
DATE: Saturday, July 19, 1997               TAG: 9707180082

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E7   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Theater Review 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, THEATER CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   87 lines

UPDATED ``SHREW'' IS REFRESHINGLY INNOVATIVE

THE VIRGINIA Shakespeare Festival, a treasured summer respite since 1978, launches its 1997 season with a sexy, inventive and ultimately brash version of ``The Taming of the Shrew'' that, at long last, suggests a forward-looking, innovative stance. Setting the ``Shrew'' in 1920s flapper-style Miami, sparked by a wealth of new staging ideas, is just the touch this true, but too tried, festival needs to find new life.

In its 19-year history, the festival has become known for faithful, reverent and level-headed representations of the Bard's works. To date, it has done 28 of Shakespeare's 37 plays. However, with the exception of a rock version of ``Pericles,'' the viewpoint has been relentlessly predictable - perhaps representing caution in fear of ruffling its financial supporters.

Usually staged on a standard Globe-like set, the productions were often difficult to differentiate on the visual level - except for costuming. Now, at last, here is a production that puts the stamp of VSF on the play rather than the other way round.

The effort with ``Shrew'' is refreshingly creative, not re-creative.

Merely setting ``Shrew'' in a different time frame is surely not daring but it is, at the least, entertaining - especially because the festival has already done more regimented versions in 1978 and 1985. The time switch is certainly not unprecedented. Shakespeare himself, while setting the play in Renaissance Italy, had it performed in Tudor-style costumes. He, in turn, borrowed it from the Latin source-play ``I Suppositi'' by Ariosto.

Indeed, the battle of the sexes is a universal one that crosses time and geographical boundaries. Here, yet again, the ill-tempered Katherine is wooed and eventually ``tamed'' by the eccentric Petruchio, who, this time, ``comes to wed it wealthily in Miami.'' Lee Eskey is very funny as a falsely blustering Petruchio, allowing a sly wink to the audience to let it know he isn't really so macho after all.

The comically vulnerable touch does much to offset what might otherwise be a modern resistance to ``Taming of the Shrew's'' treatment of women. As Kate, in the final scene, swears eternal obedience to her husband, you can almost hear feminists groan. Indeed, in an era of increased awareness of sexual abuse, the sight of a husband starving his wife into submission is a bit much.

Mary Stillgaggon may be the first ever Kate to wear sunglasses, but she's a hellion that rises to the demand. A 1990 graduate of the College of William and Mary, she brings a thoroughly modern pettiness to the woman - maligning and teasing her prettier young sister; espousing her hatred of men to the extent that you half expect her to break into a chorus of ``I Hate Men'' from ``Kiss Me Kate.'' In what is now the second act, we half regret that she must be ``tamed.''

The fight scene between Kate and Petruchio is exquisitely timed, right down to his using her hands to express his points. The production is directed with delightful looseness of style by Paige Newmark of Oxford University (suggesting that not everyone from starch-town is a self-appointed Keeper of the Canon after all).

Costumer Christine McDowell-Duffield has a great time clothing the cast in pastel colors, straw hats and cool threads for a Miami summer. Steve Holiday's set effectively suggests the art deco palm-tree milieu - complete with a coat of arms that features golf clubs.

The slicked-back look of gangsters on the make is everywhere among the Latino, Italian and multi-ethnic types that habituate the Florida setting. Bob Nelson is archly cynical as a cigar-chomping suitor for the younger sister. John Fidler, with an irresistibly funny face, is a rigidly faithful servant, complete with diving mask. The cast uniformly makes the most of varied accents and styles, which serve to hold the interest.

Only the ``frame,'' setting the play-within-a-play, is ill-chosen. Elizabethan characters watch from afar the mod version - and sometimes wander into the scenes. The entire sequence would be best cut.

For a play that has been played by everyone from Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, it is indeed a surprise to find any newness in it. Director Newmark and the enterprising cast have, just in time, signaled that the Virginia Shakespeare Festival is, after all, a place where we can have a little fun. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

THEATER REVIEW

What: ``The Taming of the Shrew'' by William Shakespeare

Where: Phi Beta Kappa Hall in Williamsburg, presented by the

Virginia Shakespeare Festival (on Jamestown Road, three blocks from

Colonial Williamsburg's restored area)

When: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 8 p.m. To be repeated

July 30, Aug. 1 and 3. (To be performed in repertory with

``Coriolanus'')

Who: Featuring Lee Eskey and Mary Stillwaggon with John Goodlin,

David Milazzo and Bob Nelson, directed by Paige Newmark

How Much: $12 (group rates available)

Call: 221-2674