Synopsis

A nonstop roller-coaster ride of mistaken identity and affection, "Kiss Me, Kate" jumps back and forth - from the play itself, to a play-within-a-play.

Frederick Graham is producing a musical version of Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, or at least, he’s trying to. In a typically Shakespearean fashion, nothing is as it seems, and not everyone is sure who everyone else is.

Fred’s ex-wife, Lillie, is playing the Shrew (Fred insists there’s no pun intended) and has mistakenly intercepted a love note from Fred, to one of the younger leading ladies. When he discovers this error on stage, the audience sees some very realistic fighting.

Now she’s about to walk out on the show, which leaves Fred in a bit of a pickle. Earlier, another one of Fred’s actors (the one who thinks Fred is having an affair with his girlfriend) lost a whole heap of money gambling. It’s OK, though: he signed an IOU…

Now the mob is into Fred for 10 G’s, which he would be able to pay as long as his show can run until the end of the week - but of course, for that to happen, he needs his leading lady. Besides, the show must go on!

The two main characters in "Kiss Me, Kate" unwittingly share many parallels with their onstage characters in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. They all seem to be caught in love-hate relationships, fighting desperately not to be the first to admit that they’re just using the hate as a cover for the genuine love.

So on they go, singing and dancing and fighting with each other to the point where everyone’s just about ready to throw in the towel and go home. But as with all Shakespeare’s comedies, adversity is overcome in the end. Everyone is revealed for who they are and everyone’s true feelings are laid out on the table.

We come together at the end and laugh at the trouble we took to get there; all in all, 'twas much ado about nothing, really.

Performance season

The performance season ran over two weeks and included 6 performances:

• Friday 4th July at 8pm

• Saturday 5th July at 8pm
• Thursday 10th July at 8pm
• Friday 11th July at 8pm
• Saturday 12th July at 2pm (matinee) & 8pm

Artistic Team

Cast

The cast list below includes roles on the left and actors' names on the right. Character names in inverted commas are 'Taming of The Shrew' characters.