‘Shrew’ has its ups, downs

A paradox of the Renaissance is that its epochal creativity emerged amid untenable social inequities. The era was harsh on women, whose status as men’s chattel underpins William Shakespeare’s gender-warfare farce “The Taming of the Shrew.”

One seldom finds a modern realization willing to play the Bard’s politically incorrect account of Padua’s well-heeled hellion and her fortune-hunting soul mate straight, without conceptual resetting or deconstruction. Such is the achievement of Alec Wild’s infectious environmental staging, now traversing the gloriously restored Orpheum Theatre with bracing panache.

This co-production of Zoo District Theatre Company and the L.A. Conservancy begins in the downstairs bar, where the prologue erupts without warning. Act 1 transpires upstairs in the lobby, using the multileveled rotunda to full advantage. Act 2 returns downstairs for Kate and Petruchio’s wedding night, then pulls everyone into the auditorium and onstage for the denouement.

Wild attains deft narrative clarity, consistently serving the story. His technical forces follow suit, with Betty Madden’s costumes and Bosco Flanagan’s lighting especially lucid. As is the spot-on ensemble, starting with Tamar Fortgang and Ed Cunningham’s incisive combatants. The patrician, oboe-voiced Fortgang delivers an acutely intelligent Kate, her vitriol a survival mechanism against her callow counterparts. This virago’s first encounter with Cunningham’s rough-hewn, eloquent Petruchio conveys tangible electricity, and their rambunctious passage to eventual harmony unfolds with memorable, idiomatic spontaneity.

This also describes Nick Roberts’ Baptista, Sarah Sido’s Bianca and the suitors of Matthew Siegan, Tony Forkush and Bruno Oliver.

Other standouts include servile scene-stealers Casey E. Lewis (Tranio), Conor Duffy (Biondello) and Chet Grissom (Grumio), Tim Forrest’s false Vincentio and Donald Agnelli’s genuine article, and Michael Franco’s blotto Christopher Sly.

True, “Shrew” will never thrill NOW members, and nondevotees may question the inclusion of oft-omitted material. Yet the immense fun factor trumps all reservations -- except for the box office kind. With attendance limited to 80 persons per show, they are mandatory.

*

‘The Taming of the Shrew’

Where: Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A.

When: Thursdays -Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m.

Ends: Oct. 4

Price: $18-$20

Contact: (323) 769-5674

Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes