This is the twenty-first in a series of Q&A Profiles of London area theatre companies and groups. Today, we profile Shrew’d Business.
Q. When was your company founded? By whom and why?
We founded Shrew’d Business in 1998. Brian “Brock” Brockenshire and I were the Artistic Directors of the original Renaissance Festival in Ontario. That year, we were thinking of ways that we could use our skills outside of our regular theatre commitments and possibly develop some workshops/performances. We edited down Taming of the Shrew to be only Kate and Petruchio, and we performed that at the Renaissance Festival each weekend. We also performed it at the Parent Festival in Maryland later that summer. From that, we took the name to become Shrew’d Business.
(Pictured: Ceris Thomas, co-founder of Shrew’d Business.)
Q. Is your company best described as professional or not-for-profit community theatre? Or both?
We can fit in either category. We do a large amount of work in the community theatre scene and in high school in and around London, but since Brock is an Equity member, he has also done work with professional companies. Specifically, he has done nineteen shows for the Lighthouse Festival. Usually, one a season, depending upon pandemic influences, and it is due to them that we have a naval cannon in our home that we can fire for the trick-or-treaters on Hallowe’en.
Q. What venue(s) do you use to stage your productions?
We have staged two Fringe productions, The Fantasticks and [They Fight!]. These were both in the Spriet Theatre in the Covent Market Building. We also staged The Seafarer at TAP in 2016. We plan to remount that show in 2026.
(Pictured: Brian “Brock” Brockenshire, co-founder of Shrew’d Business.)
Q. Does your company have a Mission or Statement of Purpose?
We provide quality training for violence on stage. We do more than just violence of course, but that is our main focus. We have been instrumental in several exciting productions for Londo Community Players, Original Kids Theatre Company and Musical Theatre Productions, as well as multiple productions in high schools, and smaller community groups. We rent equipment and have accessed specialty items for specific shows. We are licensed pyrotechnicians, so we have helped shows like You Can’t Take it With You to blow up things on stage.
Q. Does your company have a Board of Directors and paid Staff?
We only have four company members, so we do not require a Board. Our members are paid for many productions, as violence is not something you should leave to the untrained. Depending upon the budget of the show, we can usually come up with a reasonable fee. It is more important to us that a show be safe than incredibly lucrative.
Q. Tell me about your 2025-2026 Season. Does it have any underlying theme?
We don’t have any specific productions for our company this year, but we are helping with Deathtrap, Urinetown, Misery, and The Three Musketeers for other companies.
(Pictured: Apprentice Fight Director Kerry Hishon.)
Q. Do you have any thoughts about the London area theatre community and your part in it?
We moved to London from Toronto in 2005. The intention was for Shrew’d Business to be able to help a variety of productions and members of shows grow in their experience and training for dangerous stage movement. Even in professional theatre we have witnessed real slaps on stage, and this should never happen. The safety of performers and the comfort of the whole team and audience are paramount in our work.
Since I have a love of puppets, we have also been charged with building some interesting creations that have been used on a bunch of stages in and around London. Helping a show be the best possible version is always our goal. There are very few cases where we have said “no” to a team. This has only happened when the timeline was too short, the expectations were too high, or the team was deluded about their thoughts for their show. We’d always prefer to be helpful, but there just are sometimes when you know you can’t have your name associated with something, and safety is that line in the sand.
We’ve been working in London theatre for twenty years and many more years before that elsewhere. At some point, we will need to slow down and eventually stop because staging this specialized kind of work is very draining and becomes physically impossible as the body ages. Hopefully, when that time comes, London companies will realize that they will have to either choose shows without violence or hire them elsewhere to keep their productions safe.
(Apprentice Fight Director, Dustin Didham.)
For more information about Shrew’d Business, visit https://www.shrewdbusiness.com/
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The Beat Magazine 2025 