Schafer, Elizabeth, ed., The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare in Production (2002). Detailed historical overview of play with annotated text which includes performance choices, cuts, and stage directions of significant historical productions.
Smallwood, Robert, ed., Players of Shakespeare 4 (1998). Michael Siberry on playing Petruchio, pp. 45-59.
Werner, Sarah, Shakespeare and Feminist Performance: Ideology on Stage (2001). Exploration of feminist issues in Shakespeare's plays with The Taming of the Shrew as case study.
AVAILABLE ON DVD
The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Edwin J. Collins (1923). Twenty-minute silent version, the second half of which is available at www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1054406/index.html.
The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Sam Taylor (1929, DVD 2007). Stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, it was the first Shakespearean talkie and performance style retains elements of silent film--famous for Pickford's wink to camera.
The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1967, DVD 2001). Exuberant and colorful, with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Jonathan Miller (1980, DVD 2005). BBC Shakespeare, rather static in comparison with Zeffirelli, it dispenses with the Sly framework; John Cleese stands out as Petruchio.
The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Aida Zyablikova (1994, DVD 2007). In the series Shakespeare: The Animated Tales. Screenplay by Leon Garfield. Charming, full of inventive detail and brilliant puppetry. Kate is voiced by Amanda Root.
Kiss Me Kate, directed by George Sidney (1953, DVD 2003). Musical update by Sam and Bella Spewack. Songs by Cole Porter. With Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson.
Ten Things I Hate About You, directed by Gil Younger (1999, DVD 2001). Witty updating to American high school with excellent performances from Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger--enjoyable, not for purists.
REFERENCES
1. William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (1778 edn), vol. 4, p. 169.
2. Lynda E. Boose, "Scolding Brides and Bridling Scolds: Taming the Woman's Unruly Member," Shakespeare Quarterly, 42 (1991), pp. 179-213 (pp. 184-85).
3. Boose, "Scolding Brides and Bridling Scolds," p. 189.
4. Coppelia Kahn, Man's Estate: Masculine Identity in Shakespeare (1981), pp. 109-10.
5. Kahn, Man's Estate, p. 112.
6. Karen Newman, Fashioning Femininity and English Renaissance Drama (1991), p. 41.
7. Newman, Fashioning Femininity, pp. 47-48.
8. Leah Marcus, "The Shakespearean Editor as Shrew-Tamer," English Literary Renaissance, 22 (1992), pp. 177-200 (p. 182).
9. J. Dennis Huston, Shakespeare's Comedies of Play (1981), p. 87.
10. Cecil C. Seronsy, " 'Supposes' as the Unifying Theme in The Taming of the Shrew," Shakespeare Quarterly 14 (1963), pp. 15-30 (p. 19).
11. John C. Bean, "Comic Structure and the Humanizing of Kate in The Taming of the Shrew," in Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz, Gayle Greene, and Carol Thomas Neely, eds., The Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare (1980), pp. 65-78 (p. 72).
12. Alexander Leggatt, Shakespeare's Comedy of Love (1974), p. 59.
13. Valerie Wayne, "Refashioning the Shrew," Shakespeare Studies 17 (1985), pp. 159-87 (p. 173).
14. H. B. Charlton, Shakespearian Comedy (1938), p. 98.
15. Bean, "Comic Structure and the Humanizing of Kate," pp. 68-72.
16. Ralph Berry, Shakespeare's Comedies: Explorations in Form (1972), p. 70.
17. Wayne, "Refashioning the Shrew," p. 172.
18. Huston, Shakespeare's Comedies of Play, p. 64.
19. Wayne, "Refashioning the Shrew," p. 174.
20. Graham Holderness, Shakespeare in Performance: The Taming of the Shrew (1989), p. 1.
21. Kahn, Man's Estate, p. 104.
22. Leggatt, Shakespeare's Comedy of Love, pp. 48-49.
23. Newman, Fashioning Femininity, p. 38.
24. Leggatt, Shakespeare's Comedy of Love, pp. 42-43.
25. Thomas Davies, Chapter XXIV, in his Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick, Vol. 1 (rev. edn, 1808; reprinted 1969), pp. 311-15.
26. Davies, Chapter XXIV.
27. Tori Haring-Smith, From Farce to Metadrama: A Stage History of the Taming of the Shrew, 1594-1983 (1985), p. 20.
28. Review of The Taming of the Shrew, Illustrated London News, Vol. XXIX, No. 831, 22 November 1856, p. 521.
29. Haring-Smith, From Farce to Metadrama, p. 72.
30. New York Times, 19 January 1887.
31. New York Times, 19 January 1887.
32. The Athenaeum, No. 3162, 2 June 1888, p. 706.
33. Stark Young, 1935, quoted in Haring-Smith, From Farce to Metadrama, p. 72.
34. The Times, London, 12 May 1913.
35. Saturday Review, 6 November 1897. Reprinted in Edwin Wilson, ed., Shaw on Shakespeare (1961), p. 198.
36. Haring-Smith, From Farce to Metadrama.
37. Literary Digest, New York, Vol. 120, 12 October 1935, p. 20.
38. Walter Kerr, New York Herald Tribune, 21 June 1962.
39. Tice L. Miller, "The Taming of the Shrew," in Samuel L. Leiter, ed., Shakespeare Around the Globe: A Guide to Notable Postwar Revivals (1986), pp. 661-84.
40. Charles Marowitz, The Marowitz Shakespeare (1978), p. 15.
41. Marowitz, The Marowitz Shakespeare, p. 160.
42. Miller, "The Taming of the Shrew."
43. Geraldine Cousin, New Theatre Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 7, August 1986, pp. 275-81.
44. Sarah Hemming, Financial Times, 23 August 2003.
45. Ibid.
46. Ibid.
47. Ann Christensen, "Petruchio's House in Postwar Suburbia: Reinventing the Domestic Woman (Again)" in Post Script 17.1 (1997), pp. 28-42.
48. Chris Dunkley, Financial Times, 24 October 1980.
49. Graham Holderness, in his Shakespeare in Performance: The Taming of the Shrew (1989), pp. 104-11.
50. Michael Bogdanov interviewed by Christopher J. McCullough, in Graham Holderness, The Shakespeare Myth (1988).
51. Michael Billington, Guardian, 5 May 1979.
52. David Ward, Guardian, 11 October 1990.
53. Gale Edwards discussing "The Taming of the Shrew," in Elizabeth Schafer, Ms-Directing Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare (1998).
54. Bill Alexander in interview with Liz Gilbey, Plays International, April 1992.
55. Jane Edwardes, Time Out, 8 April 1992.
56. Bill Alexander in interview with Liz Gilbey.
57. Brian Mairs, Solihull Times, 10 April 1992.
58. Di Trevis interviewed in Schafer, Ms-Directing Shakespeare.
59. Ibid.
60. Michael Billington, Guardian, 24 April 1995.
61. Nick Curtis, Evening Standard, 28 October 1999.
62. Michael Billington, Guardian, 29 October 1999.
63. Samuel Schoenbaum, Times Literary Supplement, 27 October 1978.
64. Benedict Nightingale, New Statesman, 12 May 1978.
65. Rebecca Brown, The Taming of the Shrew in Performance, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Website (2006).
66. Graham Holderness, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare in Performance (1989).
67. Michael Bogdanov in Holderness, The Shakespeare Myth.
68. Nightingale, New Statesman, 12 May 1978.
69. Ibid.
70. Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, 24 August 1985.
71. Time Out, 12 September 1985.
72. Di Trevis (interview from the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph, 28 August 1985), in Schafer, Ms-Directing Shakespeare.
73. Geraldine Cousin, "The Touring of the Shrew," New Theatre Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 7 (August 1986).
74. Michael Siberry, "Petruccio," in Robert Smallwood, ed., Players of Shakespeare 4 (1998).
75. Siberry, "Petruccio."
76. Fiona Shaw in interview with Peter Lewis, The Times, London, 2 September 1987.
77. Fiona Shaw on Katherina, in Carol Chillington Rutter, Clamorous V
oices (1988).
78. Ibid.
79. Irving Wardle, The Times, London, 10 September 1987.
80. Shaw on Katherina, in Rutter, Clamorous Voices.
81. Andrew Rissik, Independent, 10 September 1987.
82. Shaw on Katherina, in Rutter, Clamorous Voices.
83. New Statesman, 12 May 1978, quoted in Elizabeth Schafer, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare in Production (2002).
84. www.rsc.org.uk/explore/workspace/shrew_play_guide_3249.htm.
85. Michael Bogdanov interviewed in Holderness, The Shakespeare Myth.
86. Curtis, Evening Standard, 28 October 1999.
87. Schafer, The Taming of the Shrew.
88. Billington, Guardian, 29 October 1999.
89. Curtis, Evening Standard, 28 October 1999.
90. Siberry, "Petruccio."
91. Kate Bassett, Independent on Sunday, 13 April 2003.
92. Michael Billington, Guardian, 11 April 2003.
93. Rebecca Brown, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Website, 2006.
94. Billington, Guardian, 11 April 2003.
95. Brown, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Website.
96. Bill Alexander in interview with Liz Gilbey, Plays International, April 1992.
97. Michael Bogdanov interviewed in Holderness, The Shakespeare Myth.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PICTURE CREDITS
Preparation of "The Taming of the Shrew in Performance" was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
The second half of the introduction ("The Critics Debate") draws extensively on a longer overview of the play's critical history prepared for us by Sarah Carter.
Thanks as always to our indefatigable and eagle-eyed copy editor Tracey Day and to Ray Addicott for overseeing the production process with rigor and calmness.
Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.
Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company's official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.
For more information see www.shakespeare.org.uk.
1. Directed by George Devine (1953) Angus McBean (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 2. Directed by John Barton (1960) Angus McBean (c) Royal Shakespeare Company
3. Directed by Di Trevis (1985) (c) Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk
4. Directed by Jonathan Miller (1987) Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 5. Directed by Michael Bogdanov (1978) Joe Cocks Studio Collection (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 6. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd (2003) (c) Donald Cooper/photostage.co.uk
7. Directed by Gregory Doran (2003) Malcolm Davies (c) Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 8. Directed by Conall Morrison (2008) Simon Annand (c) Royal Shakespeare Company 9. Reconstructed Elizabethan Playhouse (c) Charcoalblue
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
Maya Angelou
*
A. S. Byatt
*
Caleb Carr
*
Christopher Cerf
*
Harold Evans
*
Charles Frazier
*
Vartan Gregorian
*
Jessica Hagedorn
*
Richard Howard
*
Charles Johnson
*
Jon Krakauer
*
Edmund Morris
*
Azar Nafisi
*
Joyce Carol Oates
*
Elaine Pagels
*
John Richardson
*
Salman Rushdie
*
Oliver Sacks
*
Carolyn See
*
Gore Vidal
1 pheeze fix, get even with
2 A ... stocks i.e. I'll put you in the stocks (instrument of punishment in which the arms or legs were confined) 3 baggage good-for-nothing woman, harlot
4 chronicles historical account Richard Conqueror Sly may confuse Richard Coeur-de-lion (Lionheart) with William the Conquerer 5 paucas pallabris "few words" (corruption of the Spanish) Sessa! Be off! (cry used in hunting)/be quiet 6 burst broken
7 denier tenth of a penny Go ... Jeronimy Sly confuses Saint Jerome with Hieronimo, a character in Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy who cautioned himself with "Hieronimo, beware! Go by, go by!"
8 cold bed perhaps a beggar's bed, the damp ground
9 thirdborough parish constable
10 by law in court
11 kindly by all means
12 charge order tender well take good care of
13 Brach bitch-hound (given that Merriman would seem a more suitable name for a male dog, some editors emend to "breathe"--i.e. "give breathing space to"--thus also improving the grammar) cur dog embossed exhausted, foaming at the mouth 14 couple leash together deep-mouthed brach bitch with a loud bark 15 made it good i.e. picked up the scent
16 coldest fault when the scent was lost
19 cried ... loss howled upon discovering the scent when it had been completely lost merest total 22 fleet swift
24 sup feed unto after
29 bed but cold cold bed in which
31 Grim ... image in his drunken stupor Sly resembles a corpse
32 practise on trick
34 sweet delightful/perfumed
35 banquet light meal
36 brave fine
37 forget himself behave inappropriately/forget who he was
38 cannot choose is bound to
39 strange odd/wonderful
40 fancy fanciful thought/imagining
43 hang it round adorn it wanton lively
44 Balm anoint, bathe foul dirty/unattractive distilled fragrant 45 sweet scented
47 dulcet sweet
48 straight straight away
49 low humble reverence bow/servitude
53 ewer jug containing water for handwashing diaper cloth 58 disease illness/derangement
60 is must be (mad)
62 kindly naturally
63 passing exceedingly
64 husbanded managed modesty care/moderation
65 warrant assure
66 As so that
69 office duty, role
70 Sirrah sir (used to an inferior)
71 Belike perhaps
74 An't if it
79 So please if it please duty services
84 fitted suited (to you)
87 happy fortunate
88 rather for more so because
89 cunning professional skill
91 doubtful apprehensive about modesties propriety, self-control 92 over-eyeing of observing/staring at
94 merry passion fit of laughter
96 impatient angry
98 veriest antic most complete buffoon
99 buttery storeroom for provisions
101 want lack affords has to offer
103 all suits every aspect (puns on sense of "outfits")
105 do him obeisance bow/be submissive
106 as he will if he wishes to
107 bear must conduct honourable action dignified behavior 109 by them accomplished performed by them (the ladies) 110 duty reverence
111 tongue voice lowly humble
116 with ... bosom bowing his head to his chest
119 esteemed him believed himself to be
122 commanded tears tears on command
123 shift purpose/trick
124 napkin handkerchief close conveyed secretly carried 125 in despite notwithstanding anything
126 dispatched carried out
127 Anon shortly
128 usurp the grace take on the elegance
131 how to see how stay prevent
133 in go in Haply perhaps/hopefully
134 spleen i.e. mood, impulse (the spleen was thought to be the seat of laughter) running scene 1 continues most editions assume a shift of location from "outside an ale-house" to "a bedroom in the lord's house," but the text suggests that the location of the whole induction is the lord's house, the only move being from outside (the main stage) to the bedroom (above space) 1 small weak (hence cheap)
2 sack Spanish white wine
3 conserves confections, sweetmeats
4 raiment clothing
7 conserves of beef salted beef
8 doublets close-fitting jackets
11 look ... over-leather i.e. peep through holes
12 idle humour mad whim
15 spirit temperament/mood/fiend
17 Burtonheath possibly Barton-on-the-heath, a village near Stratford-upon-Avon 18 cardmaker maker of cards, instruments for combing wooltransmutation change of conditionbear-herd keeper of a performing bear 19 tinker pot-mender
20 ale-wife woman who keeps an ale-houseWincot village four miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon 21 on the score in debtscore tally kept by marking notches on a piece of wood sheer weak/drunk without food score ... for reckon me to be 23 bestraught out of my mind
25 droop become despondent
27 As as if
29 ancient former
30 dreams delusions
33 Apollo Greek god of music
36 lustful arousing desire
37 trimmed up decked out Semiramis legendary queen of Assyria, famous for her voluptuousness 38 bestrow scatter (probably with rushes)
39 trapped adorned/fitted out
41 hawking hunting with hawks
43 welkin sky
45 course hunt the hare
46 breathed exercised, strong-winded roe small deer
48 Adonis in classical mythology, a beautiful huntsman, pursued by Cytherea (Venus); when he was killed by a boar while hunting, she changed him into an anemone 49 Cytherea more commonly known as Venus, the goddess of love sedges coarse grass growing by rivers 50 wanton grow playful/flourishing/lustful
52 Io in classical myth, a girl raped by Jove/ Jupiter, then turned into a heifer maid virgin 53 beguiled bewitched/deceived surprised attacked
54 lively lifelike
55 Daphne in classical mythology, a girl pursued by the god Apollo; she prayed for help and was turned into a laurel tree 58 workmanly skillfully
61 waning degenerate/declining from the perfection of Eden
63 envious cruel
65 yet even now
75 wit senses
76 knew but only knew
79 fay faith
80 of in
84 rail upon rant, complain about hostess ... house landlady of the inn 85 present ... leet bring accusations against her at the manorial court (leet) 86 stone ... quarts unlike sealed quarts, stone jugs had no official mark upon them guaranteeing they contained the specified amount of ale 88 woman's ... house landlady's maid