The Taming of the Shrew
Two wealthy sisters in Padua must be married off. The modest, demure Bianca has no shortage of suitors, but who on earth will take the wild, ungovernable, shrewish Katherina? Only the gold-digging Petruchio, a man as maddeningly strong-willed and perverse as Katherina herself, is equal to thetask of bullying her to the altar.
3.8 out of 5 based on 10 reviews
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Omniscore:
|
| Location |
London |
| Venue |
Shakespeare's Globe |
| Director |
Toby Frow |
| Cast |
Samantha Spiro, Simon Paisley Day, Michael Bertenshaw, Jamie Beamish, Pip Donaghy, Sarah MacRae, Pearce Quigley, Rick Warden |
| From |
June 2012 |
| Until |
October 2012 |
| Box Office |
020 7401 9919 |
| |
Two wealthy sisters in Padua must be married off. The modest, demure Bianca has no shortage of suitors, but who on earth will take the wild, ungovernable, shrewish Katherina? Only the gold-digging Petruchio, a man as maddeningly strong-willed and perverse as Katherina herself, is equal to thetask of bullying her to the altar.
Reviews
The Daily Mail
Quentin Letts
“While being traditional in dress, it is innovative in its lack of feminist agonising. Shakespeare was surely enough of a romantic not to believe husbands should bully wives. Was he not making comic hay out of the battle of the sexes? As comic material, that will never pall.”
06/08/2012
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The Independent on Sunday
Claudia Pritchard
“The humour in Toby Frow's production is bawdy, dished out with glee and with music, no bucket unkicked at the mention of death, no bird strutting but it be the cock or the cuckoo. Pearce Quigley's whining Grumio is wearing, but outstanding are the clowning Tom Godwin, thrumming "Go Johnny Go" on lute, and Spiro's many-layered Kate, not so much shrewish as feline.”
08/07/2012
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The Evening Standard
Henry Hitchings
“This is a crowd-pleasing production, occasionally leaning a bit too far into ‘Carry, On’ territory but undeniably well suited to the Globe. Although it’s broad and bawdy, there are a few essential touches of poignancy, and the laughs come thick and fast.”
05/07/2012
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The Daily Express
Simon Edge
“Snarling like a caged animal [Samantha Spiro] can deliver a mean head-butt as the “irksome brawling scold” and at one point fells a pair of double doors with a kick. Taming her doesn’t seem sexist so much as an act of social duty.”
06/07/2012
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The Financial Times
Sarah Hemming
“Samantha Spiro is excellent in the role, a diminutive firecracker. And though she can be very funny, she also puts you in mind of an abused kitten: all anger and misery, claws and spitting. Simon Paisley Day’s blustering ruffian Petruchio is the first person who shows real interest in her, and when they meet they hold a glance that suggests an instant attraction. His “taming” emerges as the rather primitive effort of an adult trying to break the wild habits of an unhappy child and Spiro’s transformation suggests she has found a hitherto unknown level of peace. ”
08/07/2012
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The Daily Telegraph
Jane Shilling
“There remains the troublesome fact that the language of the Shrew is most beautiful when it is most cruel — for example in Petruchio’s description of how he intends to tame his love by starvation, humiliation and sleep deprivation, methods that might be frowned on if they were deployed in Guantánamo, let alone the domestic hearth. But this intelligent and energetic production finds the tenderness in the text, and sends its audience home amused, exhilarated, but also disturbed — which is as it should be.”
05/07/2012
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The Stage
Michael Coveney
“Half a dozen times in this play someone, invariably a woman, is described as froward, an adjective which here might derive from the director’s name and is certainly descriptive of the restless, bustling energy of his production ... “He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.” The stage is in a constant whirl, characters changing identity, abusing each other, even kicking the bucket. Spiro’s default mode is one of forward, and froward, propulsion, until placated, and exhausted, by the curious nature of her seduction.”
05/07/2012
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The Observer
Kate Kellaway
“Full of slapstick and practical jokes – a jolly, enjoyable thigh-slapper of a Shrew – but there's a more unsettling play unable to make itself heard above the uproar.”
08/07/2012
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The Guardian
Michael Billington
“The evening's most original feature is that Simon Paisley Day plays Petruchio less as a bumptious adventurer than as a quietly spoken gentleman who adopts sadistic wife-taming principally as a therapeutic device. It doesn't make this any more palatable, but it is given a certain rationale by Samantha Spiro's no-holds-barred Katherina, who knocks down walls with her fists and whose instinctive response to a prospective wooer is to kick him in the goolies. Both actors go at it hammer and tongs, but what I missed was any hint that they are both troubled people whose very first encounter ignites a strong sexual spark.”
05/07/2012
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The Sunday Times
Jane Edwardes
“This might have been more enjoyable if the audience hadn’t been quite so keen to see Samantha Spiro’s spirited Kate transformed into a docile wife. Is it really necessary to clap when her father declares that the match between Kate and Petruchio will go ahead despite her objections? ”
15/07/2012
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