Female Trouble Rhodes and the U of M tell (gender) war stories. by CHRIS DAVIS There must be some plot, some conspiracy going on among all the academics in town. Last year Rhodes and the University of Memphis simultaneously staged Extremities and Death and the Maiden, two easily accessible, infinitely comparable meditations on the issue of rape. A socially conscious repertory company could not have chosen better pieces to juxtapose. Now these two very different theater programs have gone off and done it again — only instead of rape, the issue this time around is relationships. Nobody should see Rhodes’ troubled Escape from Happiness without also checking out the U of M’s just-shy-of-inspired take on Taming of the Shrew. These two darkish comedies fit together like heads and tails, reminding us just how long the battle of the sexes has been going on while throwing a parade for all of the shell-shocked veterans. Hail the Conquering Hero I’m no purist when it comes to Shakespeare. Hell, Shakespeare was no purist when it came to his own archaic source materials, so why should we treat his work any differently? Respect his meter and his meanings; follow his direction to “suit the action to the word,” but otherwise have at it. Cut him to pieces, carefully alter a word here and there, do what you will to ease the heavy linguistic burden placed on an audience accustomed to a steady diet of Mad About You reruns. Whatever you do to Shakespeare, do it for a reason better than, “Wouldn’t it be cool if … ” To successfully update the Bard, a director has to consider much more than costumes and set design. By putting the cocky Petruchio in a soldier’s uniform (he is a soldier, you know) and plopping Taming of the Shrew down in the middle of post WWII New Jersey, director Douglas Koertge has done a great service to an enduring, if lately reviled, piece of literature. Each member of Shrew’s all-student cast has paid a great deal of attention to his or her character work, and with the blend of standard-American and Italian-immigrant dialects, the whole thing has the giddy feel of a Preston Sturgess film. As the embattled newlyweds Petruchio and Kate, Nick Dobbins and Jenny Hollingsworth work well together. Their famous wooing scene does at points begin to resemble an attempted rape, however, and that is unfortunate. Though the scene is physical and sexually charged, if at any time it appears that Petruchio is actually seeking to dominate his would-be bride, things would turn ugly. Special praise must be doled out to the huge supporting cast who make all of the subplots extremely entertaining and to Susan Chrietzberg for her energetic choreography. The opening dumb-show, which leads into a frenzied swing-dancing number, goes on way too long, but the second act’s topper, a sly “dancin’ with m’pants” ode to the swingtime animations of Max Fleischer, is almost too good to be true. Taming of the Shrew runs through March 16th at the University of Memphis. Girl Cop, Boy Cop All of the Petruchios of the world have been violently taming their shrews for a millennium. Suddenly (inexplicably?) in the latter half of the 20th century the guilt sets in and the collective male mind becomes excessively troubled as the battle-weary women fight back. What is a man to do? Well, pretend to be a pitiful soup-eating invalid of course. At least that’s what I get from George F. Walker’s daring play Escape From Happiness. The undeniably funny, if sometimes self-important script, suffers from heavy-handed symbolism (“We used to be witches/I am at a crossroads”); still, it all hangs together offering many dark and delicious possibilities. Director Leigh Ann Evans is to be commended for keeping all of EFH’s disparate elements (kitchen-sink drama/absurdist comedy/corrupt cops) working together on the same stage. She should also be scolded (but just a bit) for allowing her actors to gaze out at the crowd and “emote” when the script has afforded the characters any number of actions they could be performing. The play gets off to a shaky start, but the actors loosen up quickly enough and grow with their roles. This wordy script is so daunting that each of the student performers must be praised for their work, even if occasionally they come up short. Elizabeth Watt delivers a mature, thoroughly committed performance as the eldest of three sisters: a violent, success-driven apple fallen a bit too near the tree. Outrage and comedy are uneasy mates, but Watt has found the balance. Josh Welter and Jonathan Harder also do a fine job as a bumbling (Raising Arizonaish) pair of crooks, but it is Erin Cook, as the middle daughter, who steals the show. Her complete, non-judgmental portrait of “a work in progress” is (aptly) annoying as hell, and oddly inspirational. In the end, the unique script is perhaps too ambitious for its own good. It not only seeks to address all of the world’s problems, but also to solve them — and it can’t. In spite of all its indirect jabs at “daytime TV sisterhood,” in the end Escape From Happiness winds up sounding a little too much like “the world according to Oprah.” Escape From Happiness runs through February 27th at Rhodes College. You can e-mail Chris Davis at davis@memphisflyer.com.