Shakespeare: Always relevant!

For the past five years I have had the pleasure of attending, almost, all of the Shakespearean works productions at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. It’s always a nice treat for me to be there. The Chicago Shakespeare Theater breaths life into the words I’ve read for so long. For a lack of a better word, it’s magical! Not too long ago, I got to see Taming of the Shrew.

I am not going to bore you with a mediocre synopsis of Taming. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to tell how un-mediocre Taming was.  I’m not an educated critic. I’m here as an audience, heck I was excited to get a picture of me in the theater!  Yes, some critics looked too harshly on this production of Taming. Yes, some audience actually left during the play. However, I will go there again in a Shakespeare second! In fact, I’m already planning another trip there.

The reason this production of Taming is a bit different is because Neil LaBute tried to put a different take on the constant struggle between the sexes while still maintaining the essence of the originality of Taming. The play starts before the audience even enter the theater, once you’re inside you can’t help but think that the crew are running a bit behind schedule, still prepping for the play. Well turns out that you get to see two plays in one and it starts the moment you sit on your chair! I believe that director Josie Rourke, when preparing for this production, wanted Shakespeare to be relevant. Which lead me to thinking about modern Shakespeare. To this day, we go on talking and reciting Shakespeare lines without giving a thought to where those words came from. Not knowing that that line was once in a sonnet or a soliloquy in Romeo and Juliet. Many times people fail to realize how modern Shakespeare really is. His works are not these obsolete, random, unknown and out-of-time words. That’s the beauty of Shakespearean works, you can say something like “the course of love never did run smooth” and never take a moment to think that those word were once uttered by Lysander in Midsummer’s Night Dream. I, think know that Shakesperae is and will always be relevant. That’s why I created, along side @JohnDigles both a Facebook page and a Twitter page for people who love Shakespeare and for people who are curious about the topic and want to discuss and observe in a very open and free space.We can even plan a trip to go see a production together!

Back to the play, go see it. Half the fun is discovering things as you go. If you want a hint, I will tell you that it’s a non-conventional take on an old tale about love, marriage, gender roles and family. It’s portrayed by a very talented cast. You can’t help but admire every one from Ian Bedford as Petruchio, Bianca Amato as Katharina to Alex Goodrich as Biondello and the very charming Katherine Cunningham as Bianca. Go see it, it’ll do you some good.