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Anything but tame production

06/Jan/2010

By Ross McRae

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Anna Brockway, Sam Longley, Lucy Cooke, Jay Walsh & Will O'Mahony. Picture: Will Russell Anna Brockway, Sam Longley, Lucy Cooke, Jay Walsh & Will O'Mahony. Picture: Will Russell

SHAKESPEARE is getting groovy in Kings Park.

The much-loved Shakespeare in the Park is returning with a hilarious 1960s-styled production of The Taming of the Shrew.

A popular and oft-revived comedy, it will no doubt be an audience pleaser with its still relevant take on the battles of the sexes.

Shakespeare WA’s artistic director Paige Newmark said he chose to revive The Taming because it hasn’t been done in Perth for a decade and it was time that it came back to the park.

“We are trying to keep this version relevant and modern,” he said.

“It has 60s music, is costumed in a very bright way – we are using mini skirts on the girls – and is sexy in the relationship between the main characters,” he said.

As someone who has directed and taught Shakespeare for many years, Newmark said he enjoyed reinvented Shakespeare just as much as traditional productions.

“A lot of people say that is not true or pure Shakespeare, but I have taught Shakespeare for 10 years at Oxford University and have directed numerous worldwide productions and we don’t know what happened back then because there is only one picture that exists, and very few accounts of what people saw,” he said.

“If these purists could tell me what real Shakespeare is, then I will happily do it.”

Newmark said he did know that the original Shakespearean productions’ audiences represented a complete cross-section of society.

“There were poor apprentices who paid a penny to stand in the pit, to people who paid 12 pence to have their own private boxes,” he said.

“I truly believe that people from every social bracket can enjoy Shakespeare and my work all over the place has shown that to be true.

“Probably my proudest moment was in this tiny village in the hills of South Africa and we took over the town hall and all the kids were there and they weren’t wearing shoes, and English isn’t their first language, but they were out of their seats screaming with delight at As You Like It.”

“That showed the universality of Shakespeare, but also that is he is still just a really great playwright.”

This year’s Shakespeare in the Park season will kick off with a charity night on January 8, with proceeds going towards the St George’s Cathedral Foundation for the Arts and the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

“Breast cancer is quite a personal cause for us because our costume designer from last year is currently doing chemotherapy and our graphic designer is also sadly going through breast cancer, so this is a small way we can give back to them.”

The Taming of the Shrew is at Kings Park until February 6.


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