Taming Of The Shrew Play Analysis

On February 24, 2018 at the Trahern theater, Austin Peay University show cased a new take on William Shakespear's "Taming of the Shrew." The show was a collaboration of the theater and dance majors with the art and design majors. Directed and reinterpreted by Talon Beeson, the play is set in the west coast United States during the 1960's. This gave the play a different historical context than what Shakespeare originally meant because of the conflicts that occurred in the 1960's: women's liberation, the sexual revolution, the stonewall riots, and the hippie counter-culture. Even with all of the changes from the original, the play is still humorous in its distinct low comedy formatting. "Taming of the Shrew" was given a spectacular new point

There was sixteen actors and actresses in total with some of the females cross dressing to fit their male character. A few of the characters were obviously for comedic relief or acted goofy enough to border on slapstick comedy. Such as, Biondello, the servant of Lucentio, and the servants of Petruchio: Grumio, Curtis, and Nathaniel. For example, act two scene one had Petruchio's three servants sliding around and bumping into each other as they hurried to greet Petruchio. Besides the exaggerated actions, the cast's movements looked completely natural as if they never had to rehearse. The best delivered soliloquys were from Petruchio and Kate. Petruchio talked about how was going to "tame" Kate by treating her cruelly. Kate's soliloquy was in the last scene of the play and was about how a wife should respect and attend to her husband faithfully. Although, the way Kate reacted to her husband seemed as if Kate is only playing along with Petruchio's plan and is in fact manipulating him from the background. The stage business throughout Kate's soliloquy had Petruchio looking like a fool that bent to the slightest bit of affection that Kate would show

Baptista Minola. Hateful, bad-tempered, and sharp tongued is how she is described. The play portrays Kate as someone that is jealous of her younger sister, Bianca, because Bianca is the apple of everyone's eyes. There was a scene in act one where Kate had tied Bianca's hands behind her back and was questioning Bianca about which one of Bianca's suitors she loved. Bianca responded by asking if Kate was doing this because Kate was envious. Kate become enraged because Bianca is right. No one seems to show Kate love or sympathy whether from strangers or from her own family. Then Petruchio came along and everything became worse for Kate. He stated that he would marry her and teach Bianca how to be a good woman and wife all while being sexist towards Kate and making crude comments on her figure. Kate's every encounter with Petruchio just about screamed distaste and animosity. Even after Kate is forced to marry him Petruchio still acts cruel towards her and would do or say the exact opposite of what Kate would want. In Petruchio's soliloquy he states that it is all in an attempt to tame her. However, it is proven in the final scene of the play that Kate was not tamed at all but had fooled Petruchio into believing he had. For example, when Kate was giving her soliloquy to Bianca and the Widow on how a wife should be Kate would treat Petruchio in an almost patronizing way such a petting his head like a dog or