A joy-filled summer celebration of the bard
A not-for-profit touring company, Shakespeare in the Squares stages a Shakespeare play in London garden squares for one night in each venue every summer. Tailored to each individual venue, the company works with local organisations to create a true community feel in each unique garden, this year performing 34 times.
At the Cleveland Square performance, the setting couldn’t be more idyllic. A perfectly manicured garden surrounded by expansive, leafy trees, the production is presented on a square of lawn flanked by fold-out chairs. With picnic rugs and cushions strewn around the garden and specific ‘picnic seats’ within the audience available for purchase, the atmosphere is relaxed and causal. This setting invokes what a traditional Elizabethan production of Shakespeare might have felt like, as patrons would wander in and out of the theatre, eating, drinking and interacting with the players onstage.
Tonight’s performance of The Taming of the Shrew ‘takes its inspiration from pantomime and slapstick’, with audience participation, high melodrama and of course, live music. This play follows the story of Katherina the ‘shrew’, an unmarriageable woman who is ‘tamed’ by the swaggering Petruchio. A controversial play due to themes of misogyny and female oppression, productions will either lean into the abuse Kate experiences, or pull away, portraying the dialogue as light-hearted and all meant in jest. The final monologue in which Kate declares her submission is the ultimate decider, with director Toby Gordon’s version having her twist the words into irony rather than sincerity.
This interpretation is essential for the style of performance, and producing a less often seen Shakespeare makes for a refreshing night at the theatre. The cast is exceptionally strong, all actor-musicians who sing, play and perform their lines to polished perfection. Elizabeth Marsh cuts a forbidding figure as Baptista the mother of two eligible daughters, while Lee Drage is a show-stealingly hilarious Hortensio. Paddy Duff has a Ryan from High School Musical quality and wins the audience swiftly with his charming asides and flamboyant gesticulations.
With musical selections from the 1950s and 60s, the production is peppered with light-hearted pop hits, with audience members unable to help singing along in various moments. An ensemble of talented musicians, John Holt-Roberts and Roddy Lynch lead the crew with strong voices and charismatic stage presence.
Highly engaging throughout, movement director Charlotte Benedict has choreographed a tight, dynamic production. Despite the lack of raked seating, audiences are always able to observe the actors as they utilise every corner of the stage area, running up and down the aisles and popping in and out of various exits.
A family-friendly, thoroughly enjoyable production, Gordon has successfully created a Shrew to ‘platform female characters’. As Dame Judi Dench proposes, Shakespeare in the Squares is the perfect way to ‘engage new and non-traditional audiences of all ages’. It’s hard to think of a better way to spend a summer evening.