The Taming of the Shrew at Clwyd Theatr Cymru


 

WELCOME to the Meo and Dylan show!

Wales two brightest and most talented young actors Steven Meo and Hedydd Dylan  steal Shakespeare in a rollicking Terry Hands direction of  Taming of the Shrew, at Clwyd Theatr Cymru.
 

Meo - who is fast becoming our new Anthony Hopkins - has a capacity audience spellbound as the drunken and foul-mouthed Petruccio.
 

Every slur of words or witty barb is delivered with expert timing and passion.
 

And the joy of Meo is you can see in his eyes and facial expressions, that he lives every role he plays.
 

While he has already starred fabulously as Pip in the musical Great Expectations at Theatr Cymru and in Arden of Faversham and Pieces, this performance is quite simply his best yet.
 

And his foil is the ever magnificent Dylan, who shrieks, covorts, cajoles and controls the stage like no other contemporary Welsh actress.
 

While her performance as Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion at Theatr Clwyd two years ago was a fabulous professional stage debut - which won her an Ian Charleson award - her portrayal of  Katherina  in Kiss Me Kate (oops sorry... Taming of the Shrew) would have left the late Kathryn Grayson or Liz Taylor envious.
 

Dylan is stunning and full of  an energy, passion and deliverance only matched by Meo.
 

And trailing them almost stride for stride is the quirky and endearing Sion Pritchard, brilliantly playing the duplicitous Tranio.
 

What makes their performances more remarkable is they head a star cast of established and critically acclaimed Welsh actors including Robert Blythe, Brendon Charleson and John Cording.
 

So what of the play itself?
 

Taming of the Shrew is probably Shakespeare's most bawdy, misogynistic and laugh aloud comedy.
 

It is also his most complete; using every dramatic device known: the dream, a play within a play, juxtaposition, parody, satire, disguise, role reversal, comeuppance, surprise and even farce.
 

Director Terry Hands has taken Shakespeare by the throat and shaken every laugh, love, kiss and comic catch of the play and left it tumbling into the 21st century.
 

Hard to believe that something 500 years old could have such balance and passion today... it has!
 

Another Hands triumph... maybe, but this is after all the Meo and Dylan Show!
 

Miss it if you dare.