Luke Eddy as Petruchio with Traicie Thomason as Kate. Photo by Cody DutyRowdiest of all of Shakespeare’s great comedies, feistiest of all his battle-of-the-sexes showdowns, The Taming of the Shrew gets an appropriately rollicking treatment in the Houston Shakespeare Festival’s enthusiastically enacted and brightly paced production.

Luke Eddy’s indefatigably determined Petruchio and Tracie Thomason’s monumentally tempestuous Kate make about as personable, spirited and well-matched a pair of romantic adversaries as one might imagine. With this dynamic duo anchoring an agreeable company, director Jack Young’s resourceful and well-balanced staging unleashes the play’s torrents of fun without neglecting the spark of genuine attraction that drives Shakespeare’s ever-battling yet fated-to-be-mated lovebirds.

In the play’s merry construct, all roads of courtship lead to the household of Baptista. Rival suitors Lucentio, Hortensio and Grumio vie for Baptista’s winsome younger daughter Bianca. But Baptista will not allow Bianca to wed until he marries off elder sister Kate, the man-hating virago who scares everyone away with her volcanic temper.

Bianca’s suitors enlist swaggering opportunist Petruchio, who is initially intrigued by the prospect of Kate’s dowry — and apparently loves a good challenge. Yet upon meeting Kate, Petruchio is so impressed by her fire that he decides he wants her even more than he wants the material goods her father will bestow.

For the key scene of Petruchio and Kate’s meeting, Young has the extras who dress the stage dash out with four posts and ropes, assembling a boxing ring in which the opponents play out their first encounter. A few scenes later, Baptista quizzes Bianca’s suitors in the format of a game show. Such sequences typify the inventive touches with which Young freshens the familiar script — embellishments that are fun in themselves, but also appropriate to the content.

Eddy exudes breezy confidence as Petruchio, admirable for his unflappable perseverance. He’s wily, genial and unflaggingly upbeat — a bit of a braggart, sure, but never overbearing.

Thomason makes a formidable Kate, with cyclonic energy and fiery passions, impatient with having things any way but her own. As Kate finally changes her tactics in the home stretch, Thomason plays it with an edge of sly irony, playing along with Petruchio, but out of her own choice.

Eddy and Thomason remind us why Petruchio and Kate are great characters and why audiences for four centuries have wanted them to get together. For all their faults, they earn our appreciation with their personal vibrance and defiant individuality.

Though the lead couple are the main event in any Shrew, the somewhat convoluted subsidiary business of sorting out Bianca’s suitors and their various disguises in this case is fairly enjoyable as well.

Amelia Hammond enacts a pertly fetching Bianca. Grant Davis is amiably lovestruck as Lucentio, with Jon L. Egging his resourceful servant Tranio. Matt Benson and Leraldo Anzaldua amuse as the ineffectual suitors, Hortensio and Grumio.

Paul Hope scores comic points with every opportunity as the exasperated Baptista, timing his wry retorts and deadpan glares to perfection. Connoisseurs of comic business and the oldest staples of shtick will relish the spectacular “spit take” he does at one point to register utter amazement.

Kevin Rigdon’s production design and Paige A. Willson’s casual-look costumes are neat and serviceable.

In this Taming of the Shrew, the cast and the comedy are the thing, and the results seem ideal for a Shakespearean comedy. The participants deliver the play as an explosion of wall-to-wall fun that also says something timeless and true about human relationships.

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
8:30 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Miller Outdoor Theatre
Tickets: Free reserved seat tickets available at the Miller box office 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on day of performance; no tickets needed for hillside seating;

Alternate play: The final performances of Othello will be at 8:30 p.m. Thursday and Saturday.