune at any price the solution seems clear. How he tames his Kate through verbal and physical brutality, until she plays the submissive wife, presents a contemporary production company with a tricky task.

The glorious sets (Francis O’Connor) and colourful clowning from an energetic cast make it almost possible to overlook the nastiness. But just as the audience is seduced into believing that might is right, Morrison brings us back to reality. The dream ends, the players leave and Christopher Sly lands back in the gutter.

Kate’s last scorching look at him asks us to reflect on how we measure each other today.

The production continues in repertoire at Straford-upon-Avon.