Last night, when I returned home from my weekend away in New Hampshire, I joined one of my firm’s board members, Jeremy, and his family for an evening of Shakespeare on the Commons. The production this year was The Taming of the Shrew.
This ended up being a memorable evening on several different fronts. First and foremost, the company was excellent. Second, Jeremy’s wife is cousins with the actress who played Katharina, Bapitista’s elder daugher and the Shrew in the play. Her name is Jennifer Dundas, and she was amazing! Due to this connection, we were invited back stage after the show to meet the cast.
The production of the show was very unique. As you can tell from the photo above (note: I did not take the shot. I found it on Flickr), the set is not what one would expect of a Shakespeare play. Indeed, this version of The Taming of The Shrew was located in the fictional Italian village of "Bostonia". The main set was meant to replicate Boston’s North End (my Hood!). The time frame was set in mind to late 1940s (my favorite time period) weaved a lot of big band swing music throughout the play (one of my favorite music genres). They made all of the above noted changes without altering (for the most part) Shakespeare’s original script for the play.
Finally, I enjoyed the company of my bulldog Howie! This was the first time he had seen Shakespeare. From all indications, he really enjoyed it. Especially after making himself at home on one of the chairs in the VIP section (see pic below).
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