24 | August 22, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News
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The Taming of As an all-fem all-female production of Shakespeare’s battle of the sexes ar arrives in Corpus Christie College gardens, ELLA W WALKER talks to one of the cast, Olivia Morg Morgan, about a woman’s place in the world – and why a whole lot of sassiness is involved H Taming of the Shrew HE is a bubble of lightness b between a harrowing (yet wonderfu wonderful) production of King Lear and a suit suitably bloody Henry VI: Parts I – III, I part of the Cambridge Arts Th Theatre’s Shakespearean summe summer programme. “It is a comedy, supposedly,” says aactress Olivia Morgan wryly wryly, a slight burr to her voice voice. Pla Playing Bianca, the desirable o the shrewish Katherina sister of (doub (doubling as Biondello), Olivia grew up in the North West Highland Highlands near the Isle of Skye in b “a very beautiful village where Hamish Macbeth was filmed R with Robert Carlisle,” and got stuck into theatre thanks to the com community’s strong belief in dram – there was, of course, drama alw always a panto. With prolific viewing habits (“I’d watch a detective show and want to be the detective. Then I realised it was the acting that I really wanted to do rather than any of the other occupations”), she j joined the National Youth Theatre at 16, went on to study drama and English at university and then found herself at love it, it was three years of RADA. “I loved teachi the best teaching, alongside students ridicu that were ridiculously talented. You were constantly learn learning all the time,” she said. a a tonne of talent later, A hop, skip and w The Globe and in she’s on tour with an all-female p production of the Bard’s sc controversial screwball, directed by new Shak kid on the Shakespearean block, Joe Murphy. Shot through with misogyny, The Sh Taming of the Shrew tells the tale of the well-b beautiful, well-behaved Bianca who is m not allowed to marry until her sister, the K argumentative Katherina has wed. Then Pet along comes Petruchio who thinks he ab to tame her. might just be able th whole notion of what a “(It’s about) the sh good woman should be: a good woman obed should be obedient, a good woman spea out of turn,” reels should not speak ju Olivia, before jumping: “I don’t agree with that, just to be clear!”
Olivia first encountered Shakespeare at school, giggling hysterically at the lover’s scene in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “I can’t remember much about it, but I remember laughing a lot,” and was floored when she visited The Globe Theatre for real: “As soon as I went there I was completely in love with it.” An all-female Shrew – when there are often too few meaty acting roles for women – is definitely a first for her though, and much of the cast, although she admits: “The girls playing men do it so well that within two seconds you forget!” It is an interesting dynamic, she muses. “The Shrews I’ve seen, where a man is playing Petrucio, can be quite hard to watch because it immediately becomes quite brutal and violent.
“I think it is quite sassy. I mean, it’s eight women bringing it!”
ng it When you’ve got two women doing ving a it’s quite an interesting way of having arily woman playing a man, not necessarily commenting on the journey, the violence, or the but I think it’s easier as a way in for audience.” ianca, Playing the beautiful, coveted Bianca, n, caught up in a web of competition, n are particularly questions how women a’s perceived by society. “From Bianca’s ch but point of view, she doesn’t say much en everyone’s opinion of her is spoken e’s about,” says Olivia. “She’s this, she’s cuss] that, in the same way [people discuss] ill say celebrities. A whole lot of Press will ally, it’s what this celebrity’s like, but actually, complete nonsense.” ence? Is it still relevant to today’s audience? “We had an audience in Oxford where a woman was filming the show e and you’re not allowed to film the show while we’re doing it obviously. “One of the cast members wentt up to her and said, can you stop filming us please, and she put her camera away immediately, and then at the end of the show she came over and said I’m so sorry, it’s just d I’m from Afghanistan and I wanted to film this to bring it back to my female friends and show them that women can be on stage and women can play men. “I think that in our world there are a lot of cultures where women are still supposed to just be obedient and hide; so it makes it very relevant to today.” And yet, despite the heavy subtext and controversial ending, Shrew is meant to be funny, skittish and ultimately entertaining. Murphy has been quoted describing his version of the show o as “quite sassy”. Olivia breaks into peals of choking laughter at this before collecting herself. “Yeah, I think it is quite sassy,” she said. “I mean, it’s eight women bringing e it! It’s quite sassy, quite sexy, quite naughty, playful; I think it finds the fine line between taking itself o the seriously and a nudge and wink to audience.” “(Joe’s) brought a modern spin. He’s a good chap,” she adds. “And he’s picked seven other women that I get to work with who are an absolute delight to be around.” und you It helps to have a solid cast around other at the best of times, but it adds another
Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | August 22, 2013 | 25
FYI Olivia Morgan on not being able to pick a dream role: “Two of my ambitions have actually been fulfilled this year which was to do an all-female Shakespeare and an all-Scottish Macbeth, so I feel quite satisfied.”
the Shrew
IT COULD BE SHREW: Olivia Morgan, and left, in the all-female production of Taming of the Shrew
Lots more summe summer Shakespeare news, reviews an and interviews at cambridge-news. cambridge-news.co.uk/whatson dimension when you’re doing Shakespeare (“The lines are so musical, so rhythmic, and so metered out, when you’re on stage and you hear someone mess a word up, it clangs out!”), especially when you’re performing nightly outside in the elements. So far they haven’t been too unlucky. “We’ve been completely blessed; had absolutely glorious sunshine for the whole run outside except for the weekend just gone in the Peak District w where it rained. And tha that was interesting bec because it was the first time dealing with thunder and lig lightning mid-speech,” says Ol Olivia happily. “There was an amazing vision when it starte started bucketing it down and the entire audience in a kin kind of flash mob style ju just whipped these cagou cagoules on, which was funny and amazing to see – I wouldn’t be that prepa prepared.” Hope Hopefully the sun will remain for the Cambridge stint, w which Olivia is genuin genuinely looking forward to, part partly because her sister and bro brother-in-law recently moved tto the city, and partly because: “It’s one of those beautiful cities with a lot of history tha that I’m fascinated by. I grew u up watching Monty Python, Foo Footlights Review and the 9 O’clock news and all that kind of stuff, so I’m quite excited.” As are we. ᔡ The Taming of the Sh Shrew, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Corpus Christie College Gardens, Wednesday, August 21 – Saturday, August 24 at 7.30pm. Tickets T £20 from (01223) 503333 / https https://cambridgeartstheatre. purchase-tickets-online. purchase-tickets-online.co.uk
Leah Whitaker: Petruchio ɀ Petruchio is arguably the villain of the piece, but also the source of some of the play’s most memorable moments (not to mention humour). How did you balance the different sides of his character? It was important for me not to think of him as a villain. He isn’t Machiavellian, he doesn’t set out to destroy Kate. His actions – which are cruel and deplorable, yes – are borne of a desire to ‘have’ her. His is a very volatile and unpredictable humour and I think he spends a lot of the play on a fault line. You laugh at him but sometimes I think I’ts a slightly nervous laughter, any time he could lose it. ɀ What was it like to be the male lead in an all-female production? In our rehearsal process we really focused on character rather than gender. I can’t shout louder than Kate or physically dominate her, we don’t pastiche masculinity and have socks stuffed down our trousers, so my job really was to explore the differences between them that are behavioural, psychological and societal rather than what naturally derives from anatomy! I did work on my physicality – my ‘man bounce’ – and my spacial relationships, but it was important to me not to put anything on, almost not to make a big deal of the fact I’m playing a man.
ɀ With the above in mind, has the way you possess and present Petruchio changed from rehearsal to performance? Petruchio goes through massive shifts in the play and you see so many different sides to him. So my time has been spent piecing him together, and crucially, how he changes in relation to Kate. I played around with what is planned and what is reactive, to what extent he knows what he is doing and to what extent he questions and doubts himself. He has quite a few ‘gong’ moments in the play for me that point to a turmoil and a recognition that he’s a bit messed up, so I guess that’s where I’ve been digging around. ɀ Though the play remains popular for its humour, it’s ending remains controversial. Without giving away too much how would you say this production deals with the denouement? The ending to this play is a problem, I really think that, and all productions have to navigate it. We’ve tried not to excuse or answer the text, but for my money it’s a comedy with a tragic ending. I can’t tell you how we do it but I can tell you it’s powerful! ɀ How would you say a touring production differs from the theatre proper? With the touring shows you have the same wonderful relationship to the audience but there’s something extra special about watching Shakespeare outside, especially as the sun starts to come down, that’s where something magic happens. And there’s an honesty and a simplicity to the storytelling, and because we don’t tour with a huge set everything we do is to let the language really sing.
I can’t shout louder than Kate or physically dominate her, we don’t pastiche masculinity and have socks stuffed down our trousers