REVIEW: Genesius Enthusiastically Returns to Shakespeare Roots in New “Shrew”
Over 400 years ago, it was standard practice in William Shakespeare’s time for boys and men to play all the roles (female and male) in his plays.
For the first time in the 70-year-history of Genesius Guild, the current production puts that old tradition on stage, for one of the Bard’s most famous female roles, in “The Taming of the Shrew.” Local Shakespeare veteran Cait Bodenbender directs her first Genesius show, with passion and assurance, co-starring her long-haired son Josef as the title character, the strong-willed, outspoken Katherine.
“The Taming of the Shrew” is a popular comedy revolving around the courtship of Petruchio and Katherine, who is highly independent, and (regardless of the gender of the actor playing her) appears to have little to no chemistry with the soulful, supremely self-confident Andy Curtiss as Petruchio, who works to wear down Kate over the course of the play.
Andy Curtiss, left, Ross Richhart and Andy Koski in “The Taming of the Shrew,” directed by Cait Bodenbender at Genesius Guild. (photo by Jonathan Turner)
The late 16th-century play – which seems more a titanic battle of wills than an inviting, sparkling romantic comedy — has been adapted into a number of musicals, movies, and ballets (with the 1948 Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate the best-known adaptation). It’s fun to hear a handful of lines from the Broadway musical in the play, including the title.
The plot of the show is also uniquely challenging — its handling of gender expectations and conflicts feels uncomfortable under a modern lens, according to a Genesius synopsis. Modern views of Petruchio and his actions differ, ranging from the straightforward view that he was thoroughly misogynistic to interpretations that he was descending into madness. Some scholars argue that the play was written to be intentionally controversial or to act as a moral play that criticizes Petruchio’s actions.
Many modern rom-coms start as a meet-hate, with a man and a woman progressing from bickering to flirting and loving, but that never seems to happen with this Shakespeare, and the sudden wedding of Petruchio and Kate doesn’t appear a natural move, but the power-hungry man getting his way. Kate is headstrong and obdurate, initially an unwilling participant in the relationship; however, Petruchio “tames” her in the second act with various psychological and physical torments, such as keeping her from eating and drinking, until she becomes a desirable, compliant, and obedient bride.
Mischa Hooker, left, Andy Curtiss, and Josef Bodenbender in “The Taming of the Shrew.” (photo by Jonathan Turner)
As Petruchio, Curtiss pursues Bodenbender like a predator and kidnapper. The subplot features a competition among the suitors of Katherine’s younger sister, Bianca, who is seen as the “ideal” woman, and played much more to comic effect here by Zach Ulmer.
I had never seen an all-male Shakespeare cast, and it certainly is worth it. Cait Bodenbender’s cast (assembled with casting director Jake Walker) features 13 actors playing 22 characters (just three are female).
“It’s one of those plays that, 85% of the show is one of Shakespeare’s funniest, and then that 15%, especially that the coming out of intermission where he’s starving Kate and all of that, it’s all of a sudden it takes it into such a downer,” Genesius board president Andy Shearhouse said Sunday, July 12.
“Cait Bodenbender, the director, had come to us and brought that idea up of, ‘What if we do it as an all-male cast? Do it the way Shakespeare— the way it would have been staged with Shakespeare?’”
A scene from “The Taming of the Shrew,” directed by Cait Bodenbender at Genesius Guild, Rock Island. (photo by Jonathan Turner)
“It’s weird a little bit in how Shakespeare treats it. Because like, you see most of his shows, I mean, you have Lady Macbeth, you have Lear’s daughters, there are these powerful, powerful characters, and it’s so different and such a mismatch,” when those are played by men, Shearhouse noted.
Shakespeare wrote “Shrew” (between 1590 and 1592) as a play within a play, which makes more sense as all-male, he said.
“Hey, this is a Shakespearean troupe of actors who are putting on this show. So it kind of gives you that separation where you’re not as emotionally invested in the Kate character as when you don’t have that extra layer of distance there,” Shearhouse said. “So it’s kind of an interesting— we had done it before. The last time we did it (in 2011), they really steered into the idea that Kate was kind of in on the whole idea, which is also a really interesting way of staging it.”
Andy Curtiss plays Petruchio and Josef Bodenbender is Katherine in “Taming of the Shrew” in the first all-male Shakespeare play at Genesius Guild. (photo by Jonathan Turner).
Fittingly, Angela Rathman (who played Kate in the 2011 Genesius production) is the assistant director of the current production, and the look of most of the set and costumes could be called “A Rhapsody in Beige” – though Curtiss wears blue and white and Bodenbender is often in red. Several flats depict names of other Shakespeare plays, and the actors are uniformly enthusiastic and committed to their roles, including Andy Koski as a player in three very different roles (with different accents) as Gremio, Curtis and Tailor.
Genesius veteran Mischa Hooker (who also was in the 2011 version) is outstanding as usual, as Grumio, and other cast include Andy Lord, Jacob Lund, Ben Krebs, David Wellner, Jonah Higinbotham, Joe Sager, Ross Richhart, and Jamie Bodenbender. One consistent challenge at the outdoor park theater is hearing un-amplified actors, and at the end of “Taming of the Shrew,” as Josef (as Kate) changes clothes (to appear more male), his speech Sunday night to me was entirely inaudible.
Performances will continue July 18 and 19 and start at 7 p.m. All shows are staged in Lincoln Park, 1120 40th St., Rock Island, and admission is free.
Genesius Guild was founded in 1956, and performs Greek drama, Greek comedy, the works of Shakespeare, and other classical authors for eight weekends each summer. For more information about the Guild, visit www.genesius.org.
Josef Bodenbender, left, is Kate, and Zach Ulmer is her sister Bianca in the new Genesius Guild “Taming of the Shrew,” running through Sunday, July 19 at Lincoln Park, Rock Island. (photo by Jonathan Turner).
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