IN November, 2009, Derby Live resurrected home grown professional theatre at the former Playhouse with the prison musical The Pros, The Cons and a Screw.

Now, 27 months later, it is staging its last professional production at Derby Theatre before its contract ends. There will be a co-production at the Guildhall and, finally, a youth theatre show in April but there is still a sense that The Taming of the Shrew marks the end of an era.

That feeling is amplified by the future of homegrown fully professional productions still being in doubt, with no funding as yet secured by Derby Theatre.

As it is Derby Live's last hurrah, it's fitting that we have a show that demonstrates all its strengths.

The Taming of the Shrew is a design triumph, with especially effective use of video back projection.

The show also features a home-grown talent in a leading role – former Youth Theatre member Lizzie Winkler as the willful Katherina, the "shrew" of the title. Which shows again that Derby Live's championing of local talent has been a clear strength and benefit.

The show is well-cast throughout, with familiar faces from previous Derby Live successes, including one of the stand-out performers from the last three years, Sean O'Callaghan, returning to play Petruchio, the husband who bends Katherina to his will.

With everyone clearly working from the same hymn sheet, there's a strong cohesive feel to this production, which also comes with the clarity that you would expect from a slice of Shakespeare directed by Derby Live's artistic producer Pete Meakin.

This Shrew is set in Victorian times, with the smoke and chimneys of the industrial revolution and the resulting economic slavery of the working classes proving an appropriate frame for a story of a woman who is brutalised into submission, by a suitor well-paid for the task. And brutalised Kate is in this harsh, often stark interpretation of a play that highlights oppression more than the comedy courting of the winsome sister Bianca (Perdita Avery). Indeed, ultimately we see Bianca's conformity in a new, less easy light.

An intelligent, provocative production made in Derby for Derby. Make the most of it for, who knows when again we will see its like.

The Taming of the Shrew can be seen at Derby Theatre until February 25. Tickets £8-£24. Box office 01332 255800.