This review originally appeared in the MetroWest Daily News on Thursday, September 23, 2004.

Hovey never tames this 'Shrew'

By David Brooks Andrews / News Correspondent

Often community theaters strive to make their shows as polished as they possibly can. They love to have their work compared to professional productions, and occasionally the better companies, like Hovey Players, deserve such comparisons.

But community theaters sometimes will stage shows primarily for their own pleasure, not unlike kids who pull a box of dress-up clothes out of the attic and turn their family's basement or garage into a stage. It's the playful aspect of theater. It certainly has its place in rehearsals, but it can be something of a shock if you arrive for a performance expecting a more serious attempt at creating art.

The Hovey Player's production of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" definitely falls into the latter category.

" Shrew," by it's very nature, is a romp. There's no other way to justify performing the claws-out fight between Katherina and Petruchio -- including his willingness to marry and finally tame her into a docile wife -- other than as an entertaining romp. There's no other reason for it in our feminist age.

Many people today probably know this story better by the musical adaptation of it, "Kiss Me Kate," than by Shakespeare's original.

Director Wayne Vargas decided that the whole show, from the moment we enter the theater, should be staged as a loose romp, rather than setting off the fiery fight between Katherina and Petruchio with the structure of carefully made artistic choices. The latter would have been far more interesting as well as demanding of cast and crew.
As it is, we're met in the theater lobby by one of the actresses who greets us in a put-on English accent, as if she's the wench of the tavern. This picks up on the fact that the play starts in an alehouse in which the tale of Katherina and Petruchio is performed. But the actress engages us in conversation as part of an artificial effort to break down any barrier between actors and audience.

Other gimmicks are used to the same end. She and other actors in character offer to take people's coats. The house lights are left on throughout the performance. And there's no traditional blinking of lights at the end of intermission. Instead actors feign impatience while they wait on stage for the audience to return. All of this is pretty corny and can leave an audience feeling uncomfortable, even exposed during the performance. Any negative reactions on your face can easily be read by the actors.

The costumes are uncoordinated other than looking like the actors dug them out from the back of their closets. The set consists of little more than black paper attached to the walls with white chalk lines indicating parts of the room. A large map of Italy drawn by the cast is so faint that you can't see it from a distance. The standing joke is that characters point out towns on the map when they refer to them. All this gives the impression that we've arrived for one of the early rehearsals when everyone's throwing out their initial ideas.

This hardly provides a solid foundation for the acting, which tends to be cliched and not sharp and distinct enough, although there are a few exceptions. Michelle M. Aguillon brings the energy and clear focus to Katherina that the role demands. Josh Bartok as Pertruchio falls into posturing more than he should but kicks into high gear when chasing his servants around the house.

One of the most interesting performances is given by Stephen Falcone as the drunken Christopher Sly and Vincentio. He has a natural honesty that makes him compelling to watch even in these relatively small roles.
Shakespeare is extremely difficult for any company to perform. Because the words are often hard for audiences to follow, the director and actors need to build up a density of artistic choices that make the story clear and create a vivid sense of life. It's as if the Hovey Players decided it would be easier and more fun just to cut loose than to do the hard work of creating layers of artistic choices.

The cast has written a clever song to close the show. Each line ends with the title of a Shakespearean play. It's charming, but it isn't exactly Shakespeare. A comedy revue would be a better place for it. Alas, this is a show that feels more interested in extraneous gimmicks than the hard work of creating a polished Shakespearean production.

" Taming of the Shrew" runs through Oct. 2 at the Hovey Players' Abbott Theatre, 9 Spring St., Waltham. Tickets cost $15 (for seniors and students $13) and can be reserved by calling 781-893-9171.

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