I would like to get your thoughts and opinions on Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew.?

Question

What do you think of this play. (Please, only repsond if you have actually read, or at least seen, the play. )

Answer 1

It's one of my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies, and I've done it four times, playing Kate twice (one time was one of those Wild West verisions, and it does work surprisingly well).

I've never taken issue with the abuse of Kate or the anti-feminist speech at the end, and I suppose it's because I never really took a strong interest in the play before performing in it, so I've always looked at it from Kate's and an actor's point of view - and I think the ending works because she and Petruchio love each other, and in that speech he's giving her a chance to be the ideal woman that she's never been able to be in the eyes of the rest of the community. Petruchio's taming of her earlier in the play doesn't ask her to become a slave or isn't to break her spirit - he only ever asks her to be nice/polite/civilized. He refuses to feed her unless she says thank you for the food. He doesn't let her sleep until she stops attacking him. Etc. The wooing scene in the first act sets up very clearly that he loves her spirit, finds her attractive, etc. And his speech to her in the tailor scene in act 4 ("is the jay more precious than the lark") let her know he loves her for her mind.

Making the discovery why Kate is a shrew was the interesting part of the role for me. I think it's clearly explored, although if you aren't listening, you could miss it. I think it's all jealousy of her sister being the favorite, and she says it to her father several times ("she is your treasure"). She's acting out because she's jealous. She's been overlooked in favor of her sister who fits the men's idea of what a woman should be, and instead becomes the opposite in order to avoid the rejection.

The final speech gives her a chance to one up her sister. I don't think that Kate or Petruchio necessarily believe strongly that a wife should submit to her husband on all things, but the rest of their community does believe that, and it's her first opportunity to show them all who the real shrew is - Bianca.

When I did the show, at the last moment of the speech, when I (as Kate) went to put my hand under Petruchio's foot, he caught my hand and pulled me to my feet to say "there's a wench." He didn't want a wife who lets her hand be walked on, he wanted a wife who would be WILLING to let her hand be walked on. There's a difference.

I think it's a fun play, there's a lot to think about, especially as our age thinks so differently about the role of women, and some of the verse is wonderful. The "jay more precious than the lark" and Kate's speech to her father after she's slapped Bianca always make me cry. The wooing scene, when done well, is Shakespeare at his best, and completely parallels the Richard III/Lady Anne wooing scene.

I could talk about Shrew all day, but I'll give everyone a break!

Answer 2

"Shrew" is probably the Shakespearean play that most modern directors are AFRAID of...the other is "The Merchant of Venice."

Lots of people want to load these plays with their own petty personal agendas. I've actually seen productions of "Shrew" in which Kate was portrayed as a victim of the most vicious kind of spousal abuse (complete with blood, shiners, bruises...you name it). This has nothing whatsoever to do with what Shakespeare wrote. There's simply no context in Shakespeare's dramaturgy for such a reading.

This is a comedy, and, when it succeeds, it succeeds as a comedy. Question #1: IS Kate a "shrew"? Well, yeah; she is. However (and this is critical to a lucid reading of the play) she has every reason to be. Her bubble-brained sister, Bianca, is the one that all the guys want, and, until Kate is married off, none of the suitors are permitted to get near Bianca. If Kate has become shrewish, that's why.

Enter Petruchio. He claims that he's only in it for the money, but, if this play is going to work, it has to be made 100% clear that there is HUGE chemistry between these two right off the bat.

Here's the key that unlocks the play: Petruchio "gets" Kate right away. He sees her for what she is, and he understands how she got that way. In order for them to be a match he needs to shock her out of a mode of behavior that is clearly not serving her. And he manages this by holding up a mirror: himself. He starts to act as outlandishly around her as SHE has been acting herself.

She resists him, of course. She's used to being an "army of one," and to having her own way. But FINALLY -- in the "sun and the moon" scene -- she GETS it. She realizes that, for the first time in her life, she has the opportunity to have a PARTNER, and, for the rest of the play, she and Petruchio have a laugh at everyone ELSE's expense!

At the end of this play, three just-married couples are onstage: Petruchio and Kate, Bianca and Lucentio, and the Widow and Hortensio. In a great stroke of dramatic irony, Shakespeare let's us understand that only ONE of those couples is headed to a happy wedding bed...and it's the one you least expected.

Answer 3

It can be very entertaining and funny, but there are some problems with today's sensibilities. The treatment of Kate to "tame her" would be considered abusive by today's standards, and her final speech in which she basically says to all women to give into their lords and masters, is a little dated. I have seen it played somewhat tongue in cheek which does take the edge off the somewhat dated ideas, but it doesn't completely play that way.
That all being said I still find the play incredibly fun, it is one of my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies.
It is also one of the plays most pointed at as a "not written by Shakespeare" because it does not really fit in with the other comedies, it is not as formulaic as the rest. I am on the record as saying that I think Will wrote his own plays, get over it, but just wanted to mention that.

Answer 4

I just saw a production in Boston. It was performed outside on the common.
The cast was excellent and the performance was high on energy and humor.
Like many Shakespearean plays TOS is dated in it's treatment of women. I'm not really sure that many women of anytime would agree with the outcome. Kate goes from being an over the top crazy women to a soft compliant mouse in record time. There is no exploration of her characters motivation for being a shrew and no insight given as to her personal reasons for becoming compliant. I think a modern version of this story would take the time to explore the inner workings of the minds of each character.

Answer 5

It relies upon on the translation of the director and the team. and additionally the persons temper, difficulty, way of existence and information between the objective industry, is substantial. in between the productions I had seen; on the top scene, whilst Kate got here and forwarded her hands against her husband, we observed blood dropping from her wrists. it incredibly is, she grow to be neither "tamed", nor pretending to be tamed yet could no longer arise with the money for a this variety of existence which her husband is only too plenty dominant...In theater there isn't any this variety of effect which includes constantly the comparable which means... In each new production it relatively is replaced...

Answer 6

I first read it when we staged it in high-school. It's funny, entertaining, but I didn't consider it a great play. It has almost all the elements of the average Renaissance comedies but I didn't feel it powerfull enough.
The staging I saw later was conservative, almost boring, the type of performance Brook would call "deadly theater".

My view somewhat changed this spring, when I went for a theater workshop to Padova.This was the play we woked with. It was an amazing experience. I worked together with a small group of students from different points of Europe under the guidance of a young director from Columbia. This mixture of personalities, backgrounds and the approach we adopted made me reconsider my former thoughts about the play. It made me recognize its richness, and the possibilities it offers.
It's still not my favorite, but it means a lot for me.

Answer 7

The last production I saw of TOTS set it in the American wild west of the late 1800s, while retaining the Elizabethan dialog. Very interesting take on an old tale.