The Taming of the Shrew

Synopsis

Two wealthy sisters in Padua must be married off. The modest, demure Bianca has no shortage of suitors, but who on earth will take the wild, ungovernable, ?shrewish' Katherina? Perhaps the gold-digging Petruchio, as maddeningly strong willed and perverse as Katherina herself, will be equal to the task of bullying her to the altar. Shakespeare's outrageous comedy introduces one of the theatre's great screwball double-acts, a couple hellbent on confusing and outwitting each other right up to its controversial conclusion.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 11 April 2011

It’s not Kiss Me Kate. It’s not Annie Get Your Gun. Nor is it Calamity Jane, The Big Country, High Noon or any other Western classic you may have seen. After all, this is Hornchurch and the stage of the Queen’s Theatre, not some state-of-the-art cinematic multiplex.

But it is Shakespeare’s early comedy The Taming of the Shrew in a Wild West setting. And it certainly is great fun. We lose the Induction with Christopher Sly and come straight to the dusty main street of the little town of Padua, Texas some time in the late 19th century. On one side is Baptista Minola’s hotel and saloon; on the other, an undertaker’s establishment run by elderly Gremio conveniently adjacent to the sheriff (Hortensio)’s office.

Throughout the play there is music, very well selected by Carol Slomn from a mix of blue grass, traditional and film-score sources and extremely well played and sung b...

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