24 | August 22, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News
Stage
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