The Taming of the Shrew (26 page)
Read The Taming of the Shrew Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
CRITICAL APPROACHES
Aspinall, Dana E.,
The Taming of the Shrew: Critical Essays
(2002). Excellent critical history in Part I, useful selection of important twentieth-century critical essays in Part II and performance criticism in Part III.
Bean, John C., “Comic Structure and the Humanizing of Kate in
The Taming of the Shrew
,
” in
The Woman’s Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare,
ed. Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz, Gayle Greene, and Carol Thomas Neely (1983), pp. 65–78.
Boose, Lynda, “Scolding Brides and Bridling Scolds: Taming the Woman’s Unruly Member,”
Shakespeare Quarterly
42 (1991), pp. 179–213.
Dolan, Frances E.,
The Taming of the Shrew: Texts and Contexts
(1996). Useful discussion of the play’s background and performance.
Fineman, Joel, “The Turn of the Shrew,” in
Shakespeare and the Question of Theory
,
ed. Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman (1985), pp. 138–60. Complex psychoanalytic reading.
Holderness, Graham, and Brian Loughrey, eds.,
A Pleasant Conceited Historie Called The Taming of a Shrew,
Shakespeare Originals (1992). Offers text of the “other” Shrew play for interest and comparison.
Kahn, Coppélia,
Man’s Estate: Masculine Identity in Shakespeare
(1981). Influential feminist reading.
Kidnie, Margaret Jane,
The Taming of the Shrew
,
Shakespeare Handbooks (2006). Useful guide with chapters on text and early performances, the play’s sources and cultural context, as well as discussion of key productions and a detailed textual commentary.
Leggatt, Alexander,
Shakespeare’s Comedy of Love
(1974). Sympathetic, humane.
Marcus, Leah, “The Shakespearean Editor as Shrew-Tamer,”
English Literary Renaissance
22 (1992), pp. 177–200. Neat combination of interpretation and textual theory.
O’Connor, John,
Shakespearean Afterlives: Ten Characters with a Life of Their Own
(2003). Historical overviews of character plus later developments: chapter 8 deals with “Kate,” pp. 257–300.
Brooke, Michael, “
The Taming of the Shrew
on Screen,” BFI Screen Online,
www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/564739/index.html
. Excellent short overview of film versions.
Forster, Antonia, ed.,
The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare in Performance
(2008). Useful introductory guide with accompanying CD.
Haring-Smith, Tori,
From Farce to Metadrama: A Stage History of the Taming of the Shrew 1594–1983
(1985). Detailed historical account tracing the course of the play in performance.
Holderness, Graham,
The Taming of the Shrew
,
Shakespeare in Performance (1989). Useful introduction followed by separate chapters on four important twentieth-century productions.
Rutter, Carol,
Clamorous Voices: Shakespeare’s Women Today
(1988). In chapter 1, Paola Dionisotti, Sinead Cusack and Fiona Shaw discuss their experiences of playing Kate.
Schafer, Elizabeth,
Ms-Directing Shakespeare: Women Direct Shakespeare
(1998). Introduces important contemporary women directors in Part 1; Part 2 discusses their approach to specific plays,
The Taming of the Shrew
at pp. 57–72.
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.
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.
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.
Coppélia 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 Voices
(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
.