CATHRYN TURP

MY REVIEW


On the 27th February we visited The Old Vic to watch the matinee performance of
Kiss me Kate directed by Trevor Nunn, Choreography throughout by Stephen Mear
and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.

The tale of Kiss me Kate is a show within a show of how a cast work on
Shakespeare’s production in a musical of The Taming of the Shrew on stage and
back stage. The show included romance, gangsters and much more.

The theatre where the performance was being shown was very old and historic
looking. This fitted the criteria for the show being performed as it is a well-known
story and has been for many years.

The staging was set up as if we were back stage at the show. There were clothes
rails and a piano and clothes hooks and stage doors. When we were seated and
slowly settling into our seats the actors of the performance came on stage as if they
were setting up for a performance. This set the mood and slowly caught people’s
attention that the show was beginning.

I think the way the actors came on stage as if they were back stage at a performance
gathering things and then the opening song was brought in by a solo singer and the
chorus joined in. The dance of the opening number was well choreographed, it
included warm up for the actors that would be performing after they had all arrived
on set.

The costumes that were worn on stage were period related throughout and when
they were performing The Taming of the Shrew the costumes were changed to
relate.

The stage was well lit and you could tell the change in the lighting when we were in
the dressing room, as there were not only different props but also the lighting was
made to look differently.

During the performance the props and setting were bought on for The Taming of the
Shrew in a box and the actors pulled it out and stuck it up. This was very effective as
I don’t think many people had seen it before and it caught the audience’s attention. I
think it was also effective because it was made to look like part of the play and it
smoothly ran alongside it. It didn’t look messy, it looked very clean and well
rehearsed which is good because some of the changes looked very technical.

The sound quality was very good and everything said and sung could be heard
clearly. I think the accent that the actor Hannah Waddingham played as the
character of Katherine Minola was very effective during the song I hate men. I think
think this because it caught the audiences attention and because she was acting the
song it was easier to understand what she was singing about and understand the
words. I also think the way she changed her voice when playing Katherine and also
playing Lilli Vanessi was incredibly talented and skilful. It portrayed the two different
characters very well. There was a distinctive difference between the two characters
being played.

This version of the play that we saw was different and unique because of the fact
that Adam Garcia was casted to play the part of Bill Calhoun/ Lucentio. I think that
the tap dancing that they choreographed just for Adam Garcia’s scene was put in the
correct place and fitted well into the show. This was a good way to catch the
audience’s attention and keep them interested in what was going on.

The actors facial expressions were brilliant and even the people at the back were
able to see the difference in their expressions as they were big and bold. There was
clearly a difference.

I think overall that the production was well put on and very entertaining. There was a
clear difference in the scenes and when we were back stage and on stage and also
in the two cast changes that were portrayed. I didn’t understand the ending when Lilli
left Fred to go with her new partner and that she came back. I understood that she
came back on stage but I thought she was playing a different character. I spoke to
other people who knew what was going on and maybe it was just my prospective of
it. But I think that the ending could have been made simpler for people to understand
what was going on more.