Regional Theatre-Makers Corrected Shakespeare

Igor Ružić
T Portal, 17th February, 2014

The directress, together with the management of the Ljubljana Theatre which has genuinely flourished in the past couple of seasons, thought that now was the right time for staging The Taming of the Shrew. If the Bard really is as great as we think he is, his fame and value cannot be questioned by critique or interpretations which do not come down to recycled idolatry. On the contrary, reassembling and questioning the premises of a work of classic can only do it good, regardless of whether it might be incongruent with an interpretation, a translation, or a new director’s vision.
The answer to: “What should be done?” is, of course: to react; even if irony seems to be the only proper way to read the original play.
In this case it was done by engaging three renowned playwrights from Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia – Simona Semenič, Ivana Sajko, and Maja Pelević. All three of them, the first one in ironical, the second in metaphorical, and the third one in a brutal street tone, have rewritten the final monologue of the Shrew as a unique homage to “tameness”. Given the fact that none of them has ever been tamed – which is clear from their successful careers both at home and abroad – their texts, although small in comparison to the original play, are the biggest value of this performance.
Small in terms of stage design and the props, for it belongs to a free and somewhat experimental programme of the small stage of the Ljubljansko Mesno Gledališče, The Taming of the Shrew has yet a few additional trump cards: “real” comments on the meaning of theatre as such and, “properly Elizabethan”, exclusively male ensemble.

An unconventional approach of the young Serbian director Anja Susa (for the first time on Slovenian stages) and overall enjoyable playful male ensemble cast is clear from the moment the red stage curtain opens: facts show that this Shakespeare’s comedy is almost blatantly misogynist, but it also exposes, analyzes, updates and discloses to the extent that it’s assumptions spontaneously appear absurd. But it doesn’t forget the basic humor, which is supported by the inventive actors and directing-dramaturgical interventions (dramaturge Peter Pogorevc) which in the contemporary way illustrate, comment or expose to parody the events on stage.
Playful performance, which in its other elements – particularly music (Laren Polič Zdravič) and costumes (Barbara Stupica) – consistently makes fun of various clichéd pop idealizations of relations between the sexes, is witty and fun, but because of the references which apply to the wider context it is also a very up-to-date and subversive interpretation of the theoretically disputable Shakespeare’s play. If you were Katarina, you might even say that this performance meets the three main goals which are used to attract the audience to LJCT: the “quality comedy” and “classical play,” played by “excellent ensemble with great guests.”

Minimalistic stage design with chairs and a red curtain – more would be too much for the precisely choreographed gracious dance of protagonists – and the selection of fairy-sounding background music only amplifies the pleasure for the viewer (at least for me) pervade the watching of this small stage “spectacle”. I highly recommend it!