2001-2002 Season

The Taming of the Shrew is a play-within-a-play which begins when a nobleman and his hunting party discover a drunken tinker, Christopher Sly, establish him in transient luxury, tell him that he is a lord who has been dreaming for fifteen years, and bring in group of strolling players to entertain him.  The comedy the actors present to Sly is a play called The Taming of the Shrew, which is set in Italy, and concerns the marriage and consequent taming of the shrewish Katharina, elder daughter of a wealthy Pauduan, Baptista.  No one wants her, but everyone wants her sister, Bianca, who cannot be given in marriage until Kate is off his father’s hands.  Hence the excitement when a swaggering adventurer, Petruchio, appears, seeking a rich wife.  Petruchio and Kate meet, fight, and marry under ridiculous circumstances, with Petruchio on the wedding night keeping Kate hungry, sleepless and frustrated until she agrees to do everything he says - and all “done in reverend care of her.”  Eventually Kate sees that her shrewish behavior is unnecessary, and at Bianca’s wedding, makes a speech to the women and men about the respect that women and men owe each other in marriage.  As the play-within-a-play ends, Sly awakens, saying he will go and “tame his wife,” whereupon he is kicked out into the street by the tavern’s barmaid.

The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays.  Audiences have always loved the wonderful zest of the plot and the sharply drawn comic characters.  The leading roles of Kate and Petruchio are a feast for actors, and young audiences in particular have enjoyed the delightful absurdity of the play’s antic situations, and the battle of the sexes.  It has been the basis for several films, including the Zefferelli 1960 version with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.  Cole Porter’s musical Kiss Me Kate borrowed freely from the plot of The Taming of the Shrew.  The Acting Company’s production will be freely drawn from the Elizabethan world, much like the film “Shakespeare in Love,” and will be both a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare’s work for students, and an entertaining evening for adults.

Click HERE for a full color poster (100k) in Adobe Acrobat format.