Shakespeare in the Dark

The evening is a group effort by the Zoo District, the L.A. Conservancy and downtown’s opulent Orpheum Theater, where the action unfolds. This isn’t really an environmental staging in the sense that actors appropriate the architectural properties of their surroundings. In fact, the show can be faulted for not making enough use of this marvelous old building. The cast simply arrives in three locales (downstairs lounge, upstairs lobby and in the theater proper) and works things out with no sets and a minimum of props, although Betty Madden outfits the cast with an array of vaguely anachronistic costumes, and Kevin Cooper and Bruce Teter provide Renaissance music before the acts. The result is a spare production staged in lush digs that relies heavily on its actors. While this proves a mixed bag with the supporting players, leads Ed Cunningham and Tamar Fortgang shoulder the story with manic gusto. Cunningham’s Petruchio is an irredeemable opportunist bent on forcing his marital will on the temperamental Kate — winning an obedient wife and a handsome dowry for his efforts. (Think of a junk-bond trader in need of a shave and a slave.)

Fortgang’s Kate is not the traditional mischievous banshee who is often shown disingenuously accepting the bridal bit, but a truly violent and horrendous force of nature, something unleashed from hell’s basement — for some reason I kept thinking of a bipolar Lillian Hellman. Yet her transformation into a subservient spouse is carried off with complete sincerity, making her announced submission all the more scary to modern ears. This is a raw Shrewuntamed by modern sensibilities and served without apology by a company used to taking risks. There are only a few more performances left, and viewers will find the trip downtown rewarding — especially at play’s end, when they are invited to participate in the wedding banquet.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW | By WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

At the ORPHEUM THEATER, 842 S. Broadway, downtown;

(323) 769-5674 | Through October 4