Repertory Philippines Taming of the Shrew
Repertory Philippines currently running play, Taming of the Shrew, is part of the British Council’s Shakespeare festival. This particular depiction is distinctive with its hankering for a historical mode approach. Bart Guingona wrote in his director’s notes, “Imagine then a troupe of men doing a comedy whose style was broad as in commedia dell arte, making fun of the practice of bargaining for spouses and the taming of potential mates.”
So the all male cast took over both the male and female roles with aplomb, donning wigs and dresses, and placing their voices on a higher pitch to depict the lead female roles of Katherine and Bianca, as well as their male counterparts Petrucchio and Lucentio, plus all the supporting roles of parents, servants, and friends.
The story of Taming of the Shrew has been the basis of several movies and plays, the last one, if I remember correctly, the movie “10 Things I Hate About You.” A young girl named Bianca wanted to marry, but cannot do so because of the practice of having to wait till all elder female relatives are married already, in her case, her older sister Katherine. However, this proved to be difficult because Katherine’s character turned most potential suitors away, thus, the need for machinations galore.
To have an idea of the style comedia dell arte, think of Singing in the Rain’s silent films portion wherein the actors like Gene Kelly would make exaggerated and grandiose movements such as clasping one’s hands over the heart to convey love, sharply looking to the side to address someone or raising the eyebrows and widening the eyes to express surprise, and you would have an idea of the degree of difficulty this troupe of male actors had to conquer and overcome.
At the end, when the band of actors removed the accouterments of their costumes and took their bows, they were understandably bordering on exhausted, but definitely exhilarated.
Catch Taming of the Shrew till 25 September 2005 at Onstage Greenbelt 1.
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I’ve watched The Taming of the Shrew and it was wonderful! The actors’ acting was superb, and they really put an effort on imitating the style of play during dear ol’ Shakespeare’s time. Although it was quite lengthy, it was also entertaining.
Oh, and, some of the actors are cute too. Hehe….
*wink*