BWW Interviews: Melody Mennite Talks Making Sense of the Senseless Kate in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

In a review released earlier this week, I said that Houston Ballet's TAMING OF THE SHREW production "plays like a scene from a [Charlie] Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy short... The characters are outrageously funny. And somehow, by the end, and many, many years after, you are left with the indelible image of Laurel tripping Hardy, the tramp eating his shoe, and Katherina kicking Bianca's suitor in the butt."

Before I saw that momentous butt kick delivered in person - by Jessica Collado, who performed the night I attended - I talked with Melody Mennite, who portrays Katherina in Houston Ballet's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW as well. Like Collado, she was given the responsibility of bringing emotional content to senseless violence and etching butt kicking into your memory. As you'll see in our discussion, she worked very hard before she delivered.

Melody, I feel like there's a feistiness I see in you in pictures. Am I just imagining things based on a picture? [Laughs]

It depends on who you ask, I guess. [Both Laugh] I think that I have a pretty strong personality. I'm fairly gentle and patient, surprisingly, at home. Most of the time, I think, my private life is my calmest place. I would say I am strong-willed. You're right in observing that.

You're partnering with Connor Walsh again. He's your Petruchio, but he seems so likeable as a person. Does that make it difficult when you have to flip him in your fairly antagonistic relationship with Petruchio?

Oh no, not at all. Connor and I go way back, so there are feelings that make me want to flip him as well! [Laughs] No, I don't want to hurt him ever. We have fun with this role. I think Connor's the perfect partner for me to have because we kind of feel like we can do anything together, even something [that] is weird and uncomfortable. I feel comfortable with him.

Arts & Culture's Nancy Wozny says you have a way of fully inhabiting your characters. What have you done to fully inhabit Katherina?

There's a part of my brain that is extraordinarily analytical, and I like to be very, very sure about certain aspects of what I'm going to do in dance and, I guess, in life. I also have another side that needs extreme spontaneity, freedom, and almost a wildness. That's what I need when I get on stage to be in the character and to totally inhabit it.

I did a lot of thinking about what I walked away with from the first time we did it. A lot of that has to do with the technology we have now - video recordings of our performances and recordings of other performances. I and other people in ballet are able to go back and say: here is what it was. What can we do this time? How can we make it better?

I just went through thinking, "I didn't fully understand that," or "I didn't fully understand my motivation there," or "I ran out of steam there." Then I said, "This is what I wish my Katherina would look like. How can I get there?"

I went back and I read the play again. It's actually not that long. I forgot how short it was. I read it all in one morning. That really helped me too. That refresher of what the dialogue actually is really helped me in certain scenes.

There's a scene where Kate is just beating Bianca senseless in the ballet. [We Laugh] I remember really struggling with that last time, being like, "Oh, gosh! How can I be so angry? I can't just be angry at her the whole time and just have one thought." Even though it's a high energy point, it felt really flat. That's something I wanted to improve. So when I went back and read the play this time, I wanted to make sure I played close attention to that scene. [Afterwards], I thought, "Oh, gosh! That is perfect, and makes so much sense!" And I was able to transfer that over to what we do in the scene in the ballet.

Were you inspired by any other dancers?

The original Katherina, Marcia Haydée, with the Stuttgart Ballet. If you look her up, type her name into Google, several pictures will pop up. But it won't pop up video because it was so long ago. You have to really dig for that. But Louise [Lester], one of our ballet mistresses, was around in that era. She danced in Germany as well. She had a video, so I borrowed it and we watched it. [Haydée's] physicality, no one can match it. It was created on her, and it all makes sense. I definitely, definitely looked to her and [was] so happy I got to see the video of her and study it, because she's perfect in the role.

I'd seen a few clips, but when I saw her interpretation, I only wanted to watch her for anything. It just seemed like no one could look like her in [the role]. And I didn't want to get a copy of a copy in my head, so if I was struggling with a step, I would just watch her. [Laughs]

Were you inspired by any other productions of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, like Elizabeth Taylor's version?

[Laughs] I love her in that role. I was talking to Connor [Wash] about this. (That's the other thing about creating characters. A lot of partners, especially those you've worked with a long time, we'll sit and we'll talk about scenes together and what you're thinking and what you're doing. Then sort of challenge each other's decisions, "I don't really think that that's working!" [Laughs]) We were talking about that movie. I was so glad that I watched that movie. That was the last thing I did before we performed it last time. I'd seen some of the other films, but it was the last movie I watched and we were on the stage a few days later. I was like, "I have to make my Katherina sexy!" [Laughs] Elizabeth Taylor as wild as she was, she's gorgeous and so sexy in that role! I thought, "Duh, that's got to be one reason that Petruchio actually [goes], "OK, she's crazy, but she's hot. This is going to be OK." [Both Laugh] I think that's an important part of it, and it's not a part that I had thought of until I saw that movie. It helps me feel better about my characterization. It also helps me not feel like someone straight out of an asylum and nothing else. [Laughs]

For more about Melody Mennite, please see the video Meet the Artist: Principal Melody Mennite or click here for Mennite's dance biography.