INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The nonprofit Laura Riding Jackson Foundation (LRJF) is pleased to present two performances of William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.”
This popular and controversial comedy will be enacted by the Cambridge American Stage Tour 2015 ensemble (CAST) from England’s Cambridge University. The Thursday evening show at St. Edward’s Waxlax Center for the Performing Arts begins at 7 p.m. on Sept. 3. The matinee show on Saturday will be at the Sebastian River High School’s Performing Arts Center beginning at 1 p.m., on Sept. 5.
Admission for both shows is by donation at the door. The donations help fund the work of the LRJF. Indian River County is the ensemble’s only Florida stop. The tour includes stops in nine states ending with a performance at Brown University on Sept. 27. New this year, the cast will be using mobile microphone’s in the Sebastian River High School production.
The Taming of the Shrew will be directed by Kennedy Bloomer. “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.” The stubborn, rebellious Katherina must consent to marriage before her sickly sweet, and much desired, younger sister Bianca is allowed to wed. While Petruccio attempts to “tame” the shrewish elder sister, the suitors battle to win the younger. Are the dreams of happy endings all that they were meant to be? Mark the calendar for the play within a play, full of plot twists and turns, music, dance and laughs.
CAST, now in its 16th year, is one of the major international theatre tours of the University of Cambridge. It has been performing to packed houses and critical acclaim since it’s establishment in 2000, under the patronage of Dame Judi Dench. Each September, Cambridge’s most talented actors, directors, designers, and technicians cross the Atlantic to bring a Shakespeare play to colleges, high schools, and professional theatres along the eastern United States. CAST is increasingly renowned as a showcase of leading dramatic talent, about to enter the world of professional theatre. The directors of the last six CAST productions have gone on to successful careers – quite a record!
There’s more at www.castcambridge.com and at www.lrjf.org. Find them on Facebook, or follow on Twitter or Instagram.
