Salmagundi and Shakespeare
The Taming of The Shrew, in The Priory Gardens 7pm on the 8th June.
We are keeping our fingers crossed for good weather on the 8th June, when we will be hosting The Festival Players for the second time, however they hardly ever cancel so whatever the weather “The Show Must Go on”.
We suggest you bring an umbrella if it looks like rain as the performance is outside, and a chair or blanket, we will provide some seating if you are unable to bring your own.
Tickets are £14 they are available in advance and are selling now.
If you are interested in booking food in advance we will are serving “Salmagundi”
A16 /17th century dish consisting of a large platter of mixed salad leaves, fruit, nuts seeds, cured and cooked meats fish and seafood, garnished with flowers, a spicy dressing and or dip. There will also be a range of unusual snacks for sale plus soft drinks beer cider and wine. Champagne and strawberries should also be available by then.
Alternatively you are most welcome to bring your own picnic.
Wooing and wedding, music and masquerading will abound when Gloucestershire’s acclaimed Festival Players take to the UK’s roads this summer with their 26th touring Shakespeare production – the Bard’s brilliant comedy, The Taming of the Shrew.
The inimitable company, who aim to make Shakespeare accessible to all, will transport nearly 60 audiences in England, Scotland, Wales – and Berlin – to the colourful Italian world of sunny Padua with a fun-packed, energetic, and brilliantly inventive production centred on Shakespeare’s feisty female creation, Katharina – with her scolding tongue and fiery temper! (a role played by the late Elizabeth Taylor in the 1965 Franco Zefferelli film) and the inspiration for Cole Porter’s famous musical Kiss Me Kate.
But this will be a shrew with a difference – for “Kate” will be played by a man! London-based actor Scott Smith will take on the challenge of the wilful, headstrong Kate while Bristol-born Paul Hampton will be her mad-cap suitor, Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona.
Initially, Kate is an unwilling participant in the relationship, but Petruchio takes on the challenge of “taming” her and making her an obedient bride. Meanwhile, the sub-plot features a competition between the suitors of Kate's more amiable sister, Bianca (played by Cornwall-born, Hertfordshire-based actor Adam Trembath.)
They will lead the action in this great comedy of farcical impediments, impersonation, and impassioned love – a lively “Battle of the Sexes” to be played out by just seven actors in this all-male company, including the innovative and inspired director Michael Dyer who himself plays the rich nobleman Vincentio.
The Festival Players have proven themselves to be one of the finest and most enduring touring Shakespeare groups in the UK and this year will perform some 54 mostly alfresco shows from May through to August.
The shows will be played out an at increasingly varied number of locations from Scottish castles to English village greens, famous Welsh gardens to London squares, Peckham cafes to Roman amphitheatres. New venues will include Fife’s glorious Kellie Castle & Gardens, the Bishops Wood Centre in Stourport (part of Worcestershire Literary Festival), Tetbury recreation ground in Gloucestershire, the gardens at Coombe Trenchard in Devon, and Penlee Park Theatre in Penzance, Cornwall.
But just how will a play that includes a long speech advocating the loyalty of wives to their husbands resonate with a modern day audience?
Michael Dyer, former director of Cornwall’s Minack Open Air Theatre, says: “Over the past few decades some of the attitudes of men towards women, exhibited in this early Shakespeare, have not played easily in our more liberated society - but The Taming of the Shrew has an amazing comic plot and a wealth of colourful characters and we’re confident we can engage our audiences. With five new cast members and the welcome return of Festival Players stalwart Martin Tomms, we aim to deliver an energetic production of this quirky and spirited comedy with all its wooing and wedding!”
Michael teaches Shakespeare performance at Trinity University College, Carmarthen and last year staged an acclaimed all-female version of The Taming of the Shrew with his student cast so is seemingly making a speciality of single sex productions of the play.
With most of the actors playing multiple roles, there will be some quick costume changes required! Players’ stalwart Martin Tomms (left) will return to play Kate’s wealthy father Baptista and two other roles while Andrew Bowen Jones plays Tranio and Hortensio and Californian Jeffrey Han takes on three roles.
It will be Worcestershire-based Dyer’s seventh all-male production in a row for the Players. “In 2005 there were some raised eyebrows when we performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream without actresses. Since then we have had all-male productions of Hamlet, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest and audience feedback has proved that most people see it as an intriguing diversion from the norm. And of course it is totally authentic – we are following in the footsteps of Shakespeare’s own Globe Theatre when all roles were taken by men.”
Scenery and costumes for the production will be undertaken by the Design and Production department of Trinity University College, Carmarthen, part of the University of Wales (Beth Tearle, set design and Vanessa Bolton, costumes) while music will be specially written for the production by folk star Johnny Coppin (front man of the cult Seventies folk-rock group Decameron).
Gloucestershire-based Coppin (left), who regularly tours the folk and acoustic circuit both solo and with fellow singer songwriter Mike Silver, adds a special ingredient with his original songs and instrumentals involving all the cast.