“One cannot shake the feeling that both Lloyd and Eustis are apologizing for the play they’re presenting...Despite these problems, Lloyd’s use of an all-female cast works well...McTeer and Jumbo do a great job with their respective roles...The actresses play off each other well, engaging in a battle of wills that takes place on numerous levels...An interesting effort, this production comes off as far too hung up on its subject matter to be completely effective.”
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"Lloyd offers an often funny, sometimes astute, and not exactly subtle reading of Shakespeare’s problem comedy...The cast is mixed in its abilities...No one wears the verse as lightly and brashly as McTeer...Though the play clocks in at just two hours and though Lloyd’s clarity of vision doesn’t flag, in certain scenes the actors seem to do little more than trudge through the iambs...The ending is somehow too blatant. It defuses and eases the real discomfort the play occasions."
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"It’s frantic and frenzied, and like all wild parties, both thrilling and exhausting...Having women play the roles of the sexist barb-throwers doesn’t reduce the discomfort…With McTeer as Petruchio strutting and Jumbo as Katharina spitting and spinning, and all the rest of the talented cast making us laugh and keeping us entertained from the opening pageant to the Joan Jett bows, it’s a fast and fun two hours. But does it solve the problem of this thorny, difficult, discomfiting play? No way."
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"Phyllida Lloyd gathers together a whip-smart cast of powerful women…At two intermission-less hours, the play is tight, if uneven at times. While some of the actors seemed to shout their lines, McTeer alone seemed to live them. Applause must go to the winning Gilmore as Donato; Moore in her imposter role; and of course, the excellent comedian Judy Gold, who saved the day by doing impromptu stand-up during a technical difficulty."
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"Despite its all-female cast, Lloyd’s Shrew doesn’t lack sexual sparks, thanks to the two powerhouse British actresses who play the Shrew and her ‘tamer.’…Although Jumbo’s performance is appropriately fiery, commanding, and compelling, in this production it is the tamer, rather than the tamed, who is most beguiling. As Katherina’s gold-digging suitor, then husband, McTeer is this production’s shining and guiding light."
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"Lloyd seems uncertain of her concept in several moments, and relies on other devices to get her message across...In doing so, she makes the play less cohesive...Many directors have found ways around 'The Taming of the Shrew’s' outdated values. While Lloyd’s solution is certainly clever and original, there are as many elements in this production that do not work as those that do. If she truly wanted to make a statement in favor of women’s empowerment, she only partially succeeded."
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“I can’t say that Phyllida Lloyd’s all-women production made me see this supposed farce, deep down, as something other than a tragedy...Wonderfully cast with Janet McTeer as Petruchio and Cush Jumbo as the unruly heroine...The problem-and, ultimately, it is a problem-is that we still don’t understand these characters...We miss the discipline, the psychological underpinning that might have made ‘Shrew’ less of a revenge joke and more of a Shakespearean reclamation.”
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"I hate when overly ambitious directors think it is OK to screw with an author's text…Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female production is an all-out Trump hate fest and not the play...The only reasons to see this production are for the fabulous Janet McTeer, who makes Petruchio a swaggering, crotch-grabbing, peeing, barfing, farting, strutting man watchable, and the wonderful Donna Lynne Champlin playing multiple roles."
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