The Taming of the Shrew: Clearly, Bear & Co is still seeking a theatrical style
Photo: Andrew Alexander
The evening begins with a long note in the programme by director Eleanor Crowder explaining her directorial choices. “He (Shakespeare) is running pure Commedia gags here, the staple of a company used to touring market places and dodging rotten apples”. That is not a good sign. First of all a European style frontal theatre is not a normally raucus commedia setting and no one could possibly reproduce that so why bring it up.? In any case, the show speaks for itself so if the director felt the need to explain, that means she feared we wouldn’t get it.