Review: Paradox Player's THE TAMING Soothes The Battered Political Soul

Is it just me or is the Austin theatre scene busy celebrating women for the 2016-2017 season? There was Austin Playhouse's season opener Lauren Gunderson's SILENT SKY, the City Theatre is currently presenting THREE TALL WOMEN, En Route recently closed Sarah Ruhl's DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE, MAMMA MIA rolled into town for a farewell tour, and Salvage Vanguard gave us THR3E SISTERS again. Paradox Players contribution to the fray is yet another Lauren Gunderson play, THE TAMING. As with DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE and SILENT SKY, it's always a plus for this reviewer when I am treated to a show written by, directed by and starring strong women.

THE TAMING gets its name from, you guessed it, Shakespeare's TAMING OF THE SHREW. A three woman show, Gunderson names her strong and intelligent characters Katherine, Patricia and Bianca, and then she does a mashup of two worlds that are mostly dominated by the ideals of men: politics and beauty pageants. Kate (Hannah Burkhauser) is a frustrated beauty queen. Bianca (Ava L'Amoreaux) is a bleeding heart liberal blogger, and Republican Patricia (Mindy Rast-Keenan) is an aide to a philandering, impulsive, incompetent Senator. Patricia is the fairly bellicose, overworked brains behind the man, Bianca an intellectual millennial with a more than passing understanding of social media and a built in audience for her cause, and Katherine is a beautiful beauty pageant contestant who just wants to be appreciated for her brains. They've all convened at a beauty pageant where, in a desperate passion to rewrite the Constitution in a way that would make some sense, Katherine has essentially kidnapped Patricia and Bianca. In Act I Bianca and Patricia wake up in a drugged stupor, only to find they'll have to work together to either get out of the hotel room Katherine has trapped them in, or work together to rewrite the Constitution in a day. In the second act we're treated to some of the unsavory but not unknown aspects of why the Constitution is the way it is, as the women dream they are the founding fathers in the flesh - and they're tasked with writing our country's founding document. Slavery, the electoral college, and a few other divisive topics come into play and are handled with a light touch. I won't spoil the ending, but it works out nicely for everyone, no matter your political proclivities.

If Neil Simon took on politics, THE TAMING might be what he'd come up with. There are plenty of light hearted zingers, the characters are fleshed out, clear and identifiable, the story is satisfyingly resolved and everyone learns something about themselves and others in the end. I've also just described the formula for most successful sit-coms, and that, to some extent, is what THE TAMING is. It bites a little harder than most, and could be called a satire. It's farcical, but not entirely, but it's definitely a situational comedy.

Burkhauser, L'Amoreau and Rast-Keenan are all solid, sturdy, and talented - capable of delivering schtick when it's called for and pathos if needed. However, the show moves at rather a breakneck pace that affords little restraint or variety in which these talented actors can languish. All three race skillfully to the end. Trouble is, the pace left me leaving the show feeling a little exhausted from all the shouting. Some of the fun got lost for those of us in the back, as a few laugh lines couldn't be understood and certain dimensions of these characters went unseen in a sacrifice to pacing and laughs. Admittedly, it is tricky to strike this kind of balance with a show like THE TAMING. A few performances in front of an audience and such things sometimes shake themselves out. I attended on opening night and this seemed to hardly bother most of the audience, who were happy to cheer on such ideas as abolishing the electoral college and term limits for Supreme Court justices.

The production values for THE TAMING are pretty straightforward, though I did wish the hallway outside the set proper could have been finished out. That said, the preshow and intermission short films ala Alamo Draft House included History Rap Battles and Schoolhouse Rock. This was a wonderful bonus.

Despite its flaws, this production of THE TAMING is noteworthy for its talented cast and timely subject matter. It is balm to the battered political soul after an election year of the country being hammered so personally no matter the party affiliation. And its ending is satisfying, if not bittersweet, for some.

THE TAMING

by Lauren Gunderson

Produced by the Paradox Players

Howson Hall Theatre in The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin

4700 Grover

Runs February 10th through 26th

Tickets at http://paradoxplayers.org/events/

Runtime: 90 minutes with a fifteen minute intermission

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