THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

Shakespeare’s farce is quite definitely not for feminists and the politically correct. It is, however, the perfect play for the Globe’s core audience. The groundlings don’t want subtlety and psychological insight. They want a good time. They want a laugh and Toby Frow’s production provides it. Fortune-hunting Petruchio (Simon Paisley Day), who does not woo like a babe, turns up at his wedding, wearing a saucepan for headgear, a huge codpiece and his buttocks completely bare. But even when the play is acted entirely for broad comedy and nobody is taking it seriously for one minute, there still comes a point when Kate’s suffering and humiliation are just not funny. Petruchio tames his wife as he might tame his falcon. Samantha Spiro delivers the notorious speech of wifely submission as if she meant it and without a trace of irony, which doesn’t make sense within the context of this boisterous production. Besides you never believe that these two have really fallen in love. Sarah MacRae’s sly-puss Bianca behaves like a shrew in embryo. Pearce Quigley’s morose servant is an instant crowd-pleaser.