The Taming of the Shrew
From Left to Right:
VICTOR GARDENER - Petruccio, Christopher Sly, Curtis
NICOLA ALEXIS - Bianca, Tranio, Haberdasher/Tailor, Player, Huntsman 2
ANDY GREENHALGH - Baptista, Grumio, Hortensio, Lord
LOUISE YATES - Katherine, Biondello, Hostess/Tapster, Pedant, Servingman
MARTIN PARR - Lucentio, Gremio, Vincentio, Widow, Page, Huntsman 1
Synopsis
In the English countryside, a Lord, out hunting, finds Christopher Sly, a tinker, dead drunk. The lord has his men take Sly to his house, dress him in rich clothes and convince him that he is really a lord who has recovered from years of delusion. Sly, soon convinced, wants to be left alone with his supposed wife, actually the Lord’s page, but he agrees to watch a play being presented by a travelling troupe of actors. Their performance makes up the main action.
In Padua, Lucentio, a rich young man, arrives with his servants, Tranio and Biondello, to attend the local university but his priorities change the moment he sees the beautiful Bianca, younger daughter of the rich Baptista Minola. There are two problems: Bianca already has two suitors, Gremio and Hortensio, and her father has declared that Bianca may not marry until her older sister, Katherine the shrew, is married. Lucentio disguises himself as Cambio and becomes Bianca’s Latin tutor as an excuse to spend time with her. Hortensio disguises himself as her music teacher for the same reason. While Lucentio is disguised, Tranio dresses up as Lucentio and begins to convince Baptista he should marry Bianca.
Hortensio’s friend Petruccio, with his servant Grumio, arrives in Padua from Verona to find a rich wife and agrees to marry Katherine sight unseen. After his first meeting with Katherine, he claims they have agreed to marry immediately and the wedding is set for the next Sunday. Meanwhile, Lucentio has won Bianca, wooing her while pretending to teach her Latin. Hortensio abandons his suit and marries a wealthy widow. Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, secures Baptista’s approval for Lucentio to marry Bianca by outbidding Gremio over the marriage settlement but Baptista wants confirmation from Lucentio’s father before the marriage. Tranio and Lucentio have to find someone to play the role of Lucentio’s father, Vincentio, and they trick a visiting schoolmaster into pretending to be Vincentio.
On Sunday, Petruccio is late for his own wedding, arriving in a ridiculous outfit. No sooner is the wedding over than Petruccio forces Katherine to leave for his country house before the wedding-feast. Once there, Petruccio continues the process of “taming” Katherine by keeping her from eating or sleeping, pretending that he loves her so much he cannot allow her to eat inferior food or to sleep in the unmade bed.
Katherine and Petruccio head back to Padua to visit Baptista. On the way, they meet the real Vincentio. In Padua, Vincentio is shocked to find Tranio masquerading as Lucentio and Tranio pretends that Vincentio, not the schoolmaster, is the fake father At last, Bianca and Lucentio arrive and admit to their marriage and both fathers give their consent.
At the banquet, everyone is astonished to see that Katherine seems to have been “tamed”. When the three new husbands (Petruccio, Mucentio and Hortensio) bet on whether their wives will come when summoned, Bianca and the Widow refuse to appear while Katherine enters at once and speaks at length of the duty a wife owes her husband. The others acknowledge that Petruccio has won the wager, and Katherine and Petruccio leave the banquet to go to bed.
Actor Biographies
NICOLA ALEXIS (Bianca, Tranio, Haberdasher/Tailor, Player, Huntsman 2)
Nicola is an experienced actor and dancer. She studied at Mountview Theatre School and graduated with honors from De Montfort University with a degree in both drama and dance. As a professional actor, Nicola has worked in major theatre companies such as The Birmingham Rep, Bristol Old Vic, The Royal National Theatre and The Orange Tree. Her experience spans modern classics such as Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Ben Travers’ Rookery Nook and Jane Austin’s Emma to contemporary pieces including James Vollmer’s GI Blues, August Wilson’s Jitney and Kwame Dawes’ One Love. Nicola also has wide television experience. She has appeared on most major BBC TV dramas and was a regular on British police drama, The Bill. Shakespearean roles include Ariel in The Tempest at the Edinburgh Festival and Lady Macbeth at The Orange Tree. Nicola has experience with mask work, pantomime, writing for screen and working with young people.
VICTOR GARDENER (Petruccio, Christopher Sly, Curtis)
Victor studied at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, London. His Shakespearean credits include twice playing the title role in Macbeth, most recently this year at Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast (and Mercury Theatre, Colchester), Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Antonio/Sea Captain in Twelfth Night and Paris in Romeo and Juliet (all for the Mercury Theatre, Colchester). Other theatre credits include Webb in Blocked (Lyric Theatre, Belfast), Mac in Bollywood Jane (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Jean in Miss Julie, Lennie in Of Mice and Men, Boo Radley/Gilmer in To Kill a Mockingbird (all for the Mercury Theatre, Colchester) and the one man show Doorman (Theatre Royal, Plymouth). Victor's television credits include Murphy’s Law (BBC), Auf Wiedersehn Pet (BBC), Emmerdale (ITV) and The Bill (ITV). He has also appeared in the films The Fourth Dimension (Ghost Film Company) and Doctor Surreal (Cavewall Pictures).
ANDY GREENHALGH (Baptista, Grumio, Hortensio, Lord)
Andy graduated with a degree in English from Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge, and then trained at Webber-Douglas. Shakespeare roles include Banquo in Macbeth (Lancaster Dukes Playhouse), the Porter in Macbeth (Liverpool Everyman), Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Beirut), Dull in Loves Labours Lost and Angelo in A Comedy of Errors (both at the Manchester Royal Exchange). Other theatre includes Mr Toad in The Wind in The Willows (Sheffield Crucible) and Neville in Neville’s Island (Library Theatre, Manchester). During the 1980s Andy worked as a stand-up comic on the London comedy circuit. On television Andy has been a regular character in two series of The Hello Girls and two series of The Belfry Witches, both for the BBC. Over 60 other TV appearances include The Vicar of Dibley, My Family, Master of the Moor, The Last Detective and Diamond Geezer. Films include The Canterville Ghost and Julius Caesar. Andy also played the second lead in a long-forgotten American feature film called A Man Called Sarge.
MARTIN PARR (Lucentio, Gremio, Vincentio, Widow, Page, Huntsman 1)
Martin Parr has recently played Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer for the Mercury Theatre. Prior to this, he played Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest for the same company. Other recent work includes Francis Davey in the UK Tour of Jamaica Inn; Gerald in the UK Tour of Time and the Conways; Stephen Guest in The Mill on the Floss for Nottingham Playhouse; Rawden Crawley in Vanity Fair at the Northcott Theatre; Jack Absolute in The Rivals at The Swan; Camillo in The White Devil for The Haymarket Theatre; Mica in The Belgrade Trilogy for the Actors Centre; Frederick in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall at the New Vic Theatre; Young Al in Maddie at the Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue; Chief Weasel in The Wind in The Willows and Freddy in Pygmalion at Birmingham Rep; Banquo in Macbeth at Stratford; and Valere in Tartuffe and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew in Edinburgh. Martin has also played Cinderella's Prince in Into The Woods, Argan in The Hypochondriac and Konstantin in The Seagull. Television appearances include guest roles in Doctors, Casualty and Tchaikovsky, all for the BBC. Martin has also lent his voice to several BBC 4 Radio programs including The Red Story, The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris, The Telltale Heart and The Diary of a Nobody, all for BBC Radio 4. Martin teaches on the Access Course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) as well as for Learning Performance.
LOUISE YATES (Katherine, Biondello, Hostess/Tapster, Pedant, Servingman)
Louise Yates rejoins Actors From The London Stage after last appearing in our spring 2006 production of The Merchant of Venice. Louise received her MA from Sheffield University and started performing professionally in Manchester, when she was spotted playing Ursula the Pig Woman in Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair and offered the lead in a musical playing a seven year-old boy in the premier of The Red Balloon, directed by Anthony Clark. From there, she has worked at many regional repertory theatres, including Birmingham, Sheffield, Exeter, Chester, Leicester, Leeds, Bristol, Salisbury Playhouse and Manchester Royal Exchange. She has also worked widely in London, at the Tricycle Kilburn, the BAC, Southwark Playhouse and the Orange Tree Richmond, as well as in Neil Bartlett’s adaptations of A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist at the Lyric Hammersmith and touring throughout the UK. In television, Louise has worked broadly, playing both serious and comic roles in drama specials like Wire in the Blood, The Stretch and Where There’s Smoke; I’m Alan Partridge; Vic Reeve and Bob Mortimer’s Weekenders, Rik Mayall Presents and The Estate Agents as well as regular parts in Brookside, The Ward, The Bill, London Bridge, Intergalactic Patrick, Coronation Street, Family Affairs, Doctors, Touch of Frost, and Lloyd and Hill. Louise also works as a jazz singer in and around London. When she has nothing else to do, she also designs gardens.