There are scarcely couples within William Shakespeare's plays who can match the skirmish of wits between Petruchio and Katherina in SOC senior Seth Rose's adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew."
"The Taming of the Shrew" involves the story of Katherina (played by School of Public Affairs junior Caitlyn Wan), Kate for short, who is the most intolerable soul in all Verona.
Petruchio, a well-traveled and carefree gentleman (played by AU graduate Geoff Blizard) travels to Verona to find a wife, with his reliable servant Grumio (performed boisterously and with impeccable comic timing by School of Communication sophomore Neil Deininger).
Baptista (graduate student David Marshall Bradshaw) is the father of both Katherina and Bianca (Kate Kerns, a junior in SPA), who often unintentionally creates rivalries among the characters because of his fervent attempts to wed his daughters. Bradshaw's feverish performance is naturally fitted to Shakespeare's language.
Baptista's actions cause Petruchio to hear false rumors of Kate's affable and amorous persuasion, leading Petruchio to engage Kate in a war of words and whims in order to woo her.
As his last directorial effort at AU, Rose holds "The Taming of the Shrew" in special place. The choice of directing this play spawned from his first directing experience with the Rude Mechanicals Rose directed Petruchio and Katherine's first meeting scene for a variety show.
"...I love that scene so much, it's just like the banter between the two of them is just so delightfully vulgar," Rose said.
Rose decided to propose "Taming of the Shrew" for the Rude Mechanicals' end-of-the-year production.
"I love it as a show," Rose said. "It's hilarious and if you do it correctly, I think it's very thought-provoking."
The play, rather than using a redolent set design, is far more concerned with studying characters and heightening their natural reactions.
Melissa Englander, an alumna of AU and makeup designer for the show, got to exercise her versatility in the design of the actors various visages, since many of the ensemble have to play dual roles.
"You get as creative as possible, like for aging hair we're using baby powder. It's just trying a bunch of different, cheap things," Englander said.
The play also marks the first time in a while that the Mechanicals have done Shakespeare in its original Elizabethan time period.
"It's weird we have so much of the costumes
