#Classic Taming of the Shrew
- Film: Taming of the Shrew (1967) – awful
- Film: The Dresser (1983) – brilliant
- RSC: production Taming of the Shrew (2019) – below average
- Ballet de Monte Carlo: Taming of the Shrew (2017) – very good…better than I expected!
- Shakespeare’s Globe: Taming of the Shrew (2012) – excellent!
- Reading and watching time: 1 week
Finish date: 17.12.2025
Genre: play
Rating: C. …depends on what you watch/read!
#Classic
Good News: Suprise!! I was already to watch the play…had an idea of the actors but RSC in 2019 has produced a gender-swapped production of Shakespeare’s fierce, energetic comedy! It is now Bianco …not Bianca!
Bad News: This gender-swapping was version by the Royal Shakespeare Company (2019) was not good for me as a first time reader of the play. I was so immersed in the narrative, had all the players in place and suddenly the old and wise Baptista (Kate/Bianca’s father) is a woman. Combined with the difficulty following WS’s words looking up notes for the meaning of the text and getting used to the people in their parts…it was confusing to say the least. I’ll watch another version by The Globe Theatre based on the original characters (no swapping) a WS intended.
Good News: Globe Theatre production (2012) is the hands down winner! There is more slapstick, physical acting, and the Kate’s wedding dress is beautiful. Impossible to see “male” Kate in RSC version as a stunning bride. The comic relief Grumio (Petruchio’s servant) is priceless!
Bad News: Shakespeare has done is best to confuse his readers/audience: role-play, change of costumes (to imply one is a nobleman) and witty “verbal sparrings” that make the first encounter between Kate and Petruchio feel like a boxing match. There are layers to discover: a play, in a play.
Good News: Best image in the play…that lingers falcon Act 4, 1: “My falcon now is sharp and passing empty, And till she stoop she must not be full-gorged…” A falcon won’t hunt unless it is hungry, implying that Kate won’t learn to obey Petruchio unless he withholds her food. Petruchio indicates that he sees her as if she were an animal with the sole purpose of obeying and serving him.
Personal: There are many ways to view the play: as psychological abuse of Kate, a farce or Kate as a cunning pragmatist. Kate is full of rage b/c her father treasures Bianca more than Kate. Act 2,1 “I’ll be revenged”. The eventual change in Kate leaves the reader still puzzled. Is it possibly with happiness or resignation. You’ll have to decide what you think.
Shakespeare in the media: I watched Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton film version from 1967. Unforunately it felt like a Cliff’s Notes version of the play. I love Burton’s thundering voice but rather in a serious classic like Hamlet. This film was a cringe-inducing experience!
I watched the Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo perform The Taming of the Shrew (2017). Act 1-2-3 was 45 min. Act 4-5- 30 min: Decor was minimalist with shades of blue. Bianca is dressed in white, Kate dark green. Kate is a very passive-agressive dancer. At times she is clenching her fists then looking secretly and lovingly at Petruchio. Petruhio enters in a coat of feathers and with lots of jumping and chest thumping! Both weddings (Kate and Bianca) were very nicely done! The story was easy to follow but you have to know what TShrew is about before watching the ballet. Boy, dancing is hard work!
Another film that will get you in the mood to read Shakespeare is The Dresser (1983, AppleTV) with Albert Finney and Tom Courtaney. Personal assistant Norman struggles to get deteriorating veteran actor through a difficult performance of King Lear. It’s not a “big” movie, and doesn’t try to make a big splash, but my goodness, the brilliance of the two leads leaves me just about speechless. Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay are nothing less than amazing in this movie.
Book: Taming of the Shrew Penguin Classics ISBN: 9780141396583
The book is very readable. (font)
27% -General introduction (very good)
40% -Induction + play
2% -Passages inserted by Pope in his edition of the play
4% -Account of text and some alterations
28% -Commnetary notes
There is also “The Pelican Shakespeare” with NO commentary notes….but I love the bookcover! (ISBN: 9780143128625)
NancyElin.blog 
I’ve never seen a standard production of this play – only a modern movie adaptation – 10 Things I Hate About You, which I confess I love. I was just the right age when this came out to thoroughly enjoy it.
Have you read the play?
No, I struggle to read plays. I need to see actors, directors etc interpret the words on the page
Play is just dialogue…like in any other book.
Yeah but I need all the other stuff for context. The scenic descriptions, the interior musings, the narration that moves us from one scene to another. Dialogue on its own doesn’t tell me enough about motivation, behaviour etc it’s a failing of mine I think – I cannot imagine these things for myself!
Website Globe Player (Globe Theatre, London) has ALL the WS plays on demand! For just a few euro’s you’re there in the audiience. I used this site to watch TShrew…and it was excellent! I agree that one misses WS “slapstick” is usually saved for country bumpkins or servants.