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"The Reclaiming of the Shrew" at Edinburgh Fringe
Published on 2nd September 2013
Cecily Boys’ sparky retelling of one of Shakespeare’s most difficult plays plants three very English institutions firmly into Edinburgh’s turf: the bard, the royal family, and wicked satire. Combined with a rocket-fuelled cast and a free cup of coffee to bestir the slightly groggy audience (even the most robust theatre-goers find 10am on a Saturday morning hard work), it’s a triumph. In the adept conceit, Katherina becomes, of course, Katherina Middleton; but this is no “waity Katy” - here, she is re-imagined by Christina Carty as a recalcitrant twenty-something in head-to-toe black, blasting out T-Rex on her iPod, the eponymous “shrew”. The rest of the characters fall beautifully into place: Prince William Petruchio, Harry Hortensio, and Pippa Bianca - it’s almost as if the play was written to satirise the 21st century royals. The portraits of the family are broadly painted but uproariously colourful. Jacob-John Church deserves special mention for his Harry Hortensio - charging onstage with nothing but a carefully dangled Union Jack to preserve his modesty, he inflects the text with that distinctive Chelsea drawl: “How now mate! How do you all at Verona, bro?”. It is Michael Lapham, though, who enjoys the most laughs for his “Baptista Middleton”, Kate’s constantly horrified father. In an impish jab at the modern Middletons, he appears in every scene with a different party accoutrement, firing off party-poppers in surprise at his daughter’s wild comportment. The most important moment both in this production and the play itself, though, is Kate’s final speech, her proclamation of self-subjugation to her husband. Here, babe in arms and Jigsaw dress tastefully sported before an eager press pack, Carty nails K-Middy’s mannerisms as the “tamed” Katherina. The tight-lipped enunciation and the ever so slightly insipid smile fit the obsequiousness of the text like a glove. The culmination of a neat, artful little conceit that makes us think as well as laugh - and all before lunchtime.
