This summer the Royal Shakespeare Company made us laugh and cry with the inspired works of the bard for a mere fiver! That’s right, for just £5 16 – 25 year olds can enjoy a night out lapping up some culture: it’s the best keep secret of the theatre! And the best news is if you missed the productions at Stratford over summer they’re coming to Newcastle in October: not far to travel for a stimulating night of culture.
A SHREWD INTERPRETATION
The R. S. C.’s The Taming of The Shrew is both hilarious and moving as it innovatively compares marriage and courtship in the Renaissance period to prostitution and ‘pulling’ in the twenty-first century.
The play begins in a modern strip club following men on a stag do and drunken Christopher Sly is persuaded to watch a Renaissance play. The play within the play then charts the reduction of Kate, the headstrong and undesired daughter of the rich Baptista. Her younger sister, Bianca, has many suitors but Baptista refuses to let Bianca marry until Kate marries. Bianca’s suitors plot to win her hand by introducing Kate to Petruchio, a penniless misogynist determined to marry her for her large dowry and break her stubborn disobedience. The sexual and psychological domestic violence she endures is accompanied by the comical disguises and misinterpretations of Bianca’s suitors, Lucentio, Hortensio and Gremio, who attempt to woo Bianca by trickery.
Director Conall Morrison’s return to the RSC explores the objectification of women both now and during the sixteenth century to consider the development of women’s rights and demonstrate second wave feminist theory in this poignant production of Shakespeare’s controversial illustration of misogyny. This is undoubtedly a shrewd interpretation that is unmissable!
SHAKESPEARE’S MERCHANT
The Merchant of Venice is Tim Carroll’s first RSC production and a comedic yet simplistic insight into capitalist society, its laws and the interaction between its diverse members.
Portia, a wealthy heiress, is obliged to marry the man who chooses the casket containing her picture from three gold, silver and lead caskets left in her father’s will. Bassanio borrows money from his merchant friend Antonio to travel to Belmont to woo Portia but Antonio has to borrow the money from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, because his ships are at sea. He agrees to entitle Shylock to a pound of flesh if he fails to repay. Law and order then unravel as Antonio’s ships are lost at sea and Shylock’s daughter Jessica elopes stealing money and jewels from her father. Social stability cannot be restored until it’s turned on its head as women disguise themselves as men and lawyers to resolve the dispute.
The play stands alone as this narrative driven production seems shy of any religious, moral or racial interpretations, allowing the audience to decipher the play’s social implications and allocate sympathy and blame for themselves. Carroll plays it by the book, doing little with the script and treating the audience to a minimalist spectacle with few props. Although the play seems bereft of individuality, the enthusiastic actors nevertheless consciously interact with the audience, delivering an accurate and amusing performance of Shakespeare’s original Merchant which is useful for a beginner’s guide to the play or a newbie to the theatre looking for a basic production. So if you’re feeling up for the challenge this play is open both for your own reading or just a relaxing viewing since it relies on audience analysis.
The R.S.C Young Person’s tickets are available in limited numbers, twenty five in advance of each show, and twenty five to be sold at the venue on the day of the show. For more information, visit the R. S. C. website, at www.rsc.org.uk.
Julie Visgandis
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