This year is the centenary of Ireland's 1916 Easter Rising, the setting Caroline
Byrne has chosen for her production of
The Taming of the Shrew; it's the only
reason I can see for a season with a "Wonder" theme to include a play that's short
of that quality on pretty much every front. Byrne's all-Irish cast are led by Aoife
Duffin as Katherine, the eldest daughter of wealthy Padua merchant Baptista Minola
(Gary Lilburn,) notorious for her violent temper. Her younger sister Bianca
(Genevieve Hulme-Beaman,) on the other hand, is famed for both beauty and a pleasant
personality and has numerous suitors, but they'll all have to wait as Baptista has
decided that a husband has to be found for the elder daughter first. The suitors
need someone to take that bullet and Petruchio (Edward MacLiam) sees her hefty dowry
as reason enough to take her on.
