The Taming of the Shrew (2003) - Director's Note
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company's spring production of "The Taming of the Shrew." Whew. With the welcome out of the way, now we can get down to business. I expect that right off the bat there'll be plenty of questions. Thus I'll basically turn this ‘Director's Note’ into a sort of question and answer session.
"Now hold on a second! Shakespeare wasn't meant to be done like that!" Well, that's one hell of an attitude you have there, mister! Most of Shakespeare's plays are intentionally vague about locations and characters. Why would he do this? Well, it's not like we ask him or anything, but we do know what is achieved by this: the timelessness which has allowed them to survive 400 years and grow stronger in the process. Each generation interprets the plays with their own unique perspective and consequently we fall further and further in love with his work.
"That's all well and good, but why would you do the 70s of all time periods??" Fair enough question, I suppose. The cool thing about the 70s is the myriad of ideas that come to mind when you think about them. Many other decades can be described with one word. 80s: Apathy, 60s: Dirty Hippies, etc. But the 70s represented the culmination of a huge number of social revolutions. The one that stands out in relation to this play would be, of course, the women's liberation movement. Throughout the play, the idea of a woman's place in the household is constantly challenged, and by throwing it into the 70s we can see the words in a new light. In this light we see an entirely different show; one in which Kate is no longer scorned by a modern female audience, but rather one in which she forms the other half of a powerful love story.
"Uh huh...sounds like BS to me..." If by "BS" you mean Bill Shakespeare, then you would be correct. What you'll be seeing is the play uncut. Well, uncut if you don't count the bizarre induction, which is never finished and in no obvious way connected to the actual plot of the play. But every scene which includes the actual plot of The Taming of the Shrew is completely intact.
"But what abou-" That's enough out of you.
Now I'll pause for a moment to point out some of the people, without whom this show could not have come together. First and foremost would be my beautiful Stage Manager AnaMarie. Without her, I'dve gone nuts about 3 months ago. Next, my ASMs and tech people who said "how high?" when I said "JUMP!” and all of the people who I harassed to get the space and whatnot deserve thanks as well. And finally, all of the tragic victims of the "Des Plaines" incident who risked life and limb for the glory of the Shrew. May God have mercy on their souls... Don't ask.
One last thing before I finish this. I want to make sure to recognize all the seniors who'll be graduating and leaving us next year. All of them have put many many hours into this company through the shows they've done with us and perhaps more importantly, they've put up with the incessant ramblings of student directors, such as myself, who indeed count themselves unfathomably lucky to have gotten the chance to work with them (please note: the preceding sentence is an excellent example of the aforementioned incessant rambling). In all seriousness though, we will miss you all dearly.
And with that, make sure to sit back and enjoy the show!
-Seantague
"Now hold on a second! Shakespeare wasn't meant to be done like that!" Well, that's one hell of an attitude you have there, mister! Most of Shakespeare's plays are intentionally vague about locations and characters. Why would he do this? Well, it's not like we ask him or anything, but we do know what is achieved by this: the timelessness which has allowed them to survive 400 years and grow stronger in the process. Each generation interprets the plays with their own unique perspective and consequently we fall further and further in love with his work.
"That's all well and good, but why would you do the 70s of all time periods??" Fair enough question, I suppose. The cool thing about the 70s is the myriad of ideas that come to mind when you think about them. Many other decades can be described with one word. 80s: Apathy, 60s: Dirty Hippies, etc. But the 70s represented the culmination of a huge number of social revolutions. The one that stands out in relation to this play would be, of course, the women's liberation movement. Throughout the play, the idea of a woman's place in the household is constantly challenged, and by throwing it into the 70s we can see the words in a new light. In this light we see an entirely different show; one in which Kate is no longer scorned by a modern female audience, but rather one in which she forms the other half of a powerful love story.
"Uh huh...sounds like BS to me..." If by "BS" you mean Bill Shakespeare, then you would be correct. What you'll be seeing is the play uncut. Well, uncut if you don't count the bizarre induction, which is never finished and in no obvious way connected to the actual plot of the play. But every scene which includes the actual plot of The Taming of the Shrew is completely intact.
"But what abou-" That's enough out of you.
Now I'll pause for a moment to point out some of the people, without whom this show could not have come together. First and foremost would be my beautiful Stage Manager AnaMarie. Without her, I'dve gone nuts about 3 months ago. Next, my ASMs and tech people who said "how high?" when I said "JUMP!” and all of the people who I harassed to get the space and whatnot deserve thanks as well. And finally, all of the tragic victims of the "Des Plaines" incident who risked life and limb for the glory of the Shrew. May God have mercy on their souls... Don't ask.
One last thing before I finish this. I want to make sure to recognize all the seniors who'll be graduating and leaving us next year. All of them have put many many hours into this company through the shows they've done with us and perhaps more importantly, they've put up with the incessant ramblings of student directors, such as myself, who indeed count themselves unfathomably lucky to have gotten the chance to work with them (please note: the preceding sentence is an excellent example of the aforementioned incessant rambling). In all seriousness though, we will miss you all dearly.
And with that, make sure to sit back and enjoy the show!
-Seantague