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Tom Bentley-Fisher

  
  




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From the Reviews of 
Taming of the Shrew (William Shakespeare)  Directed by Tom Bentley
 The Berkeley Art Center, June  2005		   

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

"...a sharp, cleverly staged production..."
"Bentley's generally strong cast, led by Macky and Nordquist's charismatic performances, infuses Shakespeare with a sensibility as hip and dark as any play by Neil LaBute."
 - San Francisco Bay Guardian, June 15, 2005

"...a powerful and very effective production..."
"...in no way is this your father’s Shrew. Truth to tell, it’s almost certainly unlike any version that’s ever been staged before."
 - Berkeley Daily Planet, June 7, 2005

" Taking a cue from contemporary chauvinist Christian groups like the Promise Keepers, the men of Padua appear in black suits and white sneakers, often with open hymn books pressed to their noses, ever ready to take supreme advantage of the resonant acoustics of the Berkeley Art Center by bursting into song – whether a solemn liturgical line or, in a more contemporary mood, a bouncy a cappella rendering of "Baby Face," the latter a tribute by her several suitors to Bianca (Celia Aurora de Blas), the "good" daughter of Baptista Minola (David Klauser). Katherine (Mary Macky), his other daughter and our lady of the title, comes dressed in chic black outfits with heels and creases to draw blood, while shrew-tamer Petruchio (Scott Nordquist) takes her on with a superbly modern machismo, not to say sadism, reminiscent of something Jack Nicholson might have done had he played the Globe Theatre."
 - San Francisco Bay Guardian, June 15, 2005
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“The Maids”
©2010 Tom Bentley-Fisher

 

 
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