"UNDETERRED by last year's tempestuous
wash-out, the Trentham Shakespeare company again braved the elements
with this production of The Taming of the Shrew.
Not one for any Germaine Greers out
there, this bawdy farce centres on the taming of wildcat Katherina, who
leaves men quivering in her wake. Enter Petruchio, the money-grabbing
chancer who believes himself to be the one to make Kate conform to the
accepted ideal of womanhood.
This vibrant production boasted lots of
comic touches and set pieces, including an hilarious wooing scene. The
characterisations were assured and creative, the highlight being the
fey, handkerchief-clutching Hortensio (Ian W Wilson), and the creaky,
incontinent Gremio (David Attenborough).
The addition of several dances and
crowd scenes heightened the action to make this a thoroughly enjoyable
performance. And I didn't need my umbrella once!"
Lucy Bryan - the
Sentinel newspaper
Trentham
Gardens are formal Italianate gardens, and an
English landscape park in Trentham, Staffordshire on the southern
fringes of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. The house was demolished in 1911
by its owner the 4th Duke of Sutherland, but the gardens and the park
with its lake and woodlands have been preserved.
see more on Trentham Park
The tulip display at
the Upper Gardens
Perseus and
Medusa
sculptor: Benvenuto Cellini (1553)
this copy made in 1840 and installed at Trentham Gardens
