It’s easy to skewer America’s partisan politics, and that’s what playwright Lauren Gunderson does in the farcical but frustrating “The Taming.” If you’re thinking the title sounds a bit Shakespearean, you’re right, though the connections with Will are tenuous at best.
The show opens with a glittery, very blonde Miss America contestant from Georgia named Katherine (Kylie Young) doing her damnedest to win the title by talking forever and then singing “America the Beautiful.”
When they finally get her off the stage, the next scene starts with the rolling down of a double-sized rollaway hotel bed, where we find two women sans phones or pants, wondering how they got there. These are Patricia (Katee Drysdale), aide to a Republican senator and determined to get his jobs bill passed, and liberal activist Bianca (Sutheshna Mani) who wants to stop the bill because it will threaten the environment of a particular species of rodent shrew.
That’s the setup for this show that premiered in 2013. Sounds like farce, right? Well, a lot of it is farcical, but Gunderson plays her comedy less by cleverness than by withholding bits of information, making the reveal the source of the giggles.
There are intimations of romantic interest along with the expected political arguments between liberal Bianca and conservative Patricia that sometimes sound too familiar to be funny, at this stage of the so-called American democracy. Oops, did I fall into the trap myself? Maybe.
You may do that a time or two yourself, but never mind. Don’t look for logic or a consistent through line. Just relax, appreciate the fine tech work done by set designer Alyssa Kane, costumes by Pam Stompoly-Ericson (especially Katherine’s glittery Miss America contestant togs), lighting and sound by Winston G. Limauge and FJ Fucella, respectively.
And get ready for the much more interesting beginning of the second act, which takes us back to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where the ladies get to play the Fathers of the Country. Patricia plays James Madison, Katherine is George Washington and (getting right down to that major issue, slavery) Bianca plays South Carolina’s Governor Charles Pinckney, who was willing to abolish the slave trade but opposed emancipation. Thanks to our quick-change artist cast, we also get to meet Dolly Madison and Martha Washington. This section is by far the most interesting.
But finally, we return to the present to learn that our beauty queen Katherine also happens to have a degree in constitutional law, and the original ladies close the show talking about the possibility of working together to make this “the country the founders wanted.”
Kudos to the fine cast and to the production staff, which make this problematic play bearable, often funny and sometimes even fascinating.
The details
“The Taming” plays through May 1, 2022 at Scripps Ranch Theatre on the Alliant University campus, 10755 Scripps Poway Parkway.
Shows Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets: (858) 395-0573
COVID policy: Must show proof of vaccination or a negative test within the past 72 hours. Must wear masks inside theater.
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