THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Jon Ciccarelli
WHEN & WHERE:
- Wednesday, June 7th @ 7pm
Secaucus Public Library
1379 Paterson Plank Rd, Secaucus, NJ 07094 - Thursday, June 8th @ 7pm
Montclair Public Library
50 S Fullerton Ave, Montclair, NJ 07042 - Saturday, June 10th @ 2pm
Old Bridge Library
1 Old Bridge Plaza, Old Bridge, NJ 08857 - Monday, June 12th @ 7pm
Frank Sinatra Park
Hoboken, NJ - Tuesday, June 13th @ 7:30pm
Fort Lee Monument Park
Palisade Ave & Angioletti Pl, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 - Thursday, June 15th @ 7pm
Hamilton Park
9th st and Jersey Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302 - Tuesday, June 20th @ 7:30pm
Fort Lee Monument Park
Palisade Ave & Angioletti Pl, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 - Wednesday, June 21st @ 7:30pm
Hackensack Cultural Arts Center
101 State Street, Hackensack, NJ - Thursday, June 22nd, @ 7pm
Milburn Free Central Library
200 Glen Ave, Millburn, NJ 07041 - Tuesday, June 27th @ 7:30pm
Fort Lee Monument Park
Palisade Ave & Angioletti Pl, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 - Wednesday, June 28th @ 7:30pm
Hackensack Cultural Arts Center
101 State Street, Hackensack, NJ - Thursday, June 29th @ 6:30pm
Hoboken Public Library
500 Park Ave, Hoboken, NJ 07030 - Saturday, July 1st @ 2pm
Stratford Library
2203 Main St, Stratford, CT 06615
ADMISSION: Free
The Hudson Shakespeare Company returns for its 26th season of touring summer Shakespeare with a retro spin on Shakespeare’s classic war of the sexes romp, Taming of the Shrew. The action is moved from the 1590s to 1960s Italy and reintroduces the characters in this new period and foreign setting taking influences from Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and AMC’s Mad Men.
Written in the early 1590s, Taming of the Shrew has been both a crowd pleaser filled with colorful characters and comic bits inspired by Italian Commedia Dell’Arte such as the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton version and a lightning rod of controversy over the treatment of Kate. According to director Jon Ciccarelli, the beauty of Shakespeare is that the same work can inspire so many different takes.
“Its incredible that these 400-year-old plays can still inspire debate and new interpretations however you have to be careful that any choices are supported by the text. Shakespeare’s strength is that he can show both sides of an issue where you emphasize with them equally. Petruchio can come off as fortune seeking, misogynist however, Kate is also both physically and verbally abusive to people around her.”, he said. “However, by the end of the play both of them are endearing and you root for them to get together.”
In transposing the action to 1960s Italy, Ciccarelli wanted to try something new with the show. “I have seen both modern, New York set presentations, which I find a bit dull, and period specific which are more English based and wondering what else could I do with this.”, he said. Inspired by his parents newlywed years in early 60s Rome, Ciccarelli decided to immerse the action in the era and setting. “The production is very much inspired by pictures and stories that my parents shared with me about a time in their lives when they first married and I thought this would make a unique take on an Italian set show about couples getting together.”
The Hudson Shakespeare Company has been touring to Shakespeare and modern titles to NJ parks, libraries and other civic locations since 1992.
The company will return with 90s grunge inspired Romeo and Juliet in July and a horror-inspired Macbeth to North Jersey libraries in October. For more information on Taming of the Shrew and other upcoming productions, please visit www.hudsonshakespeare.com.