Kiss Me Kate
Music & lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Sam & Bella Spewack
The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor near Newbury
Directed by Paul Hart
Designed by Frankie Bradshaw
Musical supervision and orchestration by Tom Attwood
Choreography by Oti Mabuse
Saturday 24th August 2019, matinee
The Watermill Theatre: rear view. We always need a picture of this theatre!
CAST
Jack Benjamin – Ralph + trumpet, mandolin
Dan de Cruz – doorman / (Bapista) + piano, kit, bass
Kimmy Edwards – Lois Lane (Bianca) + percussion
Andre Fabien Francis – Paul + percussion
Sheldon Greenland- Gangster 1 + piano, kit, bass
Robert Jackson – Gangster 2 + saxophone, kit
Jay Perry – Bill Calhoun (Lucentio) + percussion
David Ricardo Pearce – Fred Graham (Petruchio) + cello, piano
Tom Sowinski – Harrison Howe + bass, trombone
Thomas Sutcliffe – Harry Trevor + flute, clarinet
Rebecca Trehearn – Lilli Vanessi (Katherine) + clarinet
Chioma Uma – Hattie + violin, piano, kit, accordion, mandolin
This is our second “backstage Shakespeare” this month, what with 8 Hotels at Chichester, which is backstage Othello. This is the famed backstage Taming of The Shrew. The musical dates back to 1948, and was based on real life squabbles in a 1935 production of Taming of The Shrew between a husband and wife playing Petruchio and Katherine. The 1967 Zefferelli film of Taming of The Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor as Katherine, and Richard Burton as Petruchio, took place during their tempestuous first marriage so probably continued the theme backstage.
David Ricardo Pearce is actor manager Fred Graham, playing Petruchio
In Kiss Me Kate we have Fred Graham, an actor-manager playing Petruchio to his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi as Katherine. Fred’s current interest, Lois Lane is playing her sister, Bianca, and has problems with her gambler boyfriend and some gangsters. Harrison Howe is Lilli’s New boyfriend, a prominent government official and the rich backer of the production.
David Ricardo Pearce’s Fred Graham is great. He has to do the switch from Fred backstage, to being Petruchio in 1940s hammed up actor-manager style. Rebecca Trehearn matches with a wonderfully stern Lilli Vanessi (and Katherine). The duo have considerable physical fight business, both backstage then in the Taming of The Shrew. This kind of physical comedy is hugely skilful. Fred Graham is the one licensed to break the fourth wall and interact with the audience, especially taking one song right around the auditorium.
The wedding. Rebecca Trehearn as Katherine, David Ricardo Pearce as Petruchio. Both centre.
Backstage, both have good business with their dressers. Hey! Later playwrights made whole plays out of that. As we switch between backstage and the play, there are elements of what we can nowadays call The Play That Went Wrong, such as Kate’s father, Baptista, continually confusing exits and entrances stage left and stage right. It also reminds me of Rattigan’s Harlequinade which does it with Romeo & Juliet. It’s a very good story and script (for a classic musical) with outstanding songs. So often in musicals I find warbled narrative over generic melody, but every one of Cole Porter’s songs here has stand alone quality.
David Ricardo Pearce as Petruchio, the gangsters dressed as guards are watching Katherine (Rebecca Trehearn)
The boyfriend, Paul, owes money, and forges Fred Graham’s name on an IOU. Two gangsters (Sheldon Greenland and Robert Jackson) turn up to retrieve the money, and Fred diverts them to Lilli who has decided to walk out mid-show. They then dress as guards and enter the play to keep an eye on her … it’s very much the classic “broker’s men” duo from Cinderella pantomimes. This is the source of much humour, culminating in a long version of Brush Up Your Shakespeare which is one of many highlights of the show.
Brush Up Your Shakespeare: Robert Jackson and Sheldon Greenland as the gangsters
There’s spectacular dancing too! Kimmy Edwards, who plays Lois Lane, was not only perfect casting for the role, but is a truly fabulous singer.
Kimmy Edwards as Lois Lane.
The thing is,Kiss Me Kate would normally have the principal roles, a chorus line and a large pit orchestra. At the Watermill, just twelve of them cover the lot and make a virtue out of necessity. They all act, sing, dance and play the instruments. So do they cast a trumpet playing dancing and singing actor? Or do they assemble the cast then base arrangements and instrumentation on what they can play?
Everyone plays. Chioma Uma on violin.
The multi instrumental talents were summed up for me when two of the three who played double bass switched mid-song with one taking over on the frets while the other was still plucking the strings. Seamless change over. Also all three could actually play bass rather than having learned just one part. They broke the E string early in the second half, so had to find the part on the other three strings. Fortunately it was the lowest string – it must be much harder to rethink if one of the second or third strings go.
Overall? Four stars. It really should be five, but nothing deserves five with such a severely restricted view from our seats … we missed about a third of it. The Guardian review said:
The show is packed with sly moments of physical comedy that constantly poke fun at the potential chaos behind the collaborative process. Actors awkwardly transition from one role to the next: a comedy henchman finishes his skit and spins back towards the piano; a soulful jazz pianist suddenly finds himself in a suit of armour, blinking under the spotlights; a percussionist realises he is needed centre stage, yelps and scurries off into the wings.
I think all that took place in the third of the stage we couldn’t see! We never saw the drum kit for example. (There were plenty of other examples which we could).
See below!
****
LOUSY SEATS
We usually sit in the stalls at the Watermill, very often the front row. We were keeping August free when Watermill booking started, but friends who had seen it said this was unmissable so we booked very recently and could only get the Circle Slips which are a single row balcony at 90 degrees to the auditorium … not 90° to the stage, as on a thrust stage, but half way back looking out to the stalls. You have to look hard to the side to see the stage. We had a fan over us – it was a hot day – the draught from which has given me a severe stiff neck due to my twisted position. There isn’t enough room to walk past standing people in the row, so people file out to let you in. So once you’re in, you’re trapped. You can only see about two thirds of the stage too, and a lot was played to the third we could not see at all. Restricted view? In capital letters.
Karen had an attack of vertigo due to the height, flimsy railings and also looking sideways caused varifocal problems. She felt sick and of course couldn’t get out which made it worse. At half time we asked if she could stand at the back. Not allowed (they do use entrances and exits all over the auditorium). There were two empty seats in the stalls. We went to ask if we could pay the difference for the second half. … the circle slips are £20, the stalls are £33. They said, no, it was the full £33 from scratch as the seats were returns for resale. I can see that if the person returning them is sitting next to the empty seats it is an issue- you’d have to ask them. But it is the second half. They have no chance of selling them otherwise. I’d have thought £13 fair to move (and there were another couple of empty ones in the stalls in the second half). I’ll add that the RSC where Karen once had a similar attack in the upper gallery front row (we never booked it again) were vastly more sympathetic and helpful … and found her another empty seat for the second half … and waved away our offer to pay the difference … no charge. She decided that as she’d had her eyes closed through the first half, to ignore the offer to watch on the screen in the lobby and read a book in the garden instead. With an empty seat next to me, I was able to turn 45° which was somewhat better, though it didn’t reveal the hidden third of the stage. It’s virtually sold out for the rest of the run, just a few similar seats left. Even with such a brilliant production, I personally would not elect to sit there, even to see the miraculously resurrected and reformed Beatles.
Let’s hope it tours. I would definitely try to see it again in a more comfortable setting.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
5 star
Clive Davis, The Times *****
Gary Naylor, Broadway World *****
4 star
Miriam Gillinson, Guardian ****
Dave Fargnoli, The Stage ****
Judi Herman, What’s On Stage ****
LINKS ON THIS BLOG
PAUL HART (director)
Twelfth Night, Watermill, 2017
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Watermill 2018
Macbeth, Watermill 2019
The “REAL” TAMING OF THE SHREW
Peter Viney's Blog 
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