ShakespeareWorks at Ashbridges Bay Park has provided us with a Taming of the Shrew that has so many faults that the battles between Katharina (the Shrew) and her husband, Petruchio, seem almost alright. There were even moments when Kate's and Petruchio's behavior elicited a smile. But, director David Ferry's decision in the final scene to make it appear that Kate (Elizabeth Saunders) and Petruchio (Paulino Nunes) are truly in love, just didn't hold. After such violence, both mental and physical, love surely withers, not blooms. And using Shakespeare's language, 'Whence came the mawkish scene of Petruchio crying in front of his father's black-veiled image?'

So, what else is wrong with this production? Certainly, one has no quarrel with Ferry placing the action into 1913 Italy. But, one wished he had done his historic and geographic research a bit better to make things fit. How did Petruchio's summer home land in Mantua? That was the place from which hailed the Pedant in Shakespeare's original, hence Tranio's line "Of Mantua, sir! — marry , God forbid! And come to Padua, careless of your life?" Of course, Ferry changed the script to fit the times, only to really hash things up. The Mantuan Pedant became a German one. In 1913, Italy and Germany were buddies. There may have been a bit of tension in the years prior because of Italy's war with Turkey, but that was all settled by an international treaty in 1912. So, changing the line from Mantua to Germany made no sense at all. No ordinary German had to fear for his life in Italy in 1913.

Of course, this is not the only line Ferry changed. For an update, Bianca (Marion Day) learns to play a violin instead of a lute, and later on Tranio boasts that his father has merchant ships, tankers and freighters instead of argosies, galliasses and galleys. Ferry, however, should check on the word 'zipper' or 'zip up'. Zipper was not a word in common use in 1913.

Ferry also seems to have added lines and placed characters where they did not belong. How did the Widow, who only appears in Shakespeare's version in the final act, suddenly make her entrance almost at the beginning of Ferry's version, muttering German words only the initiated can understand? How did she get into the pre-wedding scene of Kate and Petruchio, again speaking German that is understandable only to those who know the language? And from where did Vincentio (David Collins) suddenly get a wife, Giacinta, played here mutely by Cara Ricketts?

Aside from bad blocking, which even in a good seat on occasion made it impossible to see the action on stage, there were all those actors who didn't know how to handle Shakespeare's fine language. At times this Taming of the Shrew sounded more like an amateur production rather than a professional one, though the comic performances of some of the minor characters were very accomplished. As for the two principal performers, one can say they proved themselves physically, but were "in goodly need of fine instruction" in the art of Elizabethan speech and Shakespearian acting.

Keeping foremost in mind that young people will see this show because ShakespeareWorks's mandate is to involve students, one is really repelled by the stereotyping of some characters. What does such stereotyping teach young people in a world that is already so full of hate, bigotry, and xenophobia? As for adults, surely, by now Canadians of Italian extraction must be tired of always seeing at least one Mafioso-type on stage whenever the characters are Italian. Padua, Pisa, Verona and Mantua are in northern Italy, not Sicily, and even Sicilians must by now wish theatre-types put aside the image of the Mafia in all sorts of unsuitable places. While flaming red hair and befuddled mind seem harmless portrayals of the Irish, surely Ferry could have done better with Hortensio's disguise as a scholarly musician without poking fun at an ethnic group.

Then there is the strange case of Lucentio. Ryan Field, who portrays him, is black. For that reason, the character at one point claims to come from Tripoli and at another point refers to Abyssinia, the former name of Ethiopia. It was Mussolini, who marched into this country situated at the Horn of Africa to fulfill an Italian dream for colonies. But Tripoli (of which there are two, one in Libya, the other in Lebanon), no matter how much one tries, is no where near Abyssinia. And while the "German" Widow was offensive enough in her unnecessary appearances, the shabbily dressed Pedant as a German was tasteless to the extreme. No one complains about making jokes about Hitler, or about the Wehrmacht under his command, but to portray an ordinary German as Hitler crosses a line that should not be crossed. And if Ferry had done his research well, he would have learned that only German officers clicked their heels, not German merchants.

After watching this production, another thought comes to mind. If a director doesn't like a play as it is, why do it? I think Ferry would have achieved greater success had he chosen a play that did not arouse a desire in him to rewrite and recast.

[Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare at Ashbridges Bay Park, Toronto, to August 7, 2005]