A few years ago, we were given “Shakespeare in a Box” – a party “game” where a play of Shakespeare has been cut down so that a few people can do it in about an hour total. The players never have to be actors, and you get the edited script to read from. Although the play has been edited for length, the story stays the same (it has the same basic story as the original play), and all of the words used are the original Shakespearean language. There were only two sets made – King Lear and Taming of the Shrew, and it looks as if both are now out of print (which is a real shame).

Every year or so, we throw a “Lear” or “Shrew” party – we’ll invite 6-10 people over to eat and socialize, and then we randomly draw roles and do one of the plays. Yesterday (Saturday), we had several CVCA folks over to do “Shrew.” We started eating around 6 o’clock and had finished the play by around 9:00, so it really is easy to do in an evening. We only had three people who had any acting experience  (Ombudsman, Ami and Mer), but we still had a great time – and a moving play. Since it was a comedy, it was only natural that we laughed all evening.

(In this photo, Ombudsman and Ami are supposed to be hiding on stage, so they are hiding behind their scripts).

Oddly, we have never had a male Kate – this is at least the third time we have done the play (and maybe the fourth), and we usually have at least 3 guys, but have never had a male Kate. We were all pulling for Ombudsman to be Kate, but it was not to be.

I was the director – someone needs to keep track of the 8 or so props that are used in the production, and try to keep track of who should be on stage (not easy – the edited scripts do not tell you who is needed for a particular scene). I did get a little stage time though – as a servant (about 3 lines) and as the Lusty Widow who marries Hortensio (Ombudsman) at the end of the play. I got to wear a wig AND have three more lines.

In this photo, Hortensio is in disguise as a music teacher to court Kate’s younger sister, Bianca. Hortensio’s flute playing was inspired. We were fairly glad when the “lesson” was over.

I like “Shrew” as a play – the two main characters, Kate and Petruccio, are some of the wittiest characters that Shakespeare wrote. The edited version we did cut many lines, but still kept one of the best scenes intact – where Petruccio and Kate meet for the first time and have a magnificent verbal fencing match. The play is funny, and so it lends itself to an evening of controlled chaos like we had last night. Although “Lear-in-a-box” is very good, it is a little weird to be laughing so hard at a tragedy (here I am thinking of a rather inspired Fool character played by Caribbeaner last year). Since “Shrew” is funny to start with, it does not have this problem.

Some highlights of the evening:
– Kate stealing Bianca’s lines, and getting a “Hey! You stole my lines!” rebuke.
– Hortensio sneezing his Groucho glasses off
– Ombudsman having to play two characters on stage at the same time, which involved him giving orders to himself
– My getting to wear a wig
– Petruccio getting to hurl meat (an empty chili container) across the room and getting to tear a robe (an old shirt) in half
– Hortensio playing on his flute while Bianca had to sing to it
– Our CVCA Latin teacher having to teach an (apparently bogus) Latin lesson to Bianca as part of trying to court her

A very fine evening. Mer and I work with good people, and they are a hoot to hang out with. Word of warning – keep Ami and Ombudsman away from excessive quantities of fruit punch. “Sugar high” seems insufficient to describe the results.