A shrewd look at the power dynamics of the ultra-rich
- Stephanie Kulke
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Court Theatre’s current production of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” is lush,
sexy, dark, funny, disconcerting, exceptionally cast and exceptionally funny. As adapted
by director Marti Lyons, the play is a bracing tonic for the retro views of gender so
prevalent today.
Lyons sets up the comedy’s play within a play by targeting the sexual and power
dynamics of the ultra-rich. We are introduced to two high-power couples, Lord K, a tech
titan who has commissioned the game and his wife Lady K; Lady B, a social media
influencer and her husband Lord B; and personal assistant Chris Sly. The fivesome are
inducted into The Shrew Experience, an immersive role-playing game, by The Hostess,
played by Monica West, whose chilly glamour and precise instructions gives Ghislane
Maxwell vibes.
The Hostess is aided by associates in anonymous shrew masks who dress the Players
for their assigned roles and guide them through the game’s vignettes. After surrendering
their cellphones, the Players gamely take up their roles.
Melisa Soledad Pereyra plays Lady K, the tech mogul’s wife. Her husband has chosen
the role of Kate for her. Pereyra and Jay Whittaker are well-matched as Kate the saucy
shrew and oldest daughter of Baptista, and Petruchio the suitor with swagger from
Verona who decides to tame her. Their sparring gives off amorous sparks from their first
meeting, building to an erotic heat when she is taken to Petruchio’s remote home. They
are mercurial, willful and creative in their quest to gain the upper hand over the other.
You may wonder who will enjoy the sexy scenarios of The Shrew Experience more,
Lord K or Lady K?
The Shrew ensemble mines the comedy from Shakespeare’s play. Netta Walker, as
social influencer Lady B, makes the most of Bianca’s circumstances. As Baptista’s
youngest daughter she is the object of ardor from multiple suitors. Bianca/Lady B is
delightfully duplicitous in manipulating her father and sister Kate, airily dismissive of
suitors she finds tiresome, and unbridled in her carnal embraces with husband Lord B in
the role of the aristocrat Lucentio, played earnestly and amorously by Nate Santana.
Alex Weisman is maniacally funny as Petruchio’s abused manservant Grumio, and
sublime as the merchant enlisted by personal assistant Sly in the role of Tranio (a
versatile Ryder Dean McDaniel who is exceptionally deft with Shakespeare’s language)
to pose as Lucentio’s father. Dexter Zollicoffer as the aristocratic suitor Gremio,
effortlessly wrings laughs from Shakespeare’s text as he bemoans the unseemly
impediments preventing him from wedding Bianca. Mark L. Montgomery as Lord K
takes on the role of Baptista, comically unravelling before our eyes from the strain of
single-handedly raising two challenging daughters. Samuel Taylor in the role of
Hortensio the pompous suitor, finds pathos and humor in the act of getting his ego
punctured but gamely revives his guise of manliness.
“Shrew” is one of Shakespeare’s most challenging comedies to interpret. As Ellen
Mackay’s program essay “The Match and the Tinder Box” notes, Kate is a cipher. Unlike
Shakespeare’s other heroines who reveal their wants in soliloquys and conversations
with trusted companions, Kate never reveals her inner life. It’s a puzzle for actors,
directors and audiences to make meaning out of her eventual submission to Petruchio
who refers to her as his property and chattel.
But it’s a play worth reviving because of resurging clashes in society over sexual
equality and gender expression. How soft and submissive should a woman be for a
harmonious partnership with a man? How problematic is it for a person such as Bianca
to be the object of every man’s gaze, even if she seems to relish it? How essential is it
for gender roles be sharply defined and complementary for a marriage to succeed?
Lyons adaptation brings questions like these into satisfying focus.
When Lady B and Lady K apprehend the meaning of Kate’s submission in the context of
their own lives, the role playing of The Shrew Experience comes to an abrupt stand still.
The production seems to suggest, that no matter how much erotic thrill, social ease and
material comfort there may be partnering with a powerful man, the quid pro quo of
putting the needs of the powerful ahead of one’s own, may be too high a price to pay for
anyone.
If only there had been copies of “Taming of the Shrew,” preferably Lyon’s version, in the
library of a certain multimillionaire’s island estate.
Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” adapted and directed by Marti Lyons, runs
through Dec. 14 at Court Theatre. Tickets are available at
shrew/ .
Image: Melisa Soledad Pereyra (as Kate/Lady K) and Jay Whittaker (as Petruchio).
Photo by Michael Brosilow.
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