As an ex-actor I can tell you that any strong performance of Shakespeare is likely to influence you're own - look at any ham doing Richard III and tell me you don't see the ghost of Larry Olivier. But an even stronger will is required when trying to deliver the lines “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua.” without doing it in a Howard Keel stylee!
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| Jonathan Pryce as Petruchio |
I remember as a child going to stay the weekend with my grandparents while Mum and Dad went on a trip to Stratford upon Avon to see Jonathan Pryce in the RSC production of 'The Taming of the Shrew' (1978). They came back with tales of actors driving around the stage on motorbikes and of Petruchio's outrageous wedding attire. You have to read Biondello's full description in Act 3 to imagine just how mad he looks but it is summed up succinctly with his final line of being “a very monster in apparel."
Years later, while at sixth form college, I took a trip to Stratford myself and looking round their displays of past productions found photos from just that show. Somewhat sacrilegiously I never saw one Shakespeare play myself while I was there, opting instead for 'The Revenger's Tragedy' with Antony Sher and another called 'Hyde Park'. I must go back again sometime soon and this time see a play by the man himself in the Bard's backyard.
Final thoughts – What is the point of introducing the Christopher Sly sub-plot if he disappears after only a few scenes? Very peculiar...
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