3

	Sweet Grassmarket (venue website) Theatre 13-17, 19-24 Aug, 6:20pm-7:20pm Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson
Recommended for age 12+ only.  Free and unticketed. No pre-booking required.

I’m not going to lie and say that Taming of the Shrew is my favourite Shakespeare play. I’ve never really found an interpretation of it that I’ve loved, as I have with another of Shakespeare’s other works. But I went in with an open mind to this one, especially considering that it claimed to make a strong statement about violence against men in modern society. Sadly, I emerged slightly underwhelmed; while the production was competent and well-delivered, it failed to make me feel the spectrum of emotions that this play should evoke.

The biggest difference in Cygnet Theatre's interpretation is their decision to reverse the gender roles of the play – an admirable endeavour to draw attention to domestic violence in a less traditional way. The role reversal posed a spectacle of two gender extremes, the dominatrix and the submissive. It’s perhaps a little clichéd in the play's modern context, but it’s effective in getting their message across.

I didn’t have any major problems with the production, but I also don’t have any particular reasons to remember it. It was a solid modern take on a Shakespeare classic. But despite its almost-hyperbolic description, the production didn’t really move me into any heightened state of emotion. It was purposefully uncomfortable to watch at times, and undoubtedly there were scenes that made me cringe, but perhaps it was the wrong balance of comedy and darkness.

Under normal circumstances, you’d say it achieves a good balance between darkness and humour and the two plotlines of the play. But while their almost fifty-fifty split of the plotlines would have been effective in a production that didn’t aim for sharp social comment, I think this production needed to focus more on the relationship of Petruchio and Kate to really be effective.

The acting was good, if at times a little overly theatrical (but then again, when is Fringe Shakespeare not?) The star of the show proved to be Kate, who delivered his (yes, his) final monologue with brilliance. As an audience member, I did empathise with the character then, and it was undeniably the most earnest moment of the production.

All in all, the play provides an interesting modern twist on a classic, but didn’t elicit much of a reaction in me aside from the general discomfort of one of The Bard’s most confronting plays. You may feel differently if you go and see it yourself. But for me, Taming of the Shrew remains the elusive Shakespearean work that I can’t seem to get excited about – even when I’m faced with gender reversal and social commentary.