(I think this originally got sent to the wrong address. Apologies for the recent hiccups in my posting, Calle, shifting around every few days is playing merry hell with my email setup as I'm taking my files around on a Zip disk, not a laptop.)
This doesn't have any direct connection with B7, but I'm posting this here rather than on the spin list because it might be interesting in light of the debate over Ben Steed's scripts.
The Taming of the Shrew Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester 9 March 2001
This made an interesting change. Usually it's go to the theatre with other Lystians, and hit the local museums as well. This time it was go to the museum, followed by Harriet deciding to show me the Royal Exchange while we were in the neighbourhood. It turned out that they were doing Shrew. Five minutes' discussion later, we bought tickets for the evening performance...
Again, it was a Shakespeare I'd never seen, although I'd certainly heard about its reputation. Misogynist or feminist? I'm still none the wiser. You could play that infamous final scene a multitude of ways. And then there's the tricky problem of the context of the play - it would have been seen differently at the time it was written.
The Royal Exchange Theatre is a theatre in the round, and a small, intimate one at that. One of the ones where it can be dangerous to sit in the front row, one can find oneself enlisted as an extra:-) We weren't sitting on the front row, I've been to the Rocky Horror Show too many times to be caught that way. I still ended up holding a broom during a scene change.
This production is well-staged, with an excellent cast. Of particular note are Tanya Ronder as Kate and Lloyd Hutchinson as Petruchio. Petruchio is played not as a wife-beater, but as a man looking for a strong woman to act as his second-in-command at his recently inherited estate, and determined to break her to accepting him as in charge without breaking her mettle. It could have been played very differently; the text is remarkably ambiguous. It's an interesting comparison with Power.
The production runs until 14 April, and I'd recommend that anyone interested in Shakespeare and within easy reach of Manchester consider going to this.