Best place to catch sit-com Shakespeare
This might sound like a backhanded compliment, but think of all the stodgy, over-conceptualized Shakespeare
productions through which you've suffered. Besides, one of the best Petruchios we've ever seen was Bruce
Willis on a Moonlighting parody of The Taming of the Shrew. The kids in the youth programs of Commonwealth
Shakespeare Company and the Lyric Stage Company of Boston make it look simple and natural; not every
performance is worthy of an award, but this past summer the Commonwealth's Two Gentlemen of Verona had a
sly, saucy lady Speed and a spontaneous Julia. And the Lyric scored with its As You Like It and Richard III,
in which the kids playing Rosalind, Richard, and especially Queen Margaret put to shame much of what passes
for acting on this city's larger stages.
Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, (617) 747-4468; Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, (617) 437-7172.
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