None of the set pieces were removed manually, instead being raised or lowered automatically which was great because it didn’t distract from the play.
Altogether the set was comparatively simple, but had all the changes they play needed.
The lighting for most of the play was moderately bright with foot lights lighting the stage, and several overhead lights as well. The exception was Petruchio’s house, which was quite dim to show how different it was from what Kate was used to, and showing how miserable she was. Most scenes were broadly lit instead of using spotlights to highlight individual characters, which I was quite surprised about, One exception was outside the tavern where the men were celebrating Bianca’s engagement, when a spotlight was used to show the merchant pretending to be Lucentio’s father looking out from a window.
Lighting was s also used for several special effects. One example was the storm outside Petruchio’s house, which was very effective, and also an amazing contrast compared to the scene with Bianca in the garden, which had a completely different mood that was well conveyed by the lighting used in both scenes.
Sound effects were also used to convey the emotions in each scene, though not used abundantly, but were key to the scene, for example, wedding bells for the church scene and thunder and lightening, which was very atmospheric.
There was music from the orchestra before the play started, which set the mood, and also put the play in context because it was sort of old fashioned instrumentalist music, which showed that the play was going to be the traditional version instead of a more contemporary updated version. There was also background music sometimes, but nothing too obvious, and only a few bars at a time, with no real impact on the scene except to add to the surroundings, rather than narrate them, so they didn’t have any particular tone, i.e. hopeful or sad.
The lack of songs seemed strange to me because I’ve only previously been used to seeing musicals performed but the cast conveyed the emotions adequately anyway.
The costumes in the play were also of a very high quality, even though each character only had one outfit. Nevertheless they showed a lot about the personalities of each role. For example, Bianca wore a pretty yellow dress to show how girly she was, and that she cared about her appearance while Kat wore a rough looking one. Gremio’s clothes were probably the most affluent, with robes that were trimmed of fur and a lot of gold jewellery, which supported the fact that he was the richest of Bianca’s suitors, ‘…Gremio retired to his moneybags…’ Things like this showed aspects of their personalities. I could tell that clothes were important in those times because they showed who a person was. A case that shows this is when Lucentio swaps clothes with his servant., so that anyone who saw them would know instantly which one was the master. I’ve seen things like this in other performances, for example ‘Les Miserables’ and often other pre 1900 plays.
Most of the characters in the play were wealthy and their clothes showed this, they wore outfits made of velvet and other expensive materials in warm bright colours like red and purple, while the extras in the opening scene and the servants were all wearing drab course clothes in white and brown.
The clothes also show how old a person is, because Lucientio’s father and Baptista wear long robes in dark colours while the younger men wear fancy attire. Lucentio for instance wore a light shirt with a red jacket and short trousers, and long socks, with a hat, cloak and sword, which showed he was young and privileged.
The clothes showed what profession every one had as well, e.g noblemen, Bianca’s tutors, who wore long black cloaks with white collars, the vicar, and the servant woman in Baptista’s house, who wore a plain dark dress and had her hair tied back. Things like this helped you work out who people wore and a bit about them straight away, and all seemed very accurate to the timeframe.
As a whole the audience seemed to really enjoy the performance. There was lots of laughter at the jokes, clapping after every scene, and at the interval I heard people praising it.
Luckily I’ve studied an abridged version of ‘Taming of the shrew,’ so I knew what was going on, but I still found it quite hard to follow. I’m not sure when the play was set but as Shakespeare died in the mid 17th century it must have been before then. I think it was meant to take place in Italy in Elizabethan times, so the vocabulary was quite complex and dated which mean I couldn’t understand some of the jokes. However thanks to the suggestions and factors like the body language and the expressions helped me to get the gist of what was happening, though it would have been nice to have been able to enjoy the performance without trying to work out what was going on, which I would presumably been able to if I knew the script.
One thing I noticed was that the performance didn’t include the very start of the play, when a tramp is thrown out of a pub and told the story of the taming of the shrew. This character is at the very end again and sums up the story, but in the production they just opened with a scene on the streets of Padua and ended with the scene with Kate’s speech. This is the only part I think that isn’t exactly what the playwright would have likes because if Shakespeare wrote it then he obviously intended for it to be in the play, and also it does narrate it a bit. However maybe the director thought the play would be too long, or that the ‘play within a play’ idea would confuse the audience.
Otherwise I think that Shakespeare would have been pleased with the play, as I think it was performed how he imagined it when he wrote the lines. I particularly admired the way that the actors spoke as if they naturally talked like that (in an old fashioned way) instead of just reciting lines. I liked the chemistry between the actors playing Katharine and Petruchio, how they first hated each other then gradually grew to like each other, and I thought they way Kate gradually completely changed character throughout the play was amazing because it was gradual and not too obvious. However the characters of Bianca and Lucentio annoyed me slightly. I think this was because they weren’t as developed as the other couple and their story was secondary to the main one but either way I fond that I didn’t really care much about them. The character of Bianca seemed quite annoying and spoilt, while Lucentio was just insipid. I think the director could have given Bianca a bit more sympathy, as she was I would have teased her if she was my sister!
The attraction of ‘Taming of the shrew’ is that even though it was written 400 years ago, it still has themes relevant to modern life, like arguing siblings, over protective fathers, and love. It also has very recognizable and likeable characters that you can empathize with, which is why I think the modern day film ’10 things I hate about you’ was so successful. The play is a lot more accessible, especially for younger viewers than some of Shakespeare’s other plays, like Romeo and Juliet, or Macbeth because it’s more of a comedy. It also has shared themes to other popular plays for example, ‘My fair lady’ (self improvement) and ‘As you like it’ which has a shared topic of mistaken identity that arises between Bianca’s suitors, and Lucentio’s father.
Overall I enjoyed some of the performance, but was bored by some bits. I thought the first half dragged on slightly and then Act 2 went much faster. I would imagine I would enjoy it more in a few years when I am older, or maybe when I have read the script, however it was a valuable and agreeable experience towards my understanding of drama.
