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'Shrew' fits cozily into the shallow '80s
from: indystar.com
by Nick Crews
Butler University production updates Shakespeare's comedy
It was the decade of big hair, bad clothes and unbridled materialism.
And under Diane Timmerman's directorial hand the 1980s becomes the setting for what has been called one of Shakespeare's most deliberately outrageous dramas, "The Taming of the Shrew." The production, which opens Wednesday, runs through Dec. 11 at Butler University.
Timmerman, an associate professor of theater at Butler, says her 90-minute adaptation of the story of indomitable "shrew" Katherine and her gold-digging suitor Petruchio found a natural affinity with the decade of excess.
"I wanted to do something contemporary, and I thought about the psychedelic '60s, but the style then was a little too good, and the lines were a little too clean," said Timmerman. "I thought the excessive '80s -- with big hair and bad clothing -- was perfect because I think the play is about a shallow, slick, surface-oriented society and two people who break through that."
The backdrop of '80s culture throws into sharp relief the story of two people whose relationship evolves from a sharply waged archetypical battle of the sexes into an abiding relationship.
"In the course of the play Kate and Petruchio come to terms with what they need to learn," said Timmerman, who also directed "Shrew" at Butler in 1996. "Kate needs to learn to control her temper . . . and Petruchio learns that money isn't everything. But they have to learn it from each other, because their society isn't helping them."
Music for the production includes songs by the Talking Heads, JOAN JETT, Cyndi Lauper and Huey Lewis and the News.
"This is absolutely an accessible play, and an accessible production," said Timmerman.
The Taming of the Shrew
Where: The Lilly Hall Studio Theatre, Butler University, 4600 Sunset Ave
When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; Nov. 30-Dec. 11
Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students
Info: (317) 940-9247
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