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A Modern Perspective: The Taming of the Shrew

By Karen Newman

In sermons preached from the pulpit, in exhortations urged from the magistrate’s bench, in plays and popular pastimes, in morning and evening prayers at home, in early printed books rehearsing seemly female conduct, the tripartite ideal of women’s chastity, silence, and obedience was proclaimed far and wide in early modern England. Shakespeare’s heroine, Kate, in The Taming of the Shrew refuses to abide by these Renaissance ideals of womanly submission. Her self-confidence and independence, which the male characters disparage by calling her a “devil,” threaten the hierarchical organization of Renaissance society in which women were believed inferior. The price of Kate’s resistance is summed up in Hortensio’s taunt, “No mates for you, / Unless you were of gentler, milder mold” ( 1.1.59 –61).

Instead of wooing Kate, the suitors pursue her more tractable sister, Bianca, whom they admire for her silence, mildness, and sobriety. But in Bianca’s dealings with her two suitors (disguised as tutors), even she shows herself less docile than she seems. As many readers of The Taming of the Shrew have noted, if in the end one shrew is tamed, two more reveal themselves: Bianca and the widow refuse to do their husbands’ bidding at the very moment Kate has ostensibly learned to obey. In the play, the gulf between Renaissance ideals of a submissive femininity and the realities of women’s behavior is wide.

Recently, commentators have turned to the work of social historians to explain The Taming of the Shrew ’s presentation of the female characters’ transgression of Renaissance standards for women’s behavior. They point out that during the period from 1560 until the English Civil War, England suffered a “crisis of order” brought about by enormous economic, demographic, and political changes that produced acute anxiety about conventional hierarchies. 1 Groups that had traditionally been subject to the authority of others—merchants and actors, servants and apprentices—were enabled by rapid change to enter social spheres that had been customarily closed to them. Such shifts threatened perceived hierarchies in Tudor and Stuart England: men complained of upstart courtiership, of a socially mobile middle class, of “masterless men,” and of female rebellion. Since public and domestic authority in Elizabethan England was vested in men—in fathers, husbands, masters, teachers, magistrates, lords—Elizabeth I’s rule inevitably produced anxiety about women’s roles. 2

Arraignments for scolding, shrewishness, and bastardy, as well as witchcraft persecutions, crowd the historical record. 3 Although men were occasionally charged with scolding, shrewishness was a predominately female offense. Punishment for such crimes and for related offenses involving sexual misbehavior or “domineering” wives who “beat” or “abused” their husbands often involved public humiliation: the ducking stool, “carting,” and/or reproof by means of the skimmington or charivari (an informal ritual in which the accused woman or her surrogate was put in a scold’s collar or paraded through the village or town in a cart accompanied by a procession of neighbors banging pots and pans). In Shakespeare’s play we can observe traces of such practices when Baptista, Kate’s father, exhorts Bianca’s suitors to court Kate instead and Gremio exclaims, “To cart her, rather. She’s too rough for me” ( 1.1.55 ). Anxiety about changing social relations prompted the labeling of old behaviors in new ways that made criminals of women whose actions threatened patriarchal authority.

But history alone cannot account for Shakespeare’s presentation of the shrew-taming plot. Literary history—generic models and conventions, both popular and elite—shaped the way Shakespeare represents the play’s characters and action. Popular medieval fabliaux and Tudor jest books and pamphlets recount tales of shrew-taming that furnished patterns from which Shakespeare drew. These and the oral folktales on which they are based include incidents similar to the plot of The Taming of the Shrew: a father with two daughters, one curst (i.e., bad-tempered) and spurned, the other mild and sought after; a suitor determined to tame the shrew; a farcical wedding scene; quarrels of the sort Kate and Petruchio have at his country house and on the road to Padua; and a bet on the most obedient wife. An often-cited example is the anonymous ballad A Merry Jest of a Shrewd and Curst Wife Lapped in Morel’s Skin for her Good Behavior (c. 1550), in which a father has two daughters, one curst, the other docile. When a wooer seeks the shrewish daughter’s hand, the father warns him against this “devilish fiend of hell.” Unmoved, he marries her and proceeds to tame her by means of beatings and torture: after cudgeling her bloody, he wraps her in a salted morel skin. The ballad ends conventionally with a meal at which father, mother, and neighbors admire the once-shrewish wife’s obedience and with a challenge to the audience: “He that can charm a shrewd wife / Better than thus, Let him come to me and fetch ten pound / And a golden purse.”

Though the basic situation of The Taming of the Shrew resembles that of A Merry Jest, in Shakespeare’s play Petruchio avoids physical violence. Instead of beating Kate, he resorts to more civilized coercion: public humiliation at their wedding, starvation, sleep deprivation, and verbal bullying, all administered with the utmost courtesy and pretended kindness. The less violent but equally coercive taming strategies that Shakespeare has Petruchio employ can be linked to a humanist tradition represented by Juan Luis Vives, Erasmus, and later Protestant reformers, who recommend persuasion, not brutality, as the means of inculcating wifely obedience. But even the popular tradition offers analogues less grisly than A Merry Jest. For example, in the early broadside The Taming of a Shrew or the only way to make a Bad Wife Good: At least, to keep her quiet, be she bad or good, a father counsels his newly married son not to chide his wife and to give her reign over the household to prevent marital strife.

In both popular and elite materials on marriage and education, taming or educating a wife is likened to the training or domestication of animals—unbroken horses, intractable cats, untamed hawks, even wild beasts. Implied in this comparison is the view that women are themselves unmanageable creatures whom only rigorous training and violence, or the continued threat of violence, can render submissive. Popular folktales and fabliaux, marital handbooks, sermons, and educational treatises all resort to the language and vocabularies of animal taming. In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has Petruchio compare taming Kate to training a falcon, and he peppers Petruchio’s speech with the technical language of hawk taming.

The humanist writers also sought to inculcate obedience through a less dehumanizing but perhaps more powerfully manipulative method. Following such earlier writers as Saint Paul, they set up an analogy in which marriage and the family are likened to the government of the kingdom. The family is represented as a little world organized like the larger world of the state or commonwealth, and the wife’s duty to obey her husband is equated with the subject’s duty to obey the prince. Wifely obedience, according to this model, is exacted not through violence but through strategies of molding the wife into a fit subject. In early modern England, the family was the basic unit of production as well as consumption, the site of the pooling and distribution of resources and of the reproduction of proper subjects for the commonwealth. In such a world, managing femininity had important political as well as social and economic consequences: in Elizabethan England a woman who murdered her spouse was tried not for murder as was her male counterpart but for treason, and her punishment was correspondingly more severe.

Kate’s speech at the end of the play on the status of wives as subjects most forcefully illustrates this rationalization of wifely subjection:

Such duty as the subject owes the prince,

Even such a woman oweth to her husband;

And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,

And not obedient to his honest will,

What is she but a foul contending rebel

And graceless traitor to her loving lord?

( 5.2.171 –76)

No lines in the play have been more variously interpreted than this final speech in which Kate advocates women’s submission to their husbands’ wills. Some critics have accepted Kate’s speech simply as testimony that she has been tamed; others argue that it must be understood ironically as pretense, a strategy for living peaceably in patriarchal culture. Although either interpretation can be supported by the text and by a director’s choices in the theater, what is perhaps most striking about Kate’s final speech is that at the very moment the ideology of women’s silence and submission is most forcefully articulated, we find a woman (or at any rate, a boy playing a woman’s part, since on the Elizabethan stage all women’s parts were played by boy actors) speaking forcefully and in public the longest speech in the play, at the most dramatic moment in the action. In short, Kate’s speaking as she does contradicts the very sentiments she affirms.

Not only does Shakespeare’s shrew-taming plot depend on generic models— fabliaux, folktales, educational treatises, sermons and the like—but the subplot—the wooing of Bianca—also depends on literary models, in particular George Gascoigne’s Supposes (1566), a translation of the Italian comedy I Suppositi (1509) by the Italian poet and playwright Lodovico Ariosto (1474–1533). Ariosto’s play was modeled on the classical new comic tradition generally traced to the Greek playwright Menander (4th century B.C.E. ) and made available to the Renaissance through his Latin imitators Plautus (254?–184 B.C.E. ) and Terence (185–159 B.C.E. ). 4 Typically, the plot structure of new comedy involves young people whose desire for one another is opposed by the young man’s father, or by a pimp, or by some other representative of an older generation. The plot depends on a trick or twist usually involving money and perpetrated by a servant or slave that allows the lovers to be united. In the Greco-Roman tradition, the female character is often an unmarriageable slave or courtesan, and the resolution sometimes entails mistaken identity—the woman is discovered to be a citizen lost or sold into slavery at birth, in which case the play can end in marriage.

Early Renaissance versions of such comedies transform the social and sexual relations typical of new-comic plots: the young woman is typically marriageable, the opposition is often her father, and the sexual intrigue usually ends in marriage. Shakespeare and the English playwrights modify this structure further by melding it with the romance tradition of the chaste lover (like Lucentio) who wishes only for marriage from the start. In addition, in The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare adds a rival for Bianca’s hand (Hortensio) to enhance the romantic plot by allowing her a choice between possible husbands. New comedy typically follows the unities of time and place: the lovers are already at odds with some authority at the outset, and the play enacts only the intrigue that brings them together. Shakespeare, however, dramatizes the entire action, from Lucentio’s falling in love and wooing Bianca through the intrigue that leads to their marriage and on to the celebratory feast at the end.

In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare carefully interweaves his main plot and his subplot: Lucentio sees and loves Bianca ( 1.1 ); Petruchio vows to marry Kate ( 1.2 ); Petruchio woos her ( 2.1 ); Lucentio and Hortensio woo Bianca ( 3.1 ). The plots diverge at the marriage of Kate and Petruchio ( 3.2 ), briefly to reunite (after the taming scenes at Petruchio’s house and Lucentio’s gulling of Baptista) on the journey back to Padua when Kate calls Lucentio’s father a “young budding virgin” ( 4.5.41 ). That “mistaken” identity in turn prepares for another, Tranio’s refusal to recognize Vincentio in 5.1 , a complication resolved by the appearance of the young lovers as husband and wife. The two plots are united again in the conventional comic feast and wager that end the play.

The convention of mistaken identity, which Shakespeare inherited from his classical and Italian predecessors, is not only a plot device in the play but also works thematically to undermine notions of an essential self or a fixed identity. In the Induction (an eighteenth-century editorial appellation, since the Sly incidents are simply part of Act 1 in the First Folio [1623], the earliest printed edition of The Taming of the Shrew ), Sly is persuaded he is a lord instead of a tinker; in the opening scene of the play proper, Lucentio and Tranio exchange identities as master and servant. Kate is transformed after enduring the irrational world of Petruchio’s country house, where she is denied food, sleep, and the fashionable accoutrements of her social class until

                                                           she (poor soul)

Knows not which way to stand, to look, to speak,

And sits as one new-risen from a dream.

( 4.1.184 –86)

In the tradition of Shakespeare’s later romantic comedies, she subsequently “discovers” a new identity as obedient wife. 5 Bianca and the widow, who begin by conforming to oppressive codes of womanly duty, reveal their independence. The Merchant assumes the identity of Vincentio, while Vincentio is “mistaken” for a “fair lovely maid.” Mistaken identity works literally in the disguise plots of the Induction and the Bianca-Lucentio action and figuratively in the taming plot, in which Petruchio plays at antic ruffian and Kate at submissive wife.

The Induction, with its duping of the tinker Sly, is linked to yet another folklore tradition, the motif of the “sleeper awakened” found in many versions throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Usually the story ends with the Sly character returned to his beggarly identity, as in a play published in 1594, the anonymous A Pleasant Conceited Historie, called The taming of a Shrew. In the anonymous play, the Sly action is completed with an epilogue in which Sly awakes after the comedy to rediscover himself a tinker and vows to return home to tame his own shrewish wife. Unusually, in The Taming of the Shrew there is no such epilogue and no return to the Christopher Sly action. (See Appendix, “Framing Dialogue in The Taming of a Shrew (1594),” for a discussion of the relation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and the anonymous play.)

The Taming of the Shrew has been popular onstage since its earliest production, though, like many of Shakespeare’s plays, in radically altered forms. By the early seventeenth century it had already prompted a sequel, John Fletcher’s The Woman’s Prize; or the Tamer Tamed (c. 1611). In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it has inspired successful musical, popular film, and television adaptations, and numerous stage productions. And the play continues to be a staple in both secondary and postsecondary school curricula. The play’s contemporary success depends first on comic virtuosity, but in a time of rapid social change when traditional gender roles are being challenged and the malleability of identity is increasingly acknowledged, audiences take pleasure in The Taming of the Shrew ’s representation of the instability both of conventional gender hierarchies and of human identity itself.

• See particularly Lawrence Stone, The Causes of the English Revolution, 1529–1642 (New York: Harper & Row, 1972) and his Crisis of the English Aristocracy, 1558–1641 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965).
• On the anxiety produced by Elizabeth, see Louis Montrose, “ ‘Shaping Fantasies’: Gender and Power in Elizabethan Culture,” Representations , no. 1 (1983): 61–94; however, see also Leah Marcus, Puzzling Shakespeare: Local Reading and Its Discontents (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), ch. 2, in which she shows how Elizabeth represented herself as both prince and father to her people.
• See David Underdown, “The Taming of the Scold: The Enforcement of Patriarchal Authority in Early Modern England,” in Order and Disorder in Early Modern England , edited by Anthony Fletcher and John Stevenson, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 116–35.
• “New” is a misnomer since “new comedy” is dubbed “new” only in relation to the “old” comic tradition represented by Aristophanes (448?–380? B.C.E.).
• On Kate’s development and Shrew as romantic comedy, see John Bean, “Comic Structure and the Humanizing of Kate in The Taming of the Shrew,” in The Woman’s Part , edited by Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz, Gayle Greene, and Carol Thomas Neely, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1980), pp. 65–78.

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48 Taming of the Shrew Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best taming of the shrew topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 good research topics about taming of the shrew, 🔎 interesting topics to write about taming of the shrew.

• Costumes for “The Taming of the Shrew” by Shakespeare Moreover, deciding on the costumes and them changing over different scenes is one of the ways to emphasize the characters’ roles and their changing while the story develops.
• “The Taming of the Shrew”: Petruchio and Katherina The play The Taming of the Shrew was written at a time of renewed interest in marriage, in the way relations between the sexes were being redrawn by the consequences of the Reformation and by […]
• The Play “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy involving the character Kate Minola. She is seen as a shrew because she is unwilling to conform to society’s assumed norms of the lady of ladyhood.
• Shakespeare’s The Taming of The Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You Film Although this adaptation of Shakespeare’s playwright started as a comedy, it ended in a tragedy, the same way the original version does.
• Analysis of “The Glass Menagerie” and “The Taming of the Shrew” Concerning the outline of the paper, it consists of two major parts: the first one is devoted to “The Glass Menagerie,” and the second one to “The Taming of the Shrew”.
• “Taming of the Shrew” Drama Review Lamber puts the hat on and soon, she is on her feet and is showing herself around, in a fashionable way.
• The Taming of the Shrew Pitch’ by William Sheakspeare It is the expectation in this paper to direct the play to produce a glaring spectator trill. In directly the play and getting it on stage, a number of items are relevant both for the […]
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This volume is a comprehensive collection of critical essays on The Taming of the Shrew , and includes extensive discussions of the play's various printed versions and its theatrical productions. Aspinall has included only those essays that offer the most influential and controversial arguments surrounding the play. The issues discussed include gender, authority, female autonomy and unruliness, courtship and marriage, language and speech, and performance and theatricality.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part i | 38  pages, a critical history of the taming of the shrew, chapter | 36  pages, the play and the critics, part ii | 266  pages, the taming of the shrew: critical appraisals, chapter | 4  pages, from his introduction to the taming of the shrew (1928), chapter | 13  pages, the taming untamed, or, the return of the shrew, horses and hermaphrodites, the good marriage of katherine and petruchio, chapter | 22  pages, the ending of the shrew, chapter | 24  pages, “love wrought these miracles”, chapter | 38  pages, scolding brides and bridling scolds, chapter | 19  pages, chapter | 23  pages, the performance of things in the taming of the shrew, chapter | 26  pages, framing the taming, cultural control in the taming of the shrew, “what's that to you” or, facing facts, chapter | 28  pages, household kates, part iii | 84  pages, the taming of the shrew on stage, in film, and on television, chapter | 9  pages, “an unholy alliance”, chapter | 2  pages, the performance of feminism in the taming of the shrew 1, review of gale edwards's taming of the shrew,, chapter | 18  pages, petruchio's house in postwar suburbia, katherina bound, or play(k)ating the strictures of everyday life.

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The Taming of the Shrew

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What purpose does the Christopher Sly frame story serve in this play? How do the ideas and themes of the frame story relate to those in the play proper?

Katherine has a reputation for being naturally “shrewish,” but she reveals a lot about the reasons for her anger and unhappiness. With reference to Katherine’s speeches, write about how Katherine fits into the world around her. Why is she displeased with her family and with her society? What are the origins of her “choleric” temper?

Write on the comparable roles of Christopher Sly and Tranio , both lower-class men disguised as gentlemen (though only one of them is in on the joke). What do these parallel characters reveal about class in Shakespeare’s England?

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Taming of The Shrew — The Theme of Deception in “The Taming of The Shrew”

The Theme of Deception in "The Taming of The Shrew"

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Words: 1684 |

Published: Jun 29, 2018

Words: 1684 | Pages: 3 | 9 min read

Table of contents

Bianca's mask of innocence, the fragile guises of lucentio and hortensio, the pedant's vulnerable facade, consequences of concealment.

• Shakespeare, W. (1992). The Taming of the Shrew (A. R. Braunmuller, Ed.). Oxford University Press.
• Callaghan, D. (2006). Shakespeare's Sonnets. Wiley.
• Mowat, B. A., & Werstine, P. (Eds.). (2006). The Taming of the Shrew (Folger Shakespeare Library). Washington Square Press.
• Gibbons, B. J. (1980). The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare's Mirror of Marriage. Shakespeare Quarterly, 31(1), 53-69.
• Smith, D. F. (2005). Reading the third time: Shakespeare, literary theory, and the discipline of English. University of Wisconsin Press.
• Barton, A. (1991). Playing and reality: The mode of illusion in the Renaissance. Theatre Journal, 43(3), 327-337.
• Bergeron, D. M. (2016). Introduction: What is a shrew? In A Cultural History of Shrews in the Medieval Age and Beyond (pp. 1-13). Palgrave Macmillan.

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The Taming of the Shrew

Final performance: 26 October 2024

The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe – review

Jude Christian’s radical production runs until 26 October

“You  mean to  make a puppet of me!”

It’s the line, spoken by the put-upon Katharina to her domineering new husband Petruchio, that unlocks Jude Christian’s version of The Taming of the Shrew, continuing a season at Shakespeare’s Globe that foregrounds the misogynistic underpinnings of so many of the Bard’s texts.

Here, with the company donning giant puppet masks or carrying hand-puppets to perform certain characters, Shrew becomes a Punch and Judy -esque farce. By augmenting the artifice, the pervasive nature of the sexism is inescapable.

Christian’s out-there take on Shakespeare’s problem play is signalled from the moment audiences enter the auditorium, greeted by the sight of Rosie Elnile’s giant, stuffed-toy Shrew that dominates the centre of the Globe stage. Performers enter and exit through its belly, birthed onto the stage with haphazard abandon.

The Globe has to be admired for programming directors who know Shakespeare’s plays have more than enough mettle to carry the weight of contemporary twists. This certainly won’t be a version of the play that any purist will enjoy.

The plot follows a ploy hatched by a series of aristocratic suitors to mould a wayward daughter into a wife, in order to convince a nobleman to give his other, more amenable daughter, for marriage. Even writing it all out makes you cringe a bit. Rather than trying to sanitise the tale, Christian leans into its garishness, admittedly often with varying levels of success.

In Christian’s version of the text, Petruchio (a petulant Andrew Leung) remains an enigmatic, coercive and gaslighting figure – revelling as he essentially tortures his new bride. Thalissa Teixeira’s Katharina, battling to hold focus during a show where every trick in the book has been thrown into the mix, highlights the plight of the shrew’s life – who wouldn’t want to be a bit prickly when surrounded by so many abhorrent men?

In a coup for inspired scheduling, the Globe’s production opens just as Kiss Me, Kate plays less than a mile away at the Barbican. This, I’d say, feels like the more radical interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic. It’s hard to express how much Christian has chucked at the wall here – metatheatrical moments see a cast member scrambling to escape the story, while another is unexpectedly murdered. A third, sat on stage, keeps telling the rest of the troupe to stop wasting time and crack on. There’s excellent and subtle work from Eloise Secker as Petruchio’s servant Grumio, while Ian Charleson Award nominee Tyreke Leslie brings out the laughs as Tranio.

What happens when the company have a problem with their own problem play? The results are far from tame.

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Review: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, Shakespeare's Globe

Jude Christian's new production playfully inverts Shakespeare's misogyny

LATEST NEWS So how to breach the question of performing it in the 21st century? Jude Christian ’s ruthlessly self-aware production is a blunt instrument firing on all conceptual cylinders to rip the morality inside out. The gerrymandering works to an extent, but it’s rarely more than the sum of its parts. Christian’s Padua is a surreal soft play area. A giant teddy bear presides slouching over the stage; think the plush world inhabited by the Teletubbies by way of Luis Buñuel. Only Thalissa Teixeira ’s brilliantly spiky Katherina is in on the act. Aware of the sugar-rushing weirdness throbbing around her and of the performance itself, her marriage and ‘taming’ by Petruchio, is inverted – she is cruelly dulled into quivering submission, rather than blossoming into a dutiful wife. By the climax she clambers to break free, both from patriarchal chains and from the confines of the performance. In a viscerally fourth wall shattering moment she pleads with the audience unable to bare the torment, a self-conscious twist on the play’s framing as a play within a play. It’s a brutal moment that jars gorgeously with the rest the cuddly whimsy. Like chomping on a slice of vanilla sponge only to find a razor blade nestled within. What does it make us? Our gaze is mirrored back – do we become come complicit in her suffering? I wish it probed the dynamics of misogyny deeper. Andrew Leung’s Petruchio is formulaically foul, strutting with peacock arrogance and savouring each slimy syllable. Perhaps the moral inversion is too predictable here: he can only be rendered a one-dimensional sadist in order to secure the reversal of Katherina’s perspective. Why is he allowed to get away with it? What lies beyond his nastiness? The surrealist elements are eyeball-melting but overworked. Puppets, scooters, and a trampoline don’t justify themselves beyond visual distractions. Gremio and Hortensio, babbling potential suitors for Katherina’s younger sister, are bulbous heads protruding from Nigel Barrett and Lizzie Hopleys’ stomachs, imagery incongruously plundered from the Garden of Earthly Delights . As funny as it is, the silliness is baggy, clumsily interfering with the performances. Bucketloads of genuine charm strings it together. Tyreke Leslie owns Tranio with buzzy bona fide glee. The live band conjure electricity to charge the production with sitcom wackiness. The Taming of the Shrew is not easily translated for the Modern Stage . But there’s plenty to admire here despite its flaws.  The Taming of the Shrew plays at the Globe until 26 October Photo Credits: Ellie Kurttz Recommended For You The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe | Review The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe   is a rollicking production likely crafted with the tourist audience of this summer season in mind. The ever-present knock about physical humour with a flavour of the absurd may be viewed as fun connecting with those whose first language is not English and yet wish to see Shakespeare played at this stunning and historic theatre. What is lost however in this show is an emphasis on complexities and language. There’s also the unfortunate impression from the galleries that some of the cast are learning to ‘speak Shakespeare’ while performing to a paying public.  When Shakespeare’s lines are spoken well, they become as clear in meaning as if sunlight is shining down. That does not generally happen here. Never mind, the audience laughs every single time the same single swear word is inserted, prodding them into an irreverent connection with whatever’s going on, which is actually not nothing. Accessibility is important. The accessibility of this production is such however it’s probably better suited for those who aren’t familiar with Shakespeare than for those who are who may be bored. One of the best Shakespeare speakers is Nigel Barrett as Christopher Sly who happily combines this ability with a larger-than-life presence and great comedic ability. What a memorable, energetic opening he brings to the evening. When everyone present is innocently encouraged to sing along to Delilah, the song about the feelings of a tortured soul who’s murdered his lover. Unfortunately, Nigel Barrett is confined too soon to silence in a playpen for most of the play. Yes, the set contains significant elements of the absurd, as do the costumes. The presence of these initiates questions when introduced but are soon mostly ignored. Thalissa Teixeira as Katharina successfully portrays a regular modern woman that the modern audience can identify with. One who however finds herself locked into absurd patriarchal power structures in which her character and estimable common sense are regarded with disapproval, requiring even her sense of self to be erased. Katharina’s most effective line is close to the end when she steps out of submission and says, “ Can we stop this stupid play? ”. Unfortunately, the interactions between Tranio and Luciano are not wholly successful and do create holes in the pace, focus and narrative of both acts. The second act however improves as the horror of the theme of Shakespeare’s play reaches fruition. This being that the worse a husband treats his wife the better, training her in this way into submission. This chills. Most especially in the moments when Petruchio. the husband, well-played as a deliberately unimpressive individual by Andrew Leung, finally demands Katharina kiss him and she does despite her distaste. There’s no suggestion in this production of a sexual attraction between the two of them or that their conflict creates a connection as is often presented but which dilutes and sanitises the disturbing central theme of this play. What is described here is coercive control, about which there is an excellent essay by Professor Marianne Hester in the programme. That this production continues to roll out humour which keeps many in the audience laughing anyway is a cleverly crafted juxtaposition by director Jude Christian. There’s another terrific article in the programme about Theories of Laughter by Professor Bridget Escolme. It’s a programme worth reading. The music composed by Corin Buckeridge and performed from the musician’s gallery by five musicians, is enjoyable and vital, creating atmosphere as well as leading the way for the cast into jolly absurdity when needed. There’s a jig at the end. Some members of the audience left the theatre declaring the production fun, while others were unhappy about the lack of emphasis on Shakespeare’s language and complexities. Many will however speculate afterwards about Shakespeare’s true feelings on the theme he was presenting in apparent approval, taking into account all we know of him, his era and his work. Be aware if you book a standing ticket the show is two hours in duration (excluding the interval) and the stage is quite high. For the wooden seats under cover, you do have the option of booking a cushion. Review by Marian Kennedy The cast comprises Matthew Ashforde as Ensemble/Cover, Nigel Barrett as Christopher Sly/Gremio, John Cummins as Biondello, Lizzie Hopley as Hortensio, Tyreke Leslie as Tranio, Andrew Leung as Petruchio, Sophie Mercell as Bianca, Syakira Moeladi as Ensemble/Cover, Jamie-Rose Monk as Vincentio, Eloise Secker as Grumio, Simon Startin as Baptista, Yasmin Taheri as Lucentio, and Thalissa Teixeira as Katherina. The show is directed by Jude Christian, designed by Rosie Elnile, with Corin Buckeridge as Composer, Priya Patel Appleby as 2024 Globe Resident Assistant Director and Emma Brunton as Movement & Puppetry Director. Haruka Kuroda is Fight and Intimacy Director, with Liv Morris as Dramaturg. Lucentio is determined to win the beautiful Bianca’s hand in marriage. When her father declares that it will only happen once her older sister Katharina is wedded, the competition to mould the fiercely independent Katharina into obedient wifely material begins. The front runner is larger-than-life Petruchio. But with Katharina as proud as she is, it’s going to take shocking levels of manipulation to win her as his bride… THE TAMING OF THE SHREW 26 June to 26 October 2024 Shakespeare’s Globe Maybe of Interest? Shows Booking Now Bowie Experience The Alexandra, Birmingham Tickets Wet Wet Wet Plus Special Guest Heather Small Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-T... An Evening with Anton and Friends at New Wimbledon Theatre Riverdance 30: The New Generation Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent Ticke... Giovanni – The Last Dance Princess Theatre, Torquay Tickets About The Author Marian Kennedy Leave a comment cancel reply. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * 🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed! Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon! Get us in your inbox Sign up to our newsletter for the latest and greatest from your city and beyond By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions. Awesome, you're subscribed! The best of London for free. Sign up for our email to enjoy London without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush). Déjà vu! We already have this email. Try another? Love the mag? Our newsletter hand-delivers the best bits to your inbox. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions. Things to Do Food & Drink Coca-Cola Foodmarks Attractions Los Angeles Theatre, Shakespeare Shakespeare's Globe, South Bank 27 Jun 26 Oct 2024 The Taming of the Shrew Jude Christian‘s take on Shakespeare’s perennially problematic comedy is engagingly bonkers but leaves a bad taste Time Out says Ah, the question of what to do with The Shrew. In 2024 any production of Shakespeare’s bleak misogynistic comedy ‘The Taming of the Shew’ requires careful rethinking. Under the right direction, it can become a cautionary tale rather than a hateful defamation of women. And, at first there are high hopes for Jude Christian’s cartoonish production. It begins with Christopher Sly drunkenly stumbling in from the back of The Globe and accidentally throwing a full glass of beer over a carefully selected audience member – he’s met with fury. Katharina – the titular Shrew – is played with fiery vigour by Thalissa Teixeira. But this makes her eventual fall into submission to her paramour Petruchio even more of an indignity. Her painful final speech is mistakenly performed without a trace of irony. The whole thing leaves a bizarrely sour taste. The style Christian goes for is something she calls ‘an absurd carnival’. It has elements of a childish fever dream: songs and dance break out; a babysitter sits on a side lined sofa, reading magazines to pass the time. The set design by Rosie Elnile has a giant white teddy bear and connecting trampolines at its centre: it is a child’s dream playground. For the wedding, Petruchio comes dressed in a furry worm-like outfit, complete with dark bobbly eyes. So yes, it looks suitably bonkers. If the hope is to show a woman broken and ripped apart by the hands of male abuse, then Christian has succeeded - Katharina ends as a shell of the person she once was. But, what is the point of it all if the ending remains unchanged and unchallenged? It is a putrid take. Dates and times Thu, 27 Jun 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 14:00 £5-£75 Fri, 28 Jun 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 19:30 £5-£75 Fri, 28 Jun 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 23:59 £5-£75 Mon, 1 Jul 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 19:30 £5-£75 Tue, 2 Jul 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 14:00 £5-£75 Tue, 2 Jul 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 19:30 £5-£75 Wed, 3 Jul 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 14:00 £5-£75 Mon, 8 Jul 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 19:30 £5-£75 Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 14:00 £5-£75 Tue, 9 Jul 2024 Shakespeare's Globe 19:30 £5-£75 Been there, done that? Think again, my friend. Discover Time Out original video Press office Investor relations Work for Time Out Editorial guidelines Privacy notice Do not sell my information Cookie policy Accessibility statement Terms of use Modern slavery statement Manage cookies Claim your listing Time Out Offers FAQ Advertising Time Out Market Time Out products Time Out Offers Time Out Worldwide Join Now to View Premium Content GradeSaver provides access to 2362 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 11008 literature essays, 2770 sample college application essays, 926 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders. The Taming of the Shrew The untamed shrew aachal gowan 10th grade. William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew is set in Padua, where Katherine, the stubborn “shrew” the title refers to, is pursued by a bachelor named Petruchio who is in search of a wealthy wife. Katherine is known as the most ill-tempered woman in all of Padua, but Petruchio is not unnerved by this and makes it his aim to tame Katherine and turn her into the perfect submissive wife. At the end of the play, Katherine gives a speech that seemingly supports Petruchio’s idealistic values on women which may lead some readers to believe she has successfully been tamed. However, Katherine is not truly tamed, instead she has become a smarter version of herself and recognizes when and where she needs to pretend to conform to society’s standards in order to get what she wants, whereas before she would blurt out whatever came into her mind and often got in trouble for it. In addition, The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy and during her speech, Katherine uses irony to support her arguments, hinting that Shakespeare intended for it to be taken comically. At the start of the play, Katherine’s bold personality and unwillingness to back down is distinct, but as the story progresses she learns to control herself and choose her battles... GradeSaver provides access to 2312 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 10989 literature essays, 2751 sample college application essays, 911 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders. Already a member? Log in Work & Careers Life & Arts The Taming of the Shrew theatre review — problematic play is given a contemporary twist Try unlimited access only $1 for 4 weeks. Then $75 per month. Complete digital access to quality FT journalism on any device. Cancel anytime during your trial. Global news & analysis Expert opinion Special features FirstFT newsletter Videos & Podcasts Android & iOS app FT Edit app 10 gift articles per month Explore more offers. Standard digital. 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Pay a year upfront and save 20%. 10 monthly gift articles to share Everything in Print Make and share highlights FT Workspace Markets data widget Subscription Manager Workflow integrations Occasional readers go free Volume discount Terms & Conditions apply Explore our full range of subscriptions. Why the ft. See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times. International Edition 'The Taming of the Shrew' review — this absurd take on Shakespeare's play is riotously entertaining Read our review of The Taming of the Shrew , directed by Jude Christian, now in performances at Shakespeare's Globe to 26 October. Do we still need The Taming of the Shrew ? There are ongoing debates by historians and critics alike about whether the play’s dark, sexist jokes have echoes of what we would now define as abuse. However, in this new retelling of the play, director Jude Christian opts for a strikingly absurd, surreal take. I certainly wasn’t expecting a 15ft sand-coloured prosthetic baby sprawled like a giant bean bag across the stage. With blue love hearts for eyes and a large slit across its chest for entry and exit (designed by Rosie Elnile), the tone is set: this is The Taming of the Shrew as you’ve never seen before. Nine rosy-cheeked actors burst onto the stage, looking like characters from a distorted fairytale. It’s announced they will be performing a play called Who’s Gonna Get Bianca , with roles assigned through a lucky paper draw. There’s a lot of new text added here, alongside a mix of 16th-century and modern costumes, bringing a new energy to the play. Nigel Barret’s Gremio is an instant fan favourite. “It’s not a panto?” he asks, to a barrage of laughter. Also vying for Bianca’s hand is Hortensio (Lizzie Hopley), who has a penchant for rolling his 'R's and enunciating his sentences to death. The hilarious pair are always scheming or galloping across the stage in caricatured ballet steps – to the audience’s delight. Christian’s bold direction shines in the pastiche but falters when broaching the topic of the ‘Shrew’. The intricate yet disjointed web of characters are either silent or complicit in getting the ‘cursed’ Katharina (Thalissa Teixeira) wed and out of the way in order to court her younger sister, Bianca (Sophie Mercell). Mercell is captivating as the doe-eyed maiden, speaking via a puppet version of herself throughout. Andrew Leung plays Petruchio with great skill, charming when courting Katharina, then switching to extremely unlikable when ‘taming’ her. Leung’s cruel and cunning delivery of “For I am born to tame you, Kate,” is hair-raising. However, Katharina is rather sidelined. She’s spoken about rather than spoken to, and when she does speak, the scene is brusquely moved on (“Next!” is shouted several times by an in-character stage manager). As such, there’s little time to connect to her. Teixeira is adept with the limited time given, dexterous in slipping between states of panic and obeisance. The theatrical device is clear – we’re made to feel as confused and lost as she does – but the packing in of so many absurd elements undercuts the emotional climax. There are also too many different accents used, which confuse and distort the dialogue (Tyreke Leslie’s Tranio unveils a harsh, caricatured Southwestern Nigerian accent), and the musical and dance numbers don’t feel integrated enough. Still, there’s a lot to engage with in Christian’s unusual take on the play. The cast are talented and compelling, and there are plenty of laughs throughout in this entertaining, playful and riotous comedy. The Taming of the Shrew is at Shakespeare's Globe through 26 October. Book The Taming of the Shrew tickets on London Theatre. Photo credit: The Taming of the Shrew (Photos by Ellie Kurttz) Originally published on Jun 19, 2024 10:15 Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock exclusive London theatre updates! Get early access to tickets for the newest shows Access to exclusive deals and promotions Stay in the know about news in the West End Get updates on shows that are important to you You can unsubscribe at any time. Privacy Policy Cast & crew The Taming of the Shrew: He Is More Shrew Than She Podcast Episode Add a plot in your language Annie Abrams Tessa Auberjonois J. Paul Boehmer Top cast 11 All cast & crew Production, box office & more at IMDbPro User reviews June 24, 2024 (United States) See more company credits at IMDbPro Related news Contribute to this page. IMDb Answers: Help fill gaps in our data Learn more about contributing More to explore Recently viewed. The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe Mobile widget metaboxes The Taming of the Shrew 6 th June - 26 th October 2024 The Taming of the Shrew once again returns to Shakespeare’s Globe, with carnival chaos and puppets. Directed by Jude Christian, the play follows a five-act structure, but that’s about the only thing kept in line with Shakespeare’s vision. The adaptation brought the comedy and managed to follow the battle of wits and wills between the headstrong Katharina (Thalissa Teixeira) and her suitor Petruchio (Andrew Leung), who is determined to “tame” her into the role of a compliant wife. The scenes between Katharina and Petruchio were not nearly filled with enough conflict as they should’ve been, although Leung’s overexaggerated portrayal of Petruchio was hilarious, particularly when he continued to address Katharina condescendingly as Kate. Katharina gave as good as she got, although her airheaded sister Bianca (Sophie Mercell) was disappointing in contrast, who spends the best part of the play pushing around a strange doll. Music is at the centre of the disorder, with Ed Ashby on the tuba and Richard Henry on the trombone amping up the ridiculous chase scenes and wacky musical numbers. Music also adds appropriate background noise to emphasise the sheer absurdity of the matches between the sisters and their suitors. As if that wasn’t strange enough, cast members enter and exit through the mouth of a giant teddy bear that has no bearing or relevance on the play’s subject matter. Some modern alterations do work to comical effect without trying too hard. Tyreke Leslie nails the part (and the accent) of Tranio/The Nigerian Prince. The costumes are interesting and some follow a traditional look while most of the ensemble cast are dressed like they are stuck somewhere between 2024 and a time warp. They act as an accurate representation of what the play feels like, which is blended havoc. The added directions of audience participation make for some nice light-hearted moments, but overall, the attempts to modernise a play so integral to its time fall flat. At least what is kept the same are the necessary parts of the story. The induction of Christopher Sly (Nigel Barrett) was as comedic as it was over-the-top and the physical comedy of the whole cast was top-notch. A special mention must be given to Hortensio (Lizzie Hopley) the talking mouth prop, and the puppet of Hortensio’s widow, which works to get some laughs out of Hortensio’s sad but funny realisation that Bianca does not want him.  This adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew is a two-hour boldly reimagined take on the Bard, complete with out-of-place props, bright red makeup and hilarity. If you want to see a completely revised version of a Shakespearean classic that blurs the lines between the play’s source material and hyperbole, then Christian’s interpretation may be perfect for those insane enough to love it. Sophie Humphrey Images: Helen Murray and Ellie Kurttz The Taming of the Shrew is at Shakespeare’s Globe from 6 th June until 26 th October 2024. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here . Watch the trailer for The Taming of the Shrew here: More in Theatre Next to Normal at Wyndham’s Theatre From Stage and Screen at the Roman Open Air Theatre The Acrobatic Swan Lake at Sadler’s Wells The Beckett Trilogy at the Coronet Theatre Kiss Me Kate at Barbican Theatre Kafka at Finborough Theatre Vegetables at Clerkenwell Bio Botanics Swan Lake in-the-round at Royal Albert Hall Babies at the Other Palace Sidebar widget metaboxes. 278 IMAGES Summary of The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare Free Essay Example The Taming of the Shrew. "The Taming of the Shrew" summary. characters, analysis, and symbols Taming of the shrew essay.docx Taming of the Shrew Essay Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" Analysis Free Essay Example COMMENTS The Taming of the Shrew: Mini Essays Mini Essays. Disguise plays a crucial role in The Taming of the Shrew, throughout both the Induction and the main story. While most of the disguises are removed in the end, those who use them to achieve a specified goal generally succeed—particularly Lucentio and Tranio. What can we infer about Shakespeare's take on the effects of disguise? The Taming of the Shrew: Sample A+ Essay The brief exchange between Petruchio and the tailor in The Taming of the Shrew introduces the theme of self-invention, the idea that people can shrug off the roles the world has assigned to them merely by force of will. Likewise, the Christopher Sly episode that opens the play concerns one man's attempt to alter his place in society by imagining himself to be better than he is. The Taming of the Shrew Sample Essay Outlines Outline. I. Thesis Statement: While The Taming of the Shrew includes many scenes of barbaric injustice toward women, the play's overall attitude toward male dominance is both ironic and comic ... The Taming of the Shrew: Suggested Essay Topics In general, the plots of Shakespeare's plays follow a certain pattern, in which Act III contains a major turning point in the action and events that "inevitably" lead to the climax of action and the wrap-up of plot lines in the fifth and final act. How does The Taming of The Shrew conform to, or deviate from, this pattern? A Modern Perspective: The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare's heroine, Kate, in The Taming of the Shrew refuses to abide by these Renaissance ideals of womanly submission. Her self-confidence and independence, which the male characters disparage by calling her a "devil," threaten the hierarchical organization of Renaissance society in which women were believed inferior. The Taming of the Shrew Suggested Essay Ideas 1. Many critics question whether Katharina deserves her. reputation as a shrew. Compare the remarks made by Gremio, "shrew," a "fiend of hell" and so on. 2. Bianca utters a mere four lines ... The Taming of the Shrew, Good Husbandry, and Enclosure Lynda E. Boose, Dartmouth College. Readings of The Taming of the Shrew have always felt compelled to begin at the end, the site where happily-ever-after presumably begins and, in this play, the ... The Taming of the Shrew Essay Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew brought forth a transformed quixotic shrew that is wealthy, beautiful, and, most important, spirited. In The Shrew, Katharina is viewed as the classic, traditional scold, her crime against the social order being her almost absolute refusal to accept the male domineering hierarchy. The Taming of the Shrew Essays The Taming of the Shrew essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. 48 Taming of the Shrew Essay Topic Ideas & Examples The main topic of the play "The Taming of the Shrew" is the taming of the character in the play named Katherine. We will write. a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts. 809 writers online. Learn More. "The Taming of the Shrew": Petruchio and Katherina. The Taming of the Shrew Essay Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' is a comedy focusing on the taming of the aggressive and verbose Katherine by Petruchio, and through this taming process, as well other elements of the play, the theme of love resonates. We see romantic love, as David Daniell states that is it a "fast moving play about various kinds of romances ... The Taming of the Shrew ABSTRACT. This volume is a comprehensive collection of critical essays on The Taming of the Shrew, and includes extensive discussions of the play's various printed versions and its theatrical productions. Aspinall has included only those essays that offer the most influential and controversial arguments surrounding the play. The Taming of the Shrew Essay Topics Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt ... Essays on The Taming of The Shrew 2 pages / 1001 words. Introduction William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" is a timeless literary work that explores complex themes, including the dynamics of gender roles within a patriarchal society. In this essay, we embark on a detailed exploration of the play's portrayal of gender roles, delving into... The Theme of Deception in "The Taming of The Shrew" In Shakespeare's comedic masterpiece, The Taming of the Shrew, the theme of deception weaves a complex tapestry, as characters don various disguises that conceal and, ultimately, reveal their true selves. This pervasive theme of deception showcases Shakespeare's skill in using both psychological and physical disguises to illuminate the essence ... The Taming of the Shrew Critical Essays Critical Overview and Evaluation. Although it is not possible to determine the dates of composition of William Shakespeare's plays with absolute certainty, it is generally agreed that the early ... The Taming of the Shrew: An ambitious but messy attempt to ... Given the obvious problems of a play that appears to celebrate a woman's absolute subjugation to her husband, The Taming of the Shrew warrants a bold approach. In 2019 the RSC staged a highly ... Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew The Taming of the Shrew is a play about a headstrong shrew, Katherina, and Petruchio's attempts to tame her using various psychological tortures. Katherina, for example, is deprived of food and drink while Petruchio tries to win her over. Petruchio is vying for the attention of Katherina's sister Bianca, who is perceived as an ideal woman. The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare's Globe It's the line, spoken by the put-upon Katharina to her domineering new husband Petruchio, that unlocks Jude Christian's version of The Taming of the Shrew, continuing a season at Shakespeare's Globe that foregrounds the misogynistic underpinnings of so many of the Bard's texts. Here, with ... Review: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, Shakespeare's Globe The Taming of the Shrew plays at the Globe until 26 October. Photo Credits: Ellie Kurttz. Buy Tickets to The Taming of the Shrew - from £8. Comments. To post a comment, you must register and login. The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare's Globe The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare's Globe. ... What is described here is coercive control, about which there is an excellent essay by Professor Marianne Hester in the programme. That this ... The Taming of the Shrew: Study Guide The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, written in the early 1590s, is a comedic play that explores themes of courtship, gender roles, and societal expectations. Set in Padua, the play follows the courtship of the strong-willed and outspoken Katherina, known as Kate, and the assertive Petruchio. The central plot involves Petruchio's ... The Taming of the Shrew Ah, the question of what to do with The Shrew. In 2024 any production of Shakespeare's bleak misogynistic comedy 'The Taming of the Shew' requires careful rethinking. The Taming of the Shrew Essay Join Now Log in Home Literature Essays The Taming of the Shrew The Untamed Shrew The Taming of the Shrew The Untamed Shrew Aachal Gowan 10th Grade. William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew is set in Padua, where Katherine, the stubborn "shrew" the title refers to, is pursued by a bachelor named Petruchio who is in search of a wealthy wife. The Taming of the Shrew theatre review The Taming of the Shrew theatre review — problematic play is given a contemporary twist . Subscribe to unlock this article. Try unlimited access Only S$1 for 4 weeks. Then S$99 per month. The Taming of the Shrew Background on The Taming of the Shrew. Written around 1590 or 1592, The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies. It shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream. These characteristics include lighthearted and slapstick humor ... 'The Taming of the Shrew' review The Taming of the Shrew is at Shakespeare's Globe through 26 October. Book The Taming of the Shrew tickets on London Theatre. Photo credit: The Taming of the Shrew (Photos by Ellie Kurttz) Originally published on Jun 19, 2024 10:15. Subscribe to our newsletter to unlock exclusive London theatre updates! The Taming of the Shrew Summary The Taming of the Shrew is a play by William Shakespeare in which the wealthy Molina sisters become embroiled in romantic conflicts. Bianca Molina has many suitors, but her father insists that her ... The Taming of the Shrew: He Is More Shrew Than She The Taming of the Shrew: He Is More Shrew Than She: With Annie Abrams, Tessa Auberjonois, J. Paul Boehmer, Allen Gilmore. The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare's Globe The Taming of the Shrew once again returns to Shakespeare's Globe, with carnival chaos and puppets. Directed by Jude Christian, the play follows a five-act structure, but that's about the only ... assignment essay homework phd report resume review speech thesis