2013 Oregon Shakespeare Festival

At the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last year, both David Ivers ( Shrew) and Christopher Liam Moore ( Dream) crammed their comedies into concepts that not only captivated spectators’ imaginations but also challenged their suspension of disbelief. Jo Winiarski’s set for Shrewwas “Baptista’s Boardwalk” in Padua, circa 1950: a brightly lit, gaudy tourist attraction including a fun house, a hell mouth, an exit stage right labeled “Fortune’s Fool,” a shooting gallery, and a hot-dog-and-soda-pop-stand where Kate worked while Bianca lounged around in Barbie Doll outfits. Although Baptista made his living in modern Italy, his insistence that Bianca marry before Kate created a glaring culture clash that Kate and Petruchio superbly exploited. Baptista employed a country-rock band in the upper gallery that belted out ’50s tunes and introduced what Kate McConnell called the show’s “rockabilly aesthetic and subculture” that “sp[oke] to the impulse to break free, not losing one’s roots but taking a chance and moving on” (41).

The romantic plots were sharply differentiated. Royer Bockus played Bianca as a ditzy, blonde, empty-headed younger daughter (Fig. 1). She wiggled and giggled among her suitors, including David Kelly’s silly Gremio in his plain white shirt, striped blue and white shorts, and thigh-high black socks, and Jeremy Peter Johnson’s Hortensio, who wore a white cowboy hat, black boots, and a white lounge suit complete with embroidered notes. In 2.1, Bianca, in short shorts, basked in Baptista’s attention while Kate, wearing the same blue shirt and white pants as Baptista, dusted his shop. Given the setting, Lucentio’s intention to pursue a “course of learning and ingenious studies” was ludicrous, and it evaporated the instant he saw Bianca flitting around Papa’s boardwalk. The resulting “supposes” plots, where Lucentio and Grumio dressed in bold colors and designer shades and tried oh so hard to be oh so cool, culminated in Grumio-as-Lucentio and Hortensio in 2.1 flashing presentations of their absurd wealth on a huge screen digital slideshow. The...