We watched the American Conservatory Theatre's (ACT) 1976 version of The Taming of the Shrew which utilizes the Commedia dell'arte humor that we are incorporating into our adaptation. I loved the wit of the Shakespeare that they did keep, (because, being filmed for TV, it had to be shortened to 2 hours long) especially for Kate and Petruchio. Marc Singer and Fredi Olster are absolutely hilarious as the leads, and play off each other very nicely. The physicality of their roles is very impressive. I will say, though, that I probably more enjoy the acting and chemistry of our production because we allow Mike and Katie the time to process the words and bring out the innuendo and hidden meanings, whereas Singer and Olster are speaking at breakneck pace the entire time.
The absolute hysteria of the slapstick that Commedia brought to the production was beyond awesome; we were howling in our seats with it as we compared our own roles to those as played in this adaptation. I especially enjoyed all the servants tumbling about: Grumio and Biondello, especially. I'm really looking forward to incorporating some of that slapstick into my Grumio; here's hoping I get to add a bit more, now that Dr. John is letting me keep the tumble during the "beef and mustard" scene. I will say that I'm really glad Mr. Randall let me keep a lot of great Grumio/Petruchio, Grumio/Kate and Grumo/Tailor lines that ACT ended up cutting out of their show.
Anyway, I know this post was a wee bit on the shorter side, but that's because I've got a bit of a headache from sleeping only about 4 hours last night (that time change has really thrown me and my schedule for a loop). I will leave you with an awesome clip from ACT's production, though. Here is Marc Singer and Fredi Olster as Petruchio and Katherina at their first meeting. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment