thumb) and Kate (Emily Jordan) from a Carmel Shake-speare Festival production of The Taming of the Shrew
at the outdoor Forest Theater in Carmel, CA., Oct, 2003.
The Taming of the Shrew
is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594.
The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a drunken tinker named Sly is tricked into thinking he is a nobleman by a mischievous Lord. The Lord has a play performed for Sly's amusement, set in Padua with a primary and sub-plot. The main plot depicts the courtship of Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, and Katherina, the headstrong, obdurate, and eponymous shrew. Initially, Katherina is an unwilling participant in the relationship, but Petruchio tempers her with various psychological torments - the "taming" - until she is an obedient bride. The sub-plot features a competition between the suitors of Katherina's less intractable sister, Bianca.
The play's apparent misogynistic elements have become the subject of considerable controversy, particularly among modern audiences and readers. It has nevertheless been adapted numerous times for stage, screen, opera, and musical theatre; perhaps the most famous adaptation being Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate
.
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THE TAMING OF THE SHREW TICKETS
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thumb) and Kate (
Emily Jordan) from a
Carmel Shake-speare Festival production of
The Taming of the Shrew
at the outdoor
Forest Theater in
Carmel, CA., Oct, 2003.
The Taming of the Shrew
is a
comedy by
William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594.
The play begins with a
framing device, often referred to as the
Induction, in which a drunken
tinker named Sly is tricked into thinking he is a nobleman by a mischievous Lord. The Lord has a play performed for Sly's amusement, set in
Padua with a primary and
sub-plot. The main plot depicts the
courtship of Petruchio, a gentleman of
Verona, and Katherina, the headstrong, obdurate, and eponymous
shrew. Initially, Katherina is an unwilling participant in the relationship, but Petruchio tempers her with various psychological torments - the "taming" - until she is an obedient bride. The sub-plot features a competition between the suitors of Katherina's less intractable sister, Bianca.
The play's apparent
misogynistic elements have become the subject of considerable controversy, particularly among modern audiences and readers. It has nevertheless been adapted numerous times for stage, screen, opera, and musical theatre; perhaps the most famous adaptation being
Cole Porter's
Kiss Me, Kate
.