The Taming of the Shrew (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) London Reviews and Tickets

Here’s an experimental production that’s almost certainly more interesting for the actors than the audience. Even in the enjoyable moments here, I was distracted by the costumes...Some experiments should stay in the lab.'
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Maria Gaitanidi’s ponderous production... finds such little fun in it all...This gruelling three-hour interrogation simply sucks the life out of its source material.'
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Perhaps, this production asks, we’ve got it all wrong. Perhaps it’s not about abuse at all, but about the gap between illusion and reality. Interesting idea, but I'm afraid the result is quite deadly.'
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Misogynistic comedy is a rotten apple... Flat insults, bland puns and painful verse let down this staging of Shakespeare’s problematic play, which charges ahead without a trace of satire.'
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...a baffling, counter-intuitive take on Shakespeare’s problematic comedy...lacks basic clarity: the narrative doesn’t come across crisply, and the heavy doubling doesn’t help matters.'
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It seems to always be on the verge of something interesting – suggestive but incohesive...despite the gorgeous-looking set and promises of a theatrical experiment, this Shrew is all bark and no bite.'
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The Taming of the Shrew is one of the most notoriously difficult Shakespeare plays...Gaitanidi’s production, unfortunately, does exceptionally little to unravel its inherent problems or to make it a comprehensible, enjoyable piece of theatre.'
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High on concept and low on clarity, this Shrew misses its mark... In seeking to liberate the play from itself, Gaitanidi has lost not just its sting but its bite.'
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