BRUSH UP YOUR SHAKESPEARE: FROM THE BARD TO BROADWAY
The Taming of the Shrew is an early comedy by William Shakespeare, written between 1590-1592.
Hortensio’s friend Petruchio agrees to marry Katharina upon learning she has a large dowry. Their first meeting is a battle of wits, but he insists on marrying her, and her father agrees. Petruchio arrives late and badly dressed to their wedding; he behaves obnoxiously and refuses to let Katharina stay for the reception. He takes her to his country house and forbids her from eating, sleeping, or wearing nice clothes until she obeys him.
Back in Padua, Hortensio and Gremio see that Bianca has fallen for Lucentio, and they decide to give up their pursuit. Tranio persuades a passing schoolmaster to pretend to be Lucentio’s father, Vincentio, and tell Baptista that their family is wealthy. Baptista signs a marriage contract with the fake Vincentio, while Lucentio and Bianca secretly elope.
THE ORIGINAL PLAY In the prologue to The Taming of the Shrew, drunken tinker (a traveling tinsmith) Christopher Sly is found sleeping by a wealthy lord. The lord brings Sly back to his house and, upon Sly’s awakening, convinces Sly he is nobleman who has slept for 15 years. Sly believes his real life has been a long dream. Then, a traveling troupe of players arrives to present a play about the taming of a shrew.
The play-within-a-play opens in Padua, Italy, where Lucentio, a student, arrives and falls in love at first sight with Bianca, the daughter of the rich merchant Baptista. Baptista forbids Bianca to marry until a husband is found for her older sister, Katharina, who is considered “a shrew” because she is willful and disobedient. Two of Bianca’s other suitors, Gremio and Hortensio, join forces to find a husband for Katharina. Lucentio changes identities with Tranio, his servant, and gets hired as Bianca’s tutor.
A shrew is a small, mouse-like rodent with a sharp bite. According to old superstitions, a shrew running across your feet caused lameness. Around the 13th century, people applied the term to spiteful men and women alike, and by Shakespeare's time, women who were nagging or ill-tempered were derisively called shrews.
On their return to Padua for the wedding, Katharina is forced by Petruchio to wear rags. She finally submits to his will, agreeing that the sun is the moon and that an old man on the road is a young virgin. The old man turns out to be Lucentio's real dad, Vincentio, who joins them on their journey. Upon arrival at Lucentio’s house, Tranio and the schoolmaster accuse the true Vincentio of being an imposter and threaten to have him imprisoned. Lucentio and Bianca return just in time, and Lucentio reveals his identity and their elopement. Both fathers approve the marriage.
At a combined wedding reception, the three husbands, Petruchio, Lucentio, and Hortensio (who has married a wealthy widow) bet on which of their new wives is the most obedient. They call the women to come from another room, and only Katharina comes when called. She gives the women a lecture on the importance of wifely obedience. Then, the couples retire to their wedding beds.
THE SOURCE
Most scholars believe Shakespeare borrowed his central taming plot from the oral folktale tradition. Within the Aarne–Thompson classification system, which organizes stories from around the world according to their universal themes and traits, almost 400 variations of the “shrew- taming” tale were told throughout Europe.
SHREW ON STAGE AND SCREEN While the play was popular in Shakespeare’s time, it was rarely revived in the following centuries; the first American production was in 1887. The successful Alfred Lunt/Lynn Fontanne production (which inspired the backstage story
6 ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
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