"They shall go forward, Kate, at thy command"

[larryhammer]

Every year, the city puts on a free Shakespeare play in the park. Community theater, so it's rarely brill -- but it's rarely wretched* either, and sometimes the director brings good insights to the play. This year was The Taming of the Shrew. We went anyway.

And were surprised to see the frame story actually performed for once. Also, Kate and Petruchio almost were convincing -- if their chemistry and pure lustful heat had been continuous instead of sputtering, the final scene would have worked. Mind, "working" means making an otherwise fluffy play as disturbing as Measure for Measure -- but I'd like to see it do that. So I sat back and laughed at the well-turned slapstick and rapid-fire banter. There was one absolutely brilliant moment, when Petruchio showed up antic for his wedding and asks

Wherefore gaze this goodly company,
As if they saw some wondrous monument,
Some comet or —

and that, dear people, was when the baseball field next door started the fireworks.

The production stopped for ten minutes to watch, from the stage, the pretty booms bang off. A minute in, Petruchio said to the audience, "Now that's some monument." The cast worked in ad lib references for the rest of the play -- such as Petruchio's apology for being "in some part enforced <gestures towards the fireworks> to digress."


* The Midsummer with a Peter Pan Puck was probably the low point.

---L.