5 things to know about Ohio Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' at Stan Hwyet

For those who want to enjoy Shakespeare under the stars, Ohio Shakespeare Festival's production of "The Taming of the Shrew" is in full swing with its six-week run at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, continuing through Aug. 14.

Here are five things to know about this production of "Taming of the Shrew."

There's a greenshow before the performance

Directed for the second year by Ryan Zarecki, the half-hour onstage performance includes music, singing, dancing and other antics. The greenshow segues straight into "Shrew," so it's best to be in your seats by 7:30 p.m.

The greenshow's original music is composed by Scott Campbell, including a funny bit where the troupe sings "tonight we're gonna party like it's 1599." The greenshow cast uses electric instruments for the first time for a rock mashup that may be modeled after the "Shrek" idea but the result was a bit weak the second weekend. Three female soloists in earlier tunes also sang too quietly to be heard, so some potential humor was missed.

'Taming of the Shrew' is a sexist story

Ohio Shakespeare mentions on its website the "toxic masculinity" in this story, which dominates most of the tale when it comes to leading man Petruchio. In this story, everyone loves sweet Bianca (Maya Nicholson) but her father won't allow her to marry until someone weds her "hellcat" older sister, Katarina (Natalie Green).

"Shrew" is a problematic play to begin with as far as its sexism/misogyny, with the men betting on their women by the end of the story like they're animals.

Shakespeare starts his play with a silly induction scene where ridiculous tinker Christopher Sly, fooled into thinking he's a lord, is entertained with a play within a play. Some scholars believe that with this induction, Shakespeare may have been distancing himself from the inner story about men behaving badly.

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The leading man Petruchio is played by a woman

Tess Burgler plays the "gentleman" from Verona who uses extreme reverse psychology on the ill-tempered Katarina, whom men refer to as "curst and shrewd." The theater's goal in its nontraditional, cross-gender casting is to challenge and enlighten traditional ideas of gender.

That worked great with Burgler in the title role as Hamlet in 2019. But something's missing here because we don't feel the chemistry between her Petruchio and Katarina. After Petruchio goes through elaborate machinations to force Katarina to comply as his new wife, we're supposed to believe that a real spark develops between them by the end. But I wasn't feeling it.

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Some acting feels overdone

Holly Humes' doddering around as geriatric suitor Gremio is funny at first but starts to feel exaggerated.

And the first time we see Burgler playing the role of Petruchio, the actor is being kissed on the cheek by a presumed prostitute and adjusting his codpiece. There are no such stage directions in Shakespeare's play, so director Terry Burgler may be trying too hard to establish from the start that Tess Burgler is playing a man who's out for his own pleasure.

Expect some excellent acting

Geoffrey Darling is as silly as can be as confused drunk Sly. As servants, Geoff Knox is ever funny with his sarcastic commentary as Grumio and Shannon Starkey is convincing as servant Tranio, who must don a disguise for his master.

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In this story of mistaken identities, Joe Pine is memorable as lover Lucentio, who goes to great lengths to be with Bianca. Natalie Green is actually quite lovable as Katarina, and Natalie Steen creates warmth and humor as Hortensio, another suitor to Bianca.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Comedy: "The Taming of the Shrew"

Company: Ohio Shakespeare Festival

Where: Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens

When: Continuing through Aug. 14, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays

Onstage: Starring Tess Burgler, Natalie Green, Maya Nicholson, Holly Humes, Joe Pine, Natalie Steen, Geoff Knox, Shannon Starkey, Brian Pedaci

Offstage: William Shakespeare, playwright; Terry Burgler, director; Scott Campbell, greenshow music director/composer; Jenni DeLuca, stage manager; Julia Fisher, intimacy consultant; Marty LaConte, costume designer; Chrissy Margevicius, assistant greenshow music director; Buddy Taylor, lighting designer/associate artistic director for design; Kelsey Tomlinson, greenshow costume designer; Ryan Zarecki, props master; fight director; greenshow director

Cost: $30; students $15

Information: ohioshakespearefestival.com, 330-574-2537

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Here's what you need to know about 'Taming of Shrew' at Stan Hywet