Summer in Oxford is a wonderful time and although you would doubt your own senses to call this summer, the city is still in full festive swing. As a well-versed fanatic of all things Shakespeare I have looked forward to this summer above all others. For those of you not in the know, this year marks the four hundredth anniversary of the death of the great bard, and to commemorate this milestone within our history Oxford's intrepid theatre groups have taken up the challenge of working their way through as much of the complete works as possible. Though this is happening throughout the year, summer is when it really comes to life, with productions being placed in all sorts of wonderful and unusual places, none more so that the Oxford Castle, which is hosting the Oxford Shakespeare Festival. Eight weeks of shows, hosted by four companies.
The first of these groups is Don't Hate the Players Theatre Company. A fairly new company with an amusing name, although I will confess that my niece had to explain the joke to me.
They have chosen to bring to life one of Shakespeare's more controversial comedies, The Taming of the Shrew: an odd choice of show for a company that boasts an equal opportunities policy when it comes to casting their actors.
Now, I must admit that when I arrived I was in a foul mood and I fully intended to hate this play. I've seen it several times before and each time was worse than the last. Each one trying to either justify Petruchio's actions towards his ferocious victim of a wife, Kate, play too hard on the irony that some suspect was written in there, or turn it on its head. Case in point was The Globe's touring production four years ago with an all female cast.
What I didn't expect to see was a version of this play that ignored the politics behind the content and focused more on telling, what is at heart, a love story.
Kate and Petruchio instantly clicked with their quick witted responses to one another and the kind of tension you would expect from a Benedick and Beatrice, rather than a psychopath and his prisoner.
An issue with any production of this show is that its two protagonists are not particularly likeable, to the point where some would describe them as antagonists. In spite of this, Kieran Donnelly (Petruchio) and Simone Olsen-Varela (Kate) provided us with two very endearing characters that, despite constant clashes and abuse, we as an audience still rooted for. It was clear to see, from a company that is a mix of professional and wanting actors, that these two were of the former camp. They commanded the stage whenever they entered and the wake they left upon their exits gave such a wonderful energy to the remainder of any scenes that they themselves didn't close.
The supporting cast helped to paint such a wonderful picture that allowed for this minimalist set to transport us to fifteenth century Italy. The comedic duo of Ben Schofield (Grumio) and Alastair Fiori-McFee (Biondello, Curtis, Haberdasher) provided some otherwise dull scenes with a slapstick style of physical comedy that left the audience in stitches. The program I purchased upon my arrival mentioned that one of the company's aims is to make theatre more accessible. It was clear that such physical comedy in such a wordy play is one of the methods they employ to achieve this goal. Never before today have I seen a Shakespearean play that I would consider taking my eight and ten year old grandchildren to, but I'm sure that this raucous pair would have them laughing their little heads off.
An interesting choice the company made was to include the prologue and epilogue scenes with Christopher Sly (Marcus Davis-Orrom). Rarely done, it was very interesting to see Sly sat in the audience for the entire play, with his occasional outbursts reminding us that this is a play within a play. This Brechtian style of theatre is seen all too little with the Bard's works and created odd moments of reflection whenever the realisation hit that we were watching actors playing actors playing parts.
There were other subtle nuances to remind us that this play was taking place in a contemporary setting. Certain pieces of costume and set seemed to be intentionally modern, to play on the idea of how difficult it is for amateur touring companies to acquire entirely authentic props and clothing. The shoes, which are notoriously difficult to source in any period piece, were an especially nice touch and the modern day references gave the audience more of a sense that they were a part of the play, watching the play along with Sly, at one point even getting those of us brave enough up to dance with them.
I will confess that my favourite of these moments came from the Monty Python reference within the first wedding scene. I shan't say anymore but I would see the show again for Petruchio's entrance, if for no other reason.
The costume was superbly authentic and provided by local costume maker, Helen Moulford. It was so refreshing to see a Shakespearean production in which the characters actually appeared to be from Shakespeare's time. The odd imperfection in costume, set and props could be forgiven for the sake of maintaining the meta illusion they established within the first scene of the prologue.
Overall, I thought that the only issue with this production was how small their audience was. This is clearly a company of actors that works incredibly hard to provide us, the audience, with a performance worthy of our time and, with the added fact that I believe they are the only company in the festival that are paying their cast, it would be nice to see more support from the people of Oxford.
I will be keeping a close eye on this company and look forward to their production of Romeo and Juliet in the winter.