‘Taming of the Shrew’ has modern mix

A subplot tied to the story is that of Katherina’s younger, beautiful sister Bianca and her suitors. But Bianca can’t accept suitors until Katherina marries.

In the Aquila Theatre Company’s production of the comedy, which will be staged March 3 at Popejoy Hall, Aaron McDaniel portrays Gremio, one of Bianca’s suitors.

	If you go WHAT: “The Taming of the Shrew” WHEN: 3 p.m. March 3 WHERE: Popejoy Hall, UNM Center for the Arts HOW MUCH: $20, $29 and $39 in advance at tickets offices in the UNM Bookstore and the Pit, at select area Albertsons supermarkets, at www.unmtickets.com, by calling 925-5858 or toll-free 877-664-8661 or at the door

“I play him as a buffoon. He’s a goofy-looking old man … He’s in a wheelchair and he’s chasing after this young girl,” McDaniel said.

“I luckily get to play a cranky, sexually perverse character. He’s more amorous than he is in love, more on Viagra than on endorphins.”

He said the touring production is set in post-World War II Italy. Many of the men wear suits and ties in bright colors. Gremio’s clothes are ill-fitting; he’s an old man in a young guy’s outfit.

Some of the costumes don’t always fit the play’s period of the late 1940s, early ‘50s. For example, McDaniel said, Petruchio can be wearing leather biker pants and a tight shirt and in another scene he’s got on a troll-doll wig.

“It’s a fantastic amalgamation. It puts you in a bunch of different periods,” he said.

“Katherina’s wedding dress is beautiful, long, with a satin-like finish. It looks more modern than the rest of our play.”

In Aquila’s productions the seven cast members must play multiple characters. Besides Gremio, McDaniel handles the merged lesser roles of the Haberdasher and the Tailor. The role-changing can mean lightning-fast costume changes.

“It’s almost a little more calm being on stage than off. Off-stage you throw off one costume and put on another. It’s almost like a mini marathon,” he said.

The company is doing “The Taming of the Shrew” in repertory with “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Shifting from one play to the next has its challenges of keeping lines and characters straight.

“We may do a week of Cyranos and suddenly switch back to ‘Taming of the Shrew,’” McDaniel said.

This is his second consecutive season touring with Aquila. Last season the company did “Macbeth” and “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

McDaniel graduated two years ago from the theater arts program at State University of New York at Purchase. Right out of college, he got a chance to work as a stage fight assistant for the Broadway show “Newsies.”