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:

18 February 2009

Perhaps this should have been called Carry on Taming because this was a Shrew that played up to the full the low-comedy elements of the text as well as accepting the casual misogyny.

It's a play that's generally been re-invented for modern audiences, uncomfortable with themes of male dominance and the concomitant female submission; director Conall Morrison has no such qualms; pitching headfirst into a world where men are men, women are commodities, all accents are funny and where there must be a double-entendre every few minutes.

The play begins in a modern setting, where the drunken Christopher Sly is thrown out of a lap-dancing club prior to his humiliation by the aristocrats. The players arrive and Sly finds himself as part of the costume drama. It’s a neat use of the framing device and quickly draws our attention to the connections between the modern world and the historical one. But at the same time, it’s uncomfortable for the audien...

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Latest User Review

Tony O Dalaigh - 24 February 2009:

The most inventive Shrew I ever saw...

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