How have you adapted the original Shakespeare text in this new interpretation? What recontextualisations can we expect?
The most notable thing is the gender swapping of some of the characters. I didn’t want to do a full switch as this is something people have seen before. A lot of the most controversial speeches have been cut, most notably the famous final words of the protagonist preaching how one should submit to her husband. This is so that the play focuses more on the comedic, rather than gender, elements of the language.
The class element of the play really intrigued me. There is a lot of master servant dynamics, with the whole preface of the play about marrying rich. I have attempted to elevate this aspect and diminish the gender-based notes of the performance.
The production is set in an Italian Summer in the 1980s, why did you choose this place and time?
The original play is set in Italy with an induction set in present day London before entering the ‘fantasy’ main play set in an Italian resort. I chose this destination because I was going for a wealthy European summer aesthetic in keeping with the wealth aspect of the play. I also just spent my year abroad in Italy so it’s on the brain! In the induction which I’ve set in modern day, the character of Christopher Sly is a drunk english ‘beggar’ on whom a trick is played. The actual play is often known as ‘Sly’s dream’ and it is a world of his creation. Therefore, the reason for the time jump backwards is him imagining what his life could have been in the 1980s. The contrast between dismal cold England and summer in Italy 40 years back I thought would be a very interesting route to go down for the performance.
The Taming of the Shrew has been seen as a morally dubious place in recent times, what are you doing to combat the heavy sexist undertones in the play?
Due to the controversial nature of the play and the main themes of getting women to submit to male dominance, I approached it in a new light, but wanted to do more than simply switch it on its head regarding gender roles. You can’t add to Shakespeare you can only strip back, so that is the choice that I have made, to remove what I thought was unhelpful to the vision and to tweak and twist to create a new, exciting and different interpretation of a well-known play.
Why have you chosen the Taming of the Shrew for this years Shakespeare Society play, what made it beat other contenders?
I always wanted to do a comedy; I was a cast member of A Midsummer Nights Dream in second year. I read A Comedy of errors, Much Ado about Nothing, and The Taming of the shrew and the latter was the one that called out the most to me. I study classics and so the similarities to Ancient Greek plays was exciting. The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies and there are a lot of similarities to the makeup of traditional roman comedy, especially in relation to the master servant dynamic and the dubious gender biases. This really made me want to tackle similar issues in my own way in this semi-modern setting.
Taming of the Shrew isn’t typically studied in schools. How much prior knowledge of the text should people expect to bring to this production?
We are hoping to do a screening of 10 Things I Hate About You before our play begins which is all you really need to know, it’s a wonderful adaptation of the plot and it’s really interestingly done in the way they’ve taken the fundamentals of the plot and put their own spin on the ending. So, all I would recommend is a movie night with Heath Ledger.
Image ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ by Daisy Whittle provided via Press Release