Shakespeare’s Shrew Steps Forward into 21st Century

After a popular tour last year, Miracle Theatre brings its production of Shakespeare’s ironic comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, to the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth. This controversial, passionate and tender story is brought into the 21st century in a highly visual way by the “sophisticated, innovative” Cornish theatre company.

The Taming of the Shrew is at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth, on Friday, October 3 and Saturday, October 4. Box office: 01752 267131.

A NEW play by Claire Macdonald called Correspondence comes to Plymouth’s Drum Theatre next week. A man and a woman meet on a train. She pours coffee while he drinks brandy. Through the night, they exchange memories, stories, and secrets. When the sun rises, everything has changed forever… With nods to classic film noir, winks to French romantics and pouts at Surrealists, this is produced by Menagerie, one of the UK’s premier new writing companies which champions great writers, highly original plays and rich theatricality. Fresh from success at the Edinburgh Festival, Correspondence is a travelogue of intimacy, betrayal and the invisible borders we cross to reach someone just close enough to touch.

Correspondence is at the Drum, Plymouth, from Tuesday, September 30 to Saturday, October 4. Box office: 01752 267222.

OSCAR Wilde’s timeless comedy The Importance of Being Earnest is coming to the Westcountry with a special deal for selected audience members. Middle Ground Theatre Company is offering free tickets to anyone who can prove they are called Ernest. This Victorian era satire of double lives and social obligations stars Tom Butcher (The Bill, Doctors), Zoie Kennedy (The Royal), Corrinne Wicks (Doctors), Jim Alexander (The Bill, London’s Burning, Dream Team), and David Gooderson (A Touch of Frost).

The Importance of Being Earnest is at the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple, from Tuesday, September 30 to Saturday, October 4. Box office: 01271 324242.

THE celebrated troupe that shortened Shakespeare’s works to 20 minutes now tackles the Bible. The Reduced Shakespeare Company bring their take on “the greatest story ever accepted as fact” with The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), a comedy which questions everything from fig leaves to the final judgment. Citing influences from Monty Python to the Marx Brothers, the tour comes to Taunton’s Brewhouse on Tuesday.

Box office: 01823 283 244.

FOLLOWING the sell-out, groundbreaking marquee performances of Foresight last year, several East Devon writers have each written their own Talking Head in the vein of Alan Bennett’s popular creation. Created in workshops led by Nick Stimson, associate director at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal, they will be performed at Payhembury Hall from October 2-4. Tickets can be obtained from Paula Nelson on 01404 841232.

(c) 2008 Western Morning News, The Plymouth (UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.