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Summer Shakespeare tradition continues at Western

Can a comedy written 400 years ago about the domestication of an unruly woman still generate laughter from an audience today?
The English department’s production of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, running from June 23 to 27, may have the answer. This year’s installment of the annual Summer Shakespeare production promises to bring humour, love and a bit of the Renaissance to the University College courtyard.
The play — the 29th edition of Summer Shakespeare — will be directed by Jo Devereux, an English professor who acted in and produced the inaugural Summer Shakespeare in 1981, as well as directed last year’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The play follows the transformation of Kate — a loud and angry and boisterous girl — into a more proper woman and a tamed wife.
“That’s what shrew means,” Devereux says. “A harsh woman, not the cute little animal.”
Sponsored by the department of English, the play’s cast and crew are largely affiliated with the university. Current undergraduate and graduate students, as well as alumni and a Western employee, are all involved in the play.
“This is an extremely talented cast and crew and we’ve worked hard to put this show together,” says assistant director Jen Fraser, a current continuing studies student who also plays the roles of Kate and Bartholomew the Page.
Despite the play’s popularity as a Shakespearean comedy, this will be only the second time The Shrew has been featured as the Summer Shakespeare — the only other time was in 1988.
This may be in part due to its controversial premise, explains Devereux. “One of the reasons [the play] doesn’t get put on, at least not by universities, is that it seems very misogynistic and anti-feminist. We had to kind of tackle this problem to put it on. We don’t want to say ‘hey misogyny is great,’ but at the same time you don’t want to not put on a Shakespeare play because our sensibilities are offended by it.”
Rather than the controversy that may be associated with other adaptations of the play, the focus of this production of The Shrew will be the love between the leads — Kate and her husband Petruchio.
“This love isn’t easy and social conventions of the time make it more difficult for the couple,” Fraser says. “But in the end, they truly do love each other.”
Devereux agrees: “a lot of it has to do with a reciprocal relationship.”
As the play will be staged in the courtyard tucked in beside University College, The Taming of the Shrew will carry on Summer Shakespeare’s tradition of outdoor performances.
Devereux explains how this will add to the authenticity of the audience’s experience.
“Shakespeare’s plays — when he was alive — were in outdoor theatres mostly,” she says in explaining why the courtyard is appropriate for the production. “We’re … invoking this sense that we’re in this renaissance enclosed garden.”
The audience should also benefit from the cozy venue. “It feels very free and open compared to an indoor theatre… everyone can see and hear because you’re really close to the actors,” says Devereux.
Adding to the renaissance atmosphere will be the music, written and arranged by Western music student Jamie Roberts. The score, to be performed live each evening by strings and a flute, won’t be too far off from what theatre-goers in Shakespeare’s day might have expected.
But will it be funny?
According to Fraser, audiences may laugh more at the cast’s contemporary approach to The Taming of the Shrew than the bard’s original jokes. “[We’re] playing up a lot of the ridiculousness that Shakespeare gave us to play with.”
“It has a lot of visual comedy,” says Devereux, noting that many of the written jokes have been cut because “they’re just not funny anymore.”
“It’s a very energetic play. It has a lot of slapstick… [it is] the comedy of physical situation that is funny,” she says, insisting the play’s comedic value transcends time. “That stuff just stays funny.”

And thereby hangs a tale

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