The Taming of The Shrew At The Popup Globe Auckland

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The Taming of the Shrew at the Popup Globe was brilliant.

I didn’t expect anything less, but it’s always nice to come away from show with a face sore from grinning and achy ribs from laughing. The Popup Globe in Ellerslie, Auckland, is a full scale replica of the Globe in London, and each year they put on multiple Shakespeare plays for the public to enjoy. Last year I saw Merchant of Venice and Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the year before I saw As You Like It, which was possibly my favourite out of all of them.

Last week we headed along to the Popup Globe once again, this time with Upper Level seats that had backs (hence the different angle of photos), to see The Taming of the Shrew, and while the whole time I was trying to figure out who was who in terms of characters in 10 Things I Hate About You, it was a highly enjoyable night out.

The cast were a mix of men and women (the other company are all men), and they changed up the story a little bit in that the play was ‘put on’ for one of the character’s benefits. The play ‘began’ with a bit of a song and dance, but then was interrupted by someone in the audience who ‘threw up’ all over his girlfriend and was knocked out cold. The two actors from the audience then came on stage, and she complained that he was sexist and rude, and didn’t treat her right. The cast of the play then decide to play a trick on the guy (‘Lord Christopher’ as they dub him) and perform this story of The Taming of the Shrew around him. By the end of the play, ‘Lord Christopher’ realises he’s been in a production, and learns that he has to treat his girlfriend better.

It was a really great way, I think, of putting on a Shakespearean play but actually addressing the problems with the way that men and women are portrayed in the original play. Times they have a changed, and the Popup Globe did a brilliant job at recognising that.

This year’s plays are The Taming of the Shrew, Richard III, Hamlet and Measure for Measure. While I’m not really one for the dramas, I’m hoping to get to Measure for Measure, too, though I don’t know the story at all. SparksNotes, anyone?

Did you see The Taming of the Shrew at the Popup Globe? Or elsewhere?