Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 26

4 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette' (Friday. STAGE REVIEW 'Shrew' gives Shakespeare fest energetic start pedals it, the message is not a pleasant one. This production takes the position that "Of course, it's absurd, but there's plenty of fun and humor here, so let's overlook it." Some may not be able to, yet it needn't interfere with an evening of frenetic comedy. "The Taming of the Shrew" is a handsomely mounted production, styled in the 18th-century fashion with a thatched-roof inn backdrop. Scenery designer William W.

O'Donnell and costumer designer Lorraine Venberg are more than up to the high quality of previous festival productions. Christine Frezza's music is apt and unobtrusive when need be. The rest of the festival company including Don Wadsworth and R. Sebastian Russ wade energetically into their parts and keep the action going for the nearly three-hour play. It is a bit long and does sag somewhat midway through Act 2, but the cast works hard to prop it up for the finale.

"The Taming of the Shrew" is a lighthearted way to start a summer of classical drama in Oakland. By Bob Hoover Post-Gazette Staff Writer FTirryhal else can you do 1 If II I jhe Taming of 1 I the Shrew" but play it as the real farce it is? The ensemble of the Three Rivers Shakespeare Company, led by director-leading actor W. Stephen Coleman does this with such gusto that the opening production of the 1 988 festival is a real crowd-plcaser. "The Taming of the Shrew" is a complete company effort, with everybody given a shot at getting laughs. In some measure, Coleman's direction is overloaded with business, in the old vaudeville tradition that if one joke doesn't work, there's a million more in the bag.

Every innuendo gets the full treatment here. This is not the Bard, but the Bawd, of Avon who knew how to keep the groundlings happy with plenty of raunch. Three actors Chet Carlin, Mark Philip Stephenson and Tim Hartman are standouts in a cast of expert muggers, pratfallers and double-take artists. The hulking Hartman, whom schoolchildren will recognize as the Gooky Green Germ from "Corporal Corpuscle," the Children's Museum play, excels in physical comedy. He also does one bit as a puppeteer, which draws extra laughs.

Now, what about the TV reporter playing the role that such stalwarts as Lynn Fontanne and diet-book author Elizabeth Taylor have tried? Mary Robb Jackson handles Kath-erina the shrew with confidence and some dignity. After all, here is a character who has only two moods so filled with anger she needs a straitjacket or as docile as a Valium addict. Jackson makes you understand why Kate is so angry. She realizes she's nothing more to her father than a burden he's got to dump so he can sell off his more marketable younger daughter, Bianca. Maria Barney is fine as the desirable, lusty Bianca, a weak, weepy or "properly feminine" contrast to the insane Kate.

Director Coleman doubles as Pe-truchio, the Rambo of the boudoir, who uses a psychological approach worthy of any trendy pop psychiatrist writing in Cosmopolitan to defeat Kate. Coleman is a deft, ingratiating hero who seems a little sheepish with the play's macho message about men and women. As director, he stages the famous and outrageous scene where Petru-chio bets the other married men that his now-cowed wife will obey him as though it were in a male locker room. When commanded to appear, Kate is the only wife to show up and she lectures the other women with those words, "Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper thy sovereign And place your hands below your husband's foot. No matter how Coleman soft- If you're going "The Taming of the Shrew," at the Stephen Foster Theater next to the Cathedral of Learning, Forbes Avenue, Oakland, is tonight and tomorrow at 8 and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Call 624-PLAY. Mary Robb Jackson, as the shrew, is carted off by Petruchio (Alex Coleman, center) and Grumio (Tim Hartman) at Shakespeare Festival. Pittsburgh Dance Council Presents The Fifth Annual Choreographers' Continuum A Showcase of New Works by Pittsburgh Choreographers Friday and Saturday, June 1 0 1 1 1 988 Our SOth Profeuionsl Yeirl fountain VfaytWse Jcnnerstown NOW thru JUNI 12 The comedy hit CRITIC'S CHOICE Opens June 14: COD'S IAV0RITI (814)629-9201 luncheon, dinner, drinks in rustic Green Gables WantecTJ Always 8 PAA You may think we're going out on a limb when we say you'll find the gun you've always wanted at the Gun Show June 4 5 at the Pittsburgh Expo Mart in Monroeville. But chances are, no matter what you're looking (or, from flintlocks to target rifles, revolvers to shotguns, you'll find just the gun you've been looking for or dreaming about. Thousands and thousands of guns of all makes are on display and for sale by hundreds of dealers and private collectors, at this one of a kind incredible gun show.

Children under 10 not admitted. 58 a.m.-4 p.m. Browse Appraisals Exit 6, Pennsylvania Turnpike (SQDKJ SKK2)TO Sponsored by the PA Gun Collectors Assoc. Saturday, June 48 a.m.-5 p.m. rCljerCmik May 27- June 19 Staged by Resident Director W.

Stephen Coleman. "Swirling about the tempestuous couple are a host of strong actors. Think of Benny Hill. Think of the Keystone Kops rambunctious, rollicking." Sunday, June Buy sell Trade $3 donation (non-members) EH tumh 355- 0330 Eddy Theatre, Chatham College University of Pittsburgh PLAY.