The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy written by none other than Shakespeare. The play was written between 1590 and 1594 and is believed to be one of his earliest pieces. Like most Shakespearean works, The Taming of the Shrew has been performed in musical theatre, opera and ballet. I was honoured to see it performed by the West Australian Ballet at His Majesty’s Theatre on Opening Night, May 16th.

It has been 40 years since the very first performance of John Cranko’s adaptation of Taming of the Shrew was performed by the Stuttgart Ballet Company. In May for the first time ever in Western Australia, Perth audiences were privileged to experience John Cranko’s work performed by their very own ballet company.

The hilarious love story had me roaring with laughter from beginning to end. It is a story about a shrew, Kate, who is an opinionated, ill tempered, vicious woman prone to wild displays of anger. All men avoid her, but her father, Baptisa, wishes to have her married before his younger, more beautiful daughter, Bianca. Bianca has no shortage of offers. Petruchio, a man who sees himself as a romantic and dashing figure, is determined to tame Kate and teach her a lesson.

The WA Ballet performed the work brilliantly. The character Kate was danced by Jayne Smeulders who put on a strong performance. Her acting was superb. Her facial expressions, kicking, stamping, hunched shoulders and general movement really captured the true character of Kate. Smeulders gave a believable and hilarious performance that made me laugh

Jayne Smeulders,Filip Barankiewicz Photo: Jon Green

throughout the entire ballet.

For this season the West Australian Ballet had the honour of showcasing Filip Barankiewicz, a principal guest artist, in the role of Petruchio. He gave a fantastic and strong performance together with Smeulders. My eyes were glued to them, not wanting to blink in case I missed something.

Barankiewicz has danced in many of John Cranko’s works with the Stuttgart Ballet Company, as lead role, and is a very talented dancer. He has also made many other guest appearances around the world dancing with other great dance artists such as internationally renowned female prima ballerina Alessandra Ferri.

Three suitors appeared in the opening scene of the ballet. Lucentio, danced by Daryl Brandwood, wooed Bianca with his dancing. Hortensio, danced by Marco Pagetti,  played his guitar to her and Gremio, danced by Cass Mortimer-Eipper, sang to her. All three suitors attempted to show their unique talents to win the hand of the beautiful Bianca, danced by Sarah Sutcliffe. Kate rudely and abruptly put an end to the suitors serenades of Bianca and her father Baptisa, played by Stephan Karlsson (a guest character artist) burst out of the house to tell the suitors that Kate must be married first, and thus the story began…

One of the highlights of the night was the scene where suitor Gremio serenaded Bianca.
The audience responded well to Gremio as he was a very comical character and he continued to entertain throughout the entire performance. He had the hair of Marie Antoinette, with a white curly wig, a white pale face and bright red lips, and was dressed in a frilly colourful cape and tights, bringing the audience to bellows of laughter.

Another highlight of the performance was when Kate and Petruchio got married and were travelling to Petruchio’s house by horse. While they were riding Kate would try to run back to her house, but Petruchio would throw her back on the horse. This happened several times, with cleverly choreographed gestures and movements that showed falling, slipping and jumping off the horse.

Ivan Cavallari, Artist Director of the West Australian Ballet, did an exceptional job of collecting talent from Perth, Australia, Europe and New Zealand, as well as beautiful, colourful costumes and sets from the Australian Ballet, to put together this masterpiece.  Myron Romanul, a special guest conductor from the National Theatre in Munich, Germany, was outstanding with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

I thoroughly enjoy the WA Ballet’s Taming of the Shrew. If you have never seen a ballet before or have never been interested in ballet, then The Taming of the Shrew, is the ballet for you! I was entertained from start to finish!

For further information about the WA Ballet visit www.waballet.com.au

By Esther van Baren