Talented company keep their Shakespeare light and lively

The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare, directed by Douglas Campbell. A Bard On The Beach production under the tent in Vanier Park. [n repertory with Romeo And julict to Sep. 5. Res: 733-1916.

OLKSY, FAMILY fun ... or else! I's probably engraved in Bard On The Beach’s mission statement.

Artistic Director Christopher Gaze chats to the audience on the way in, works them at intermission and thanks them for coming on the way out.

In case he misses anyone he’s onstage before each show to plug the raffle and lead the singing of our national anthem.

The audience gives it a good

‘ shot and sits down afterwards looking inordinately pleased with itself: Everyone smiles as Gaze says, ‘It goes to show you that we can sing O Canada at cultural events just as at sporting ones.”

in one cheerily disarming mo- ment Gaze has cemented the fecling of togetherness that his canvas cocoon overiooking the watery vista of English Bay has al- ready engendered.

In this context it is no surprise that director Dougias Campbell’s approach to The Taming Of The Shrew should follow the farcical form of the play and not stray into the polemical (and problematical) area of sexual politics.

Within the comedy of confused identities that is central to much of the action this approach works joyfully.

But within the context of Kate's confused identity as the vassal of her father and the expected vessel of her husband there are some un- satisfyingly empty holes.

And that is not the fault of a very strong Scott Bellis as the suitor Petrucchio or even the somewhat Jess successful Catherine Williams as the sharp-tongued Kate.

It is not that Campbell has en- tirely overlooked the problem of Elizabethan chauvinism and misogyny.

In one incandescent moment the fast-paced frolicking of the show is frozen as Kate’s father, Baptista (Sudsy Clark), slaps her to the ground and the obnoxiously vapid Bianca drops to her side in

_ obvious concern for the sister she has just been tormenting.

But where, oh where, were the other bone-cutting “truths” in this play that has in recent years become so politically difficult?

Kate’s famous concluding speech that urges women to ac- knowledge a husband as “thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign’ and tells them to “place your hands below your husband's foot’ is remarkable in this production only for the ease

- with which Williams’ Kate is able to play it. :

Apparently love makes life a

Martin Millerchip THEATRE REVIEW

happy joke in Padua.

Either that, or a drearn. Campbell leaves his audience with a final image of Christopher

Sly, the tinker for whom The Taming Of The Shrew is being performed, waking from a sleep and scratching his head in puzzlement before blowing out the lights.

It’s a cute image.

But it diverts attention from the final line of the play delivered by Lucentio: “Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so."

So instead of considering the meaning of Kate’s new-found subservience we are reminded of the play-within-the-play device, something that Shakespeare ig- nored after the first act.

In fairness, the ending is consis- tent with the light and iively ap- proach taken by Campbell and this talented company.

Gaze, as Sly, and Torquill Campbell as his reluctant ‘‘wife’’ extract every laugh possible from the comic business that sets up and parallels a series of exchanged identities.

This business of comedy runs unfettered through the production with sight gags building from an improbable prompter working from “Ye Olde Script’ to the free rein of a pantomime horse.

Yet it is significant that Jeffrey Renn’‘s Lucentio and Ashley Wright's Hortensio fail in terms of being obstacles, or velievable op- ponents, for the cleverer characters.

But there are many standouts in the cast.

Denyse Williams makes in- telligent sense of the silly Bianca within the framework imposed by Campbell, David Mackay has a naturally light touch that il- luminates Tranio and Christopher Weddell controls the stage in two quite different roles.

Colin Heath's pantalooned but acrobatic Gremio is an instant crowd-pleaser, although | prefer- red the understated use of his magnificent body awareness in the liry role of the Apothecary in Romeo And juliet. \t is possible to have too much of a good thing.

And finally, special mention must be made of the look of this show.

Mara Gottler costumes the itinerant players in a dazzling motley that adds color to color, shane to shane and texture to tex- ture until there is spontaneous ap- plause for one gorgeous tableau.

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1629 Lonsdale Avenue Across from Extra Foods

N. VANCOUVER

IT‘S AN amazing technicolored produciion of The Taming Of The Shrew at Bard On The Beach. North Vancouver's David Mackay as the wily Tranio proves there is nothing up his sleeve, flanked by the dubious Sudsy Ciark as Baptista and the old but very athletic Colin Heath as Gremio.

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HOURS: Monday-Thursday: 7:00am-5:30pm Friday: 7:00am-9:00pm Saturday: 9:00am-5:30pm

985-6815 Sunday & Holidays: 10:00am-5:00pmn

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