TAMED or It’s Hard To Get A Real Horse

TAMED claims to be very loosely based around The Taming of The Shrew – it’s a connection that is very loose indeed as, sadly, are its links to Great Yarmouth.

The show by Flight of the Escales has been around for a few years, with the present incarnation billed as being influenced by workshops held with women from the coast and with “the town of Great Yarmouth woven right through it”.

While there is a group of local women periodically on stage, they are disappointingly underused. The references to the town consist of offhand references to the seafront landaus and the Hippodrome Circus, plus some CCTV-like footage from the area around the theatre. It’s not quite the fidelity of a stick of rock.

The piece starts with an apparent group rehearsal for a production of the Shakespeare play with five identically dressed and identically be-wigged women discussing their motivations. There are some smart theatre in-jokes but this framing, and the initial use of act and scene references quickly gives way to a more free-form production.

Unlike the 70-minute version presented at Norwich’s Stage Two a couple of years back, which was tightly framed around four versions of Katherina / Kate, the current production is nearly twice as long and lacks focus and narrative drive.

While there are enjoyable, playful, flashes – a verbal boxing match, the sound of horseshoes represented through tap dancing, the weary dialogue of a relationship gone sour – there isn’t the scaffolding that makes them coalesce into something greater. The (uncredited) performers set about their work with gusto, but it’s not quite clear to what end; as they themselves emote, it’s all a bit, you know, [noise, hand gesture].

The attempt to use St George’s unique setting doesn’t quite work either, with the audience positioned on balconies and the main floor becoming a giant stage. The balconies are gorgeous but don’t offer a comfortable vantage point for a long show, with some of the action and the top half of floor-level video screens difficult to see without a degree of contortion.

When the video is visible, there are some clever technical tricks mixing live action and recorded footage, opening up some interesting storytelling possibilities, and the show’s final big reveal.

Unfortunately though this feels like a piece in development that has gone backwards rather than forwards. While the 2022 version of the show was challenging, it was also rewarding. Those odds have been flipped this time.