The all-female Shrew we saw last night

Margaret and I went to the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre last night to see a production of The Taming of the Shrew that had the twist of being entirely cast with women. This is not quite as bizarre as it might seem at initial glance: after all, the original production was cast entirely with men (clarification: men and boys).

The director, the Bell Shakespeare Company's Marion Potts, said in an interview:

If anything, a female cast allows us to be more honest about the power relationships in question. We don’t need to shy away or apologise for the behavior that is scripted, because in a sense we are in control and endorsing this exploration...We can afford then to really hold the themes of the play up for scrutiny. We can also work out what isn’t about gender: another interesting facet of the casting is that we can suddenly see aspects of a relationship that aren’t just about gender – that are more symptomatic of other character traits – such as greed, or pragmatism or intellectual rivalry etc.

Margaret and I were both interested to see whether we actually did feel a different dynamic. After the show, we agreed that except for a moment here and there where we admired this or that actor's ability to use mannerisms, vocal control, and movement to project "maleness," we were largely oblivious to the gender of the actor. Instead, we did what people watching a good play always do: we let the actors become the characters. We found that that process happened just fine even with what should have been a somewhat confronting casting choice.

Either we're way too willing to suspend disbelief, or a really good actor (and Bell hires the best) can transcend the assumptions and agendas of even the most politicized of audiences (and directors?).

(Hm — an interesting aside: the publicity on Bell Shakespeare's site for the show mentions lion-tamers' whips, bearded ladies, smoke and mirrors. I remember a scene in which a smoke machine may have played a bit part, but none of that other stuff. Clearly some decisions were made about the scale of the production after that got posted!)