The Wild West Comes Alive in Taming of the Shrew

by Kristin Pollack, Ocoee High School

Loud guns, a saloon, dancers, pick pockets, and the Wild West. Sound like Shakespeare? It does for Apopka High School’s Performance of The Taming of the Shrew.

The Taming of the Shrew tells the story of a family of one parent and two daughters. The eldest of the daughters, Katherine (Karlie Ragan), is a wild untamed wreck, while the youngest, Bianca (Faith O’Hare), is one of the fairest maidens in the area whom Lucentio (Justin Wood), Hortensio (Brad Snyder), and Gremio (Noah Camenker) all have their eyes on to wed. However the plot really forms when Baptista (Sherri Savage), mother of Katherine and Bianca, states that Bianca may not be wed until her sister Katherine is wed first. This brings into play the character Petruchio (Michael Sapp), who then marries Katherine and is put to the test of taming the shrewish sister.

Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter is one feature that is often known to wedge between a high school student and their clear delivery of lines, however, iambic pentameter did not show any affect on Michael Sapp, who delivered his lines with ease and knowledge of what he was saying. Michael Sapp’s chemistry and naturalness with Karlie Ragan as Katherine continued to grow stronger and stronger as the show progressed. Their energy and devotion to their characters made it a small task to play off of each other and really blend.

As Tranio, Lucentio’s servant girl Mandy Wood filled the part of a very strong supportive role. Her facial expressions made it simple to follow her array of emotions. Sherri Savage’s body language also made it easy to follow her character’s role with ease.

The comedy of the show really came out through the western feeling. The western style really made it simpler for the audience to follow along. There were intermittent slips on lines due to the Shakespearean language, and possibly a misunderstanding of what was trying to be said, but overall effectiveness.

The props and effects were great. The props fit the surroundings very well, and all of the cast members who had to handle props at some point appeared very comfortable with doing so. The loud gun shots which were very startling at first played in well, but may have been more effective if there were a few less gunshots for a more dramatic effect.

Any Shakespeare production is difficult to perform during today’s times but Apopka has succeeded.

Originally published in the Backstage Noise, Spring Issue, 2006