Theatre - The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is often disparaged as the most misogynistic of William Shakespeare’s comedies. The Shrew of the title is Katherina, or Kate, the older daughter of Baptista Minola, a gentleman of Padua, who insists she must be married off before her sister Bianca. The trouble is that Kate terrifies men. But thenshe meets Petruchio, a young man visiting from Verona, who woos her and then bends her to his will. His tactics include depriving her of food and a hot bath, and taunting her with gifts of clothes, which he then whisks away again. There is a certain crude logic to his behaviour: much as he enjoys Kate’s fieriness, he is too pro-active and charismatic a figure to ever tolerate an abusive spouse. Much has been made of what Shakespeare intended by describing such a marriage. It was probably simple: he recognised the universal appeal of an alpha male hero, particularly at the box office.
London’s Globe Theatre put an extra twist on the drama by employing an all-female cast. Seven women each perform several roles, hamming it up as men and women, and even, in one instance, a young man playing a woman. They play instruments and dance, and under Joe Murphy’s direction, they milk the play for laughs.
