STAGE REVIEW : Comic Foil Sets Pace for ‘Shrew’

Just a little hint to directors: One clue to a successful production of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” is the casting of the seemingly subsidiary role of Grumio, servant to the male lead Petruchio. Director Phillip Beck found an actor whose inventiveness is one of the ingredients that brings this production to life.

In Beck’s staging at Rancho Santiago College, under the banner of the Professional Actors Conservatory, he not only has a superlative Grumio, he’s taken a couple of chances. He’s placed the action in the early part of the 19th Century, and has adopted an anachronistic commedia dell’arte style.

It all works very well.

Laura E. Deremer’s costumes wave back and forth between early- and middle-19th Century, but the period is acceptable for this most misogynistic of Shakespeare’s plays. Her anachronistic costumes for Petruchio are reminiscent of George M. Cohan’s costume for the Vagabond in “The Tavern”: bits and pieces from various eras. It all suits the style of the production.

That commedia dell’arte style and Dickensian costumes work is proven in the cohesiveness of the production.

Then there’s that very commedia, very Shakespearean Grumio, a performance of infinite invention by Terrance Elton. He’s a sort of 19th-Century Marky Mark, with a problem keeping his pants up (and he wears his working-boy’s cap backward).

Elton doesn’t just use the shtick he’s given to play with, he lives with it.

When he leads Petruchio’s imaginary horse onstage, with only a bridle and lead visible, it’s difficult to conceive that he doesn’t have a real horse there. His detail in characterization and action gives this production much of its flavor.

The reason Grumio is such an important ingredient in the play is that he’s a balancing comic weight to Petruchio’s bravado.

Michael Ambrosio has the right bravado as this production’s macho suitor to the scratchy Kate who finally submits to his matrimonial wisdom.

Don’t take that wrong. Remember that Kate’s submission to Petruchio is not subservience to his physical and mental abuse; it’s what passed for women’s liberation before women became equal.

Before today’s attorneys told women they could get rich by filing suit against machismo, they controlled by wile. Kate, in Terrie Benton’s performance, is never subservient, always in control. She knows that a little bit of sugar will persuade Petruchio that he’s the boss, when it’s obvious that she will be the boss.

Chuck Ketter’s setting, which looks like the original Shakespearean Globe Theatre, is just right for Beck’s mix-and-match staging.

Beck uses a lot of shtick to fill out his conception, and it’s all delightful. There’s a bit of Three Stooges, a good bit of vaudeville, a lot of tumbling and double-entendre, and a general joie de vivre that pulls his production together.

If some of the supporting cast aren’t up to the style, either going overboard or not even getting up to the lower deck, the flavor is maintained by the more prominent players.

Lisa Hallsted’s Bianca is subtle and charming; Mark Drake’s Lucentio is a marvelously silly, grinning love-tumbled swain, and Beck’s swift, comedic guidance excuses many minor flaws.

‘The Taming of the Shrew’

A Professional Actors Conservatory production of the William Shakespeare play. Directed by Phillip W. Beck. With Michael Ambrosio, Terrie Benton, Terrance Elton, Mark Drake, Lisa Hallsted, Mark-John McSheehyl, Damon Carr, Dan Cole, K.C. Crowe, Ted Jackson, Max Mastrangelo, Steve Ramirez, Vajdon Sohaili. Set: Chuck Ketter. Lighting: D. Silvio Volonte. Costumes: Laura E. Deremer. At the Phillips Hall Theatre, Rancho Santiago College, 1530 W. 17th St., Santa Ana. Performances tonight-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m. $8; (714) 564-5661. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.