2008 Woodie Awards
Shakespeare gets Italian flavor in Parness's 'Taming of the Shrew'
John Norton
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Entertainment
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Any production with William Shakespeare's name attached to it is done with baggage from day one. The main cause for this is that there are a myriad of possibilities for shows that could be produced that are relatively unknown, even to the theatrically-inclined, but this will never be the case when one seeks to tackle the Bard. It would be a daunting task to attempt to find someone who has never been exposed to an incarnation of Shakespeare's work in some form or another. Within the past decade there has been an explosion of re-tooled Shakespeare works, done conceptually for a younger demographic. Through this, audiences have seen Ethan Hawke play a modern day Hamlet, Leo DiCaprio play Romeo, and Al Pacino play Shylock. This brings us to this coming weekend where The Marist College Council on Theatre Arts (MCCTA) presents The Taming of the Shrew at the Nelly Goletti Theatre, produced by Megan Cody and assistant produced by Andrew DiCecco, March 2 and 3 at 8 p.m and March 4 at 2 p.m.
Taming of the Shrew represents perhaps the most well received Shakespearean re-make of the past decade, 10 Things I Hate About You. Made in 1999, this film, one can imagine, is still fresh in the minds of many theatre-goers who will occupy the seats of the Nelly Goletti this coming weekend. This brings to light the main point that there is always a necessity for any production to stamp their individual mark on a piece, but even more so when it is Shakespeare, solely because of the sheer number of prior re-makes. This always presents a challenge to the director because right from the start, they are forced to walk a very fine line between doing something creative and interesting and going too far over the top. Director Eric Parness definitely made clear he was taking a creative route with this piece as it is set in modern day time with an Italian-American family straight out of a page from The Sopranos. Now, there is nothing wrong with doing some unexpected with a piece, often times it is necessary when a work, like this, has been produced in countless other forms. However, when taking a bold approach like this that will undoubtedly permeate the entire play from beginning to end, it is important to have a reason for it, other than simply to stand out and to entertain. If these are your only reasons, as entertaining as the immediate shock value can be, eventually the piece as a whole will begin to suffer, as was certainly the case in this production.
Taming of the Shrew represents perhaps the most well received Shakespearean re-make of the past decade, 10 Things I Hate About You. Made in 1999, this film, one can imagine, is still fresh in the minds of many theatre-goers who will occupy the seats of the Nelly Goletti this coming weekend. This brings to light the main point that there is always a necessity for any production to stamp their individual mark on a piece, but even more so when it is Shakespeare, solely because of the sheer number of prior re-makes. This always presents a challenge to the director because right from the start, they are forced to walk a very fine line between doing something creative and interesting and going too far over the top. Director Eric Parness definitely made clear he was taking a creative route with this piece as it is set in modern day time with an Italian-American family straight out of a page from The Sopranos. Now, there is nothing wrong with doing some unexpected with a piece, often times it is necessary when a work, like this, has been produced in countless other forms. However, when taking a bold approach like this that will undoubtedly permeate the entire play from beginning to end, it is important to have a reason for it, other than simply to stand out and to entertain. If these are your only reasons, as entertaining as the immediate shock value can be, eventually the piece as a whole will begin to suffer, as was certainly the case in this production.
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