Don’t miss the opportunity to come in from the cold to the cozy theatre and see William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Meghann Borum, at the Ponca Playhouse for the last performances on January 28, 29 and 30. This fast-paced, funny play is an auditory and visual delight and well worth your time.The classic tale involves a wealthy family of two sisters: the young, desirable Bianca who has many suitors, and the older sister, Katherine, who is stubborn and ill-tempered. The expectation of their father, as was custom at the time, is for the older sister to marry first. Consequently, the suitors hatch a plan to find Katherine a husband forthwith, leading to the entry of the brash Petruchio who just happens to be looking for a rich wife. He agrees to take on the challenge even though they warn him, vowing to “tame the shrew.”There is the first challenge of this production: a controversial storyline. Yes, it may seem outdated and go against the fibers of Feminism that the central male character is basically breaking Katherine’s spirit at first, but stick with it; there’s more to it than that, and the talent of the director and actors will guide you. And, there’s much fun along the way!Petruchio, played by Nathan Oesterle, is near repulsive from his entrances with overconfidence and bawdy gestures until he becomes truly abhorrent in his measures of torturing his wife into submission, but he’s supposed to be. He is also well-matched to the sister-slapping Katherine, portrayed by Dana Willoughby. She shows that she is no stranger to using physical threats like tying her sister’s hands and pulling her hair, which reveals not only some jealousy but likely frustration with the lack of control over the situation. She spits her words with such venom that the whole town fears her, but in the scene where these two vicious characters come together for the first time to match wits, sparks begin to fly, underscored amusingly by contemporary music.
