The Taming of the Shrew

So, I saw a Gender Flipped version of this.

It bothered me just as much as the original.

Personally, I think the show works best when played entirely straight as Petrucchio meeting Kate's fire with fire and breaking her like a wild horse. Attempting to subvert it, or change the moral, just doesn't sit right.

I do think that the two are in love by the end (honestly, I think they were in love from their first meeting), but Petrucchio essentially starved and belittled Kate into accepting their marriage.

One of the great strengths of Shakespeare is that his work can be staged in a wide variety of ways. It's hard to know which way it was intended to be played, as even in Shakespeare's day I think it was a bit much to expect THAT level of submission from one's wife. Sadly, Tot S doesn't get staged much anymore, because it is so potentially problematic.

Always liked this one. It came off as "ass meets ass" to me, personally. Doesn't it have a bit in the first act that gives the impression that the main action is actually a play within a play?

edited 1st May '13 10:21:29 PM by Robbery

Yeah, but many productions eliminate the prologue on account of there being no official epilogue, although many people add on the (widely believed to be counterfeit) last scene from Taming of a Shrew where Sly tries to apply Petrucchio's methods on his wife, but to little avail.

I like 10 Things I Hate About You. They did change is so that he never tamed her like in the play because they must have know that a taming wasn't going to be accepted with a modern audience.

For alternate character interpretations there's an episode of Degrassi where they're supposed to preform a scene how ever that feel that it goes. The main characters of the episode make it dark by making Petruchio outright abusive.

In English class once, I saw the version with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor back to back with some BBC production with a set that appeared to have three rooms.

The BBC production was just boring. Every line was delivered with the same monotone and the fights were just pathetic. All I could think of was the actors going "enh, enh, enh" while trying to slapfight really slowly and delicately.

The Elizabeth Taylor version, on the other hand, was completely hilarious. The big fight, instead of the characters just wandering back and forth between two rooms or across the stage, had them chasing each other all the way through this enormous mansion, complete with a floor collapsing at one point.

10 Things wasn't bad.

Yeah, the play is kind of sexist, but it was really subversive for the time. I think it was supposed to be kind of awkward humor where the audience isn't really supposed to know how to react, and that actually works really well now. As long as you don't expect a centuries old play to be feminist.

edited 10th May '13 8:10:55 AM by Zendervai

One thing I find very interesting is that there is a contemporary (albeit several years later) Fan Sequel by John Fletcher called The Womans Prize Or, the Tamer Tamed, wherein Petruchio gets a taste of his own medicine.

It does suggest that the original wasn't taken completely seriously by the audience, given that the same audience was presumably receptive to Fletcher's play.

edited 10th May '13 3:32:43 PM by Hodor

Oh yeah, I remember an account of Shakespeare going to that Tamer Tamed play and enjoying it (or, at least laughing at it.), so maybe old Willy approved.

One of my favourite productions of this play actually made it incredibly romantic and funny (I'm personally a fan of the whole love-at-first-sight breaking-her-anger theory)and was set in Italy in the 50's. This was at Stratford (Ontario) in 1988. Anyway,Petruchio was absolutely floored by Kate when they first met, and he's depicted as being comparatively "gentle" to most typical Petruchios - he's breaking her defensive anger rather than her spirit and he loves her sharp wit, as shown later as they joke around with each other and confuse Vincentio on the road (the old man/young girl scene)and generally just dick around with their families who are too dim to get the joke. Kate's speech is both ironic (in terms of derided the obedience her society demands of wives) AND honest - her declarations of love to Petruchio are very sweet, and Petruchio is left almost speechless but clearly very touched by what she's done. Anyway, the show boasts an amazing supporting cast where eve the servant roles are memorable and highly amusing, and the sets and costumes are georgous. In terms of direction, my theory is that the director, Richard Monette, is a very romantic man, as just a year earlier her played one of the most adorable Benedicks I've ever had the pleasure of watching. It's on DVD for anyone who wants to watch, but I don't think it's online anywhere, you have to buy it from Canada (I rented it from my local library).

On another note, anyone seen the production with Marc Singer from Beast Master? It's all over Youtube and very, very funny. Or the Shakespeare Re Told version for that matter. OMIGOD Shirley Henderson rocked that...

edited 20th May '13 5:04:26 PM by sisi

So, in your version, Kate and Petruchio were more like Beatrice and Benedick?

That's an interesting take on it.

I think I'd like to see that.

The usual "modern" take I've seen of the story has Kate as too angry to let anyone in, and Pettruchio's success has as much to do with his refusal to fold as it does with the starvation and psychological warfare. Our current production, the dynamic which builds up to the last scene is that Petrucchio is able to parry her abuse, whether physical or conversational, and by the end, she's learned that direct assault just might be the wrong approach. ^_^ Of course, then she proceeds to trip him during the "here is my hand, may it do him ease" line, which I think helps restore the idea that the two are co-equal compared to Hortensio, who is cowed by his widow, or Luccentio, who is so in love with love that Bianca can do no wrong in his eyes.

Yeah, ATC, it did feel a lot like Much Ado, which is probably why it's my favourite adaptation. Funnily enough, the Kate and Petruchio here did actually go on to play Beatrice and Benedick just a few years later...

If you're interested, you can buy it for $30 off of the Festival website: http://store.stratfordfestival.ca/product.php?productid=1242. The Canadian Amazon has it too, though I'm not sure about the American one...

edited 21st May '13 1:50:16 PM by sisi

I just saw a Shakespeare-in-the-park adaptation of Taming that set the action in a modern and VERY Euro-trashy setting that handled the subject matter in a very interesting way, I thought. The director and designer both had a TON of fun with the text, turning Lucentio into Lucentia (there was a Britney/Madonna joke in there somewhere), among other things, and styling everything in tacky bright colours with equally tacky montage music for scene changes XD.

However, by far the most memorable aspect was their ending. Kate actually walks away altogether, something I've never seen done before. To explain, when Kate finds out about the bet, she's disgusted with Petruchio for treating her like garbage, it's basicaly the straw that breaks the camel's back. Her speech is VERY ironic and VERY angry, and she lays the on women-are-submissive false morality so heavy that Petruchio tries to stop her a few times. She then proceeds to shove the money (cheques here) in his face and walk off stage. He rips up the cheques and tries to call her back, but she continues on her way and he follows her.

My theory here is that Petruchio had no idea what he was doing. He was clearly shown to have fallen head over heels for Kate, but had no idea how to act around her or treat her. He was unsure of his taming on several occasions. He seemed to just be following what society expected of him, which in turn cost him Kate's respect.

Anywho, Just thought it was worth mentioning in our discussion of presenting the play to a modern audience...here's a link to a photo:

[1]◊

edited 22nd Jul '13 3:16:56 PM by sisi

We've lost so much of the social context that it's hard to make sense of the play. In Shakespeare's day most people at least knew about falconry and falconers, so Petruchio's explicatory lines about where he was borrowing his "shock therapy" from were understandable. Nowadays only a few specialists have any idea what he's going on about.

In sum, the process of "manning" a bird - that is, getting it to respond to you and you alone - involved keeping it hungry and staying awake with it until it either bonded with you, or didn't. (In the latter case it was generally allowed to fly away and return to the wild.) This took a very great deal out of the would-be falconer, even more than the bird!

It would seem that what Petruchio had in mind was bending Kate's spirit, not breaking it. He could have had his pick of rich heiresses and widows in Padua, but Kate was a challenge he could not resist. If he succeeded, he would have a rich and beautiful wife who could match him quip for quip, play along with his jokes and come up with some of her own, tell off anyone else, and be genuinely devoted to him.

For her part, Kate eventually realizes that she has met her match and more, that she should play along with him in order to get her own way - and that doing so is much more fun!

edited 24th Jul '13 7:30:02 PM by Maven

I haven't read the entirety of Taming of the Shrew, generally because I don't care much for romantic comedies, but my favorite Shakespeare is, by far, the Tempest. My school did a production this past year, and I played Caliban who is my favorite Shakespearean character evar(though I also like Iago).

And I now have a newfound respect for makeup artists, and a hatred for them. Scrubbing latex fish parts off my face for a week...

That describes almost exactly one of my favourite productions of Taming, actually. I already mentioned it above. It's the Stratford production from 1988. Basically it's word for word what you said. The whole second half of the play is her learning to let go of her anger and bitterness and learn the art of stealth mockery - she really has fun with it, and he clearly enjoys it too. I love that Kate retained her wit in this version,and that Petruchio loved the hell out of it, enough to need to stifle laughter when they were confusing Vincentio.

Oh I could write pages and pages on that production XD

When it's done as a romantic comedy, Taming is my second favourite play (after Much Ado About Nothing). The darker and more serious interpretations definitely have a lot of merit, but Katherine is one of my favourite characters (again, probably second after Beatrice from Much Ado), and as such I just find it hard to stomach more serious versions that have her completely broken. But that's just me.

By the by, has anyone had the pleasure of watching this on Youtube?

edited 28th Jul '13 8:25:10 AM by sisi

Kate's "taming" seems paper-thin to my eye & ear: she has finally learned to give Petruchio the dignity and courtesy of appearing to be in charge, and in return gets to actually BE in charge. Each gives the other a sort of fig leaf, and become free to be human towards each other where it counts.

When Petruchio finally exults in "awful rule, and right supremacy/And, to be short, what not that’s sweet and happy?", he implies (over the heads of his guests) that both he & Kate are henceforth free to enjoy their own ideas of "rule" and "supremacy" without scaring the horses. Not for them the passive-aggressive gamesmanship that, we see at last, waits in store for Lucentio & Bianca. By late Elizabethan standards, that's nearly as humane (and as slyly human) a view of marriage as one could find.

Love Taming of the Shrew, but even more I love Kiss Me Kate which is a show within a show musical version with the relationships outside the play mirroring (in a warped sort of way) the relationships of Petruchio/Katherine and Lucentio/Bianca

edited 30th Jul '13 1:34:56 PM by tricksterson

Hey, just thought I'd resurrect this thread.

I live within manageable travelling distance of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and am hotly inticipating next season's production of Shrew. Kate and Petruchio are being played by a married pair of actors who recently did a marvelous Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado.

How do you guys think that kind of dynamic will work in Shrew? I mean we've had married couples do do it before, but that was more about watching them fight on screen as well as off - Both Pickford/Fairbanks and Burton/Taylor did the play when their marriages were falling apart. Hell even Kiss Me Kate is based on the constant fighting of a real life couple (though in that case they always worked it out and stayed together for a long time). I feel like the approach with this production will be different - the theme of the season is discovery, so they're definitely not doing the play straight forward, thankfully.

Anyone else have thoughts?

Hmm. Not a fan of theatre. Sorry.

I loved the John Wayne version of this play more than any straight version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLintock! for a brief outline.

Yeah...I never swallowed that a spanking suddenly got the women all hot and bothered. That's sort of missing the point of Shrew anyway, especially considering Petruchio never actually raises a hand to Kate physically.

Though there is a theory floating around (especially in this post 50 Shades world) that the taming is some sort of submissive bondage training for Kate. Again, not sure I buy it, but mostly because it contradicts the implications in the dialogue that Petruchio rather enjoys Kate's temper and tongue. A Petruchio who doesn't actively enjoy himself during the wooing scene is doing it wrong IMO. If he likes trading barbs with Kate, why would he want to turn her into some Elizabethan sex submissive. It's the fight he likes, not the winning.

Though I guess it's all subjective.

Anyway, video:

edited 10th Dec '14 11:35:56 AM by Sisi

With the second point, I'd say sort of- the play has this extended metaphor about falconry and Petruchio training Katherine along those lines. Someone noted (here?) how falcons are obedient... but only to the falconer- which would kind of bear out the more positive interpretations of the play's message.

Something interesting I read recently- a translation by Donald Beecher of this Italian Renaissance story collection, The Pleasant Nights. One of the stories is a source for Shrew and Beecher goes into the evolution of the story/Shakespeare's being Fair for Its Day.

Basically, the earlier versions had wife beating and were often tied with the husband killing an animal that was disobedient as an Implied Death Threat. Later versions nixed the wife beating but still had the animal killing. Shrew subverts this a while Petruchio pretends to be crazy, he's not Ax-Crazy (seriously, who was ok with the message that you can make your wife obedient if you act like a murderous psychopath?) and his "taming" is under the premise of solitiousness.

Edit- Regarding your earlier post, I was reminded of how while not a real life couple, Daniel Tennant and Catherine Tate starred in a production of Much Ado About Nothing- a Casting Gag due to their bickering characters in Doctor Who.

edited 10th Dec '14 11:16:51 AM by Hodor

lol That was great production too. If I had any quibble, it's that Tennant and Tate's chemistry veered a little closer to friendship than romance at times, but damn if they weren't adorable together.

As I said, I fascinated to see how they do the play on stage next year. Among other things is the question of whether it not they'll have some kind of induction. The last time they produced the play, they had the full induction, except for exchanging the lord with Elizabeth I, who later stepped in to play the widow...for some reason.