Coyote Cinema: Oregon Shakespeare Festival Day Four

Matinee: Streetcar Named Desire
Another heart-warming feel-good production from Tennessee Williams.
Attending a Williams play is kind of like crawling into a woolen sack and inviting the Green Bay Packers to punch you in the emotions. You do not enjoy it, you survive it. And yet you keep coming back because, with a good cast, it feels real, it feels alive. And this was a good cast.
Afterward we retired to a sushi bar for a quiet Philadelphia roll and a bout of recovery.

Evening: Taming of the Shrew
Taming of the Shrew, Measure for Measure, and Merchant of Venice are the three Shakespeare plays I like least. They are my 'problem plays' because, for one reason or another, they have failed to age well. I confess I did not have high hopes going into this despite the kind of awesome promo poster.
The play was set at a Jersey boardwalk with a rockabily cast and a live band. Live band? That's interesting. They messed with the script, they had a lot of fun, we got to see Shakespearean Guitar Hero, and Kate plays electric guitar. And they did try to steer the play toward a more palatable conclusion, but Kate is still married against her will and starved and tortured until her will breaks. Which I don't think is cool.
So. I enjoyed it a lot, I had a lot of fun, but it still felt uncomfortable. And I want to listen to Imelda May.