My first instinct in NYC was right one; 3 characters only [Pete, Kate and Grumio] 194, Performers Gallery.
Grumio - narrator. Boy or old man?
Very physical theatre, Commedia.
5-6 scenes between Kate and Pete with Grumio's improvisation in between.
This time in two languages -- English and Amharic. [Even mixing them?]
Lab Theatre Seasons [ first year with mini-chekhov: farces -- Bear and Proposal ]
Grumio as Shakespeare? His thoughts on marriage and love, jokes...
Format : marriage workshop with tests (answers later), questions-answers, Resolution (Grumio) -- Are you Ready to do it Today?
G-Groups : matrix & playwright -- places to work on it, including online?
"Intensive Weekend Retreat With Counseling Couple" -- Repair Your Marriage or Save Your Marriage... like! "Throughout your marriage, you and your spouse will find your marriage relationship enriched and strengthened if you continue to work on your communication..." -- google it yourself.
"Power of Two :
Who takes the workshops?" [Should be billed as SEMINAR?] "Marriage Therapy Couples Weekend Workshops" and so on!
Topics Explored:
Roles and Expectations of Marriage
Finances
Love and Intimacy
Communication Styles
Conflict Management
Spirituality in Marriage
Children and Family Decisions
Induction: "The playgoer who sees The Taming of the Shrew for the first time, or the reader who opens the play for the first time, having known in advance only that the story is about the taming of a termagant Kate by a swashbuckling Petruchio, must be startled to find that it begins, in the standard (First Folio) text, not with Petruchio or Kate or her family but with a drunken tinker, one Christopher Sly, who is being thrown out of an inn for refusing to pay his debts. It is true that Christopher also once calls himself 'Christophero' and that he is so named in one stage direction, but he has acquaintances in Burtonheath and is well known to ' Marrian Hacket the fat Alewife of Wincot'. Most unusually for a Shakespeare play (the only other may be The Merry Wives of Windsor), we are, without subterfuge, in the England of Shakespeare's own time-indeed, apparently not far from Stratford; 1 and Petruchio and his Italy must wait.
An unnamed sporting Lord finds Sly in a drunken stupor and advances the plan of dressing him up as a nobleman while he is unconscious and leading him to believe when he awakes that he has been suffering for many years from delusions but can now, with care, resume his rightful aristocratic role. The plan is carried out, and Sly, now 'aloft' with his attendants, is persuaded that, as part of the medical treatment during his 'amendment', and to avert 'melancholly', he should allow himself to be entertained with a comedy. Sly does not even know what a comedy is but condescends to watch it, in company with his supposed wife; and the play 'proper' (which is thus a 'play within a play') then begins, with the story of Baptista and his daughters Katherine and Bianca and their various suitors.
Sly watches the first scene, apparently without much interest or even understanding (he does not know whether it has finished and he has indeed been 'nodding'); he makes the immortal remark' 'Tis a verie excellent peece of worke, Madame Ladie: would 'twere done'; the stage direction in the First Folio says 'They sit and marke'; and then we hear or see nothing more of him. A producer has to make up his mind what to do about him (and the most frequent solution is to let him fall asleep again and be quietly carried off, or have curtains drawn, across him and his group, in the hope, either way, that the audience will forget him-although it is not unknown for him to be left on the stage till the very end of the play and then removed, a device that does little or nothing either for Sly or for the... " [ OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE The Taming of the Shrew, Edited by H. J. OLIVER ]
Summary
Commedia + Comedy: present day? Katarina -- feminist, Petrucio -- traditional man, from Russia? It could be even in Italy: North (Kate) vs. South (Pet).
I have to cut it -- an adaptation. New directory in SHOWS?
Questions
Kep focus on the trio: Kate - Pet - Grumio. The rest -- chorus. In tradition of "Turandot" * Music?
Drama : read Shakespeare Pages.
Notes
Directing second Shakespeare comedy? I have to have a good reason for doing it! The showcase in NYC (Starlet) in mid 80s -- it was about Shakespeare (I introduced a new character, played by a tinny actress).
Theatre UAF is Pleased to present "Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare.
A delightful romantic comedy, celebrating love and it's amazing power to transform us.
Performances take place in the UAF Lee H. Salisbury Theatre on
Fridays and Saturdays November 12, 13, 19, and 20 at 8:15 PM
and on Sunday November 21 at 2:00 PM
Tickets are on sale at Hoitt's Underground and the Theatre UAF Box Office, located in the Great Hall of the UAF Fine Arts Complex, open M-F from 12-5 and two hours prior to each performance.
Advance ticket prices: $11 General Admission, $9 Military/ Seniors/ UAF Employees, $5 for Students and Children (show is rated PG). Tickets are $1 more at the door, so get yours early!
Tickets available by calling 474-7751 more info online at Theatre UAF
Persons in the Induction
A LORD
CHRISTOPHER SLY, a tinker
HOSTESS
PAGE
PLAYERS
HUNTSMEN
SERVANTS
BAPTISTA MINOLA, a rich eman of Padua
VINCENTIO, an old gentleman of Pisa
LUCENTIO, son to Vincentio; in love with Bianca
PETRUCHIO, a gentleman of Verona; suitor to Katherina
Suitors to Bianca
GREMIO
HORTENSIO
Servants to Lucentio
TRANIO
BIONDELLO
Servants to Petruchio
GRUMIO
CURTIS
PEDANT, set up to personate Vincentio
Daughters to Baptista
KATHERINA, the shrew
BIANCA
WIDOW
+ Tailor, Haberdasher, and Servants attending on Baptista and
Petruchio
SCENE: Sometimes in Padua, and sometimes in PETRUCHIO'S house in
the country.
In Padua (Italy), Lucentio and his servant Tranio (both from Paris) stroll while Lucentio ponders that he has come to Padua to pursue knowledge. Tranio points out that he should pursue pleasures, as well. Then, Baptista and his daughters Katherine (older, the shrew) and Bianca (younger) appear with Bianca's suitors Gremio and Hortensio. Baptista tells them they cannot pursue Bianca until Katherine is married. Privately, Gremio and Hortensio agree to find her a husband so they can both resume wooing Bianca. While looking on, Lucentio falls in love with Bianca. He decides to let his servant Tranio pretend to be Lucentio, so that Lucentio can be a school teacher to Bianca. Biondello (another servant of Lucentio) is told to act as a servant to Tranio. Petruchio of Verona arrives in Padua with his servant Grumio to see his friend Hortensio. Upon meeting, Hortensio mentions Katherine in passing and Petruchio vows to woo and marry her (for her large dowry). Hortensio then decides to pretend to be a school master and instruct Bianca in music. Gremio arrives with Lucentio (disguised as a school master, Cambio) and tells Hortensio of his plants to let Lucentio school Bianca and speak highly of Gremio. Tranio then arrives and announces that he (as Lucentio) will be a suitor to Bianca.
At Baptista's house, Petruchio arrives with Hortensio (as Litio) and Gremio arrives with Lucentio (as Cambio). Tranio (as Lucentio) is also there, proclaiming his suit for Bianca. Petruchio meets Kate and the two spar wits, making Petruchio more determined than ever to marry Kate, which he announces to all; they are to be married on Sunday, though Kate obviously protests. Baptista, upon hearing this, tells Tranio (as Lucentio) and Gremio that the one with the highest dowry will get Bianca.. Tranio bluffs to have more wealth and possessions than Gremio, but Baptista declares Lucentio's father Vincentio must personally assure he has the wealth and will give it to Lucentio.
At Bianca's room, Lucentio (as Cambio) and Hortensio (as Litio) school Bianca. Both reveal their intentions for her love, but they also begin to suspect the other of amorous intentions. On the wedding day, Petruchio arrives late, and is dressed in a fool's clothes. He acts irrationally at the wedding, then immediately leaves town with Kate. Baptista, although flabbergasted, is happy to be rid of her.
At Petruchio's country home, he and Kate arrive, exhausted from the journey, since, throughout, Petruchio has been giving Kate a taste of her own medicine. He continues to berate her and his servants continually. Back in Padua, Tranio and Hortensio spy on Lucentio (as Cambio) courting Bianca. Hortensio, in defeat/despair, swears with Tranio (as Lucentio) not to pursue Bianca anymore. In fact, Hortensio plans to marry a widow who has long loved him. Biondello then appears and tells Tranio and Lucentio he's found a man from Mantua (a Pedant) to impersonate Lucentio's father Vincentio. They trick him to do this by saying people from Mantua are despised in Padua. At Petruchio's house, he further tries to tame Kate by starving her, refusing her to have new clothes, and refusing to visit her father's house since she continues to disagree with him, even though both know he is wrong. Back at Padua, Tranio (as Lucentio) introduces the Pedant (as Vincentio) to Baptista, and all agree to sup together. Meanwhile, Biondello instructs Lucentio to bring Bianca to the church to be married. Elsewhere, Petruchio and Kate travel on the road to Padua where they meet the real Vincentio (Lucentio's Father). Petruchio has Kate so much under his control that he gets her to declare Vincentio is a female to his face, then to apologize and admit that he is truly a man. Petruchio informs Vincentio of his son's marriage to Bianca, and all travel to Padua.
At Padua, Vincentio arrives and asks to see Baptista, though the Pedant (as Vincentio) and Tranio (as Lucentio) deny Vincentio is who he says he is and call for him to be arrested. Lucentio himself and Bianca arrive and set things straight, then announce that they've been married, causing Baptista and the real Vincentio to fume even more. At length, Baptista, Vincentio, and Lucentio come to agreement and all celebrate the three marriages: Petruchio and Kate, Lucentio and Bianca, and Hortensio and the widow. At supper, Petruchio wins a wager by demonstrating that Katherine is now more obedient than Bianca or the widow. He celebrates by saying, "Kiss me Kate," and they do.
[ I link the pages in shows.vtheatre.net/shrew directory with this page.
References: SHAKESPEARE'S SEXUAL COMEDY, A Mirror for Lovers * Contributors: Hugh M. Richmond - author. Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill. Place of Publication: Indianapolis, IN. Publication Year: 1971
Taming of the Shrew, The (1929) * Mary Pickford .... Katherine +
Douglas Fairbanks .... Petruchio ...
This very maligned film may not be great Shakespeare, but it is good fun. Mary Pickford's biographer Scott Eyman points out that this film has a reasonable ancestry, being based on David Garrick's performing edition of the play. Be that as itr may, Doug and Mary give us less than half of the text, and throughout the film they play it safe by alternating between silent pantomime and heavy theatrical declamation. Playing it safe? In 1929 it was still not clear whether or not sound was a passing fad.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) * A remake of the classic Shakespare play "The Taming of the Shrew.", set in a modern day highschool.
* Shakespeare is thought to have written The Taming of the Shrew between 1590 and 1594, although the only version that has survived is the one published in the First Folio in 1623. It appears to have been staged several times during Shakespeare's lifetime at both the Globe and the Blackfriars theaters, and a sequel written by John Fletcher between 1604 and 1617 attests to its popularity. It was also produced in 1633 at the court of Charles I.
Shakespeare appears to have drawn on many sources in writing the play. The character of the "shrew"—a word used to indicate an opinionated, domineering, and sharp-tongued woman—is found in the folklore and literature of many cultures. The earliest example in English drama is thought to be the character of Noah's wife in the medieval mystery plays. In the sixteenth century shrewish wives were featured in a number of plays, many of which depicted cruel physical punishments for the shrew. The principal source of the Bianca-Lucentio subplot is George Gascoigne's play Supposes (1566). Gascoigne's play was itself derived from an Italian play, Ludovico Ariosto's I Suppositi (1509), and many of its elements can be traced back to the classical Latin comedies of Plautus and Terence. As for the Induction, the story—of a poor man tricked into thinking he is a nobleman—was common in Europe and Asia in the sixteenth century and is at least as old as the story of the Caliph Haroun Al Raschid and the beggar Abu Hassan in The Arabian Nights. In addition, an anonymous play entitled The Taming of a Shrew and published in 1594 is generally thought to be either a pirated copy of Shakespeare's play or an inaccurate copy of an earlier play that may have been another source for Shakespeare's version. While the action of The Taming of a Shrew is very close to that of Shakespeare's play, both the language and the names of the characters are different. One interesting difference between the two plays concerns the Induction. In Shakespeare's play as we have it, the characters in the Induction are not mentioned in the text after the end of Act I, scene i. In A Shrew, on the other hand, the story line of the Induction is brought to a conclusion at the end of the play. Some modern productions of Shakespeare's Shrew incorporate material from The Taming of a Shrew in order to complete the story introduced in the Induction. Others eliminate the Induction altogether.
The Liberation of Katharina in Taming of the Shrew: In Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, Katharina is presented ambiguously with much debate asking whether or not her character is tamed, liberated or whether or not in reality she was a good enough manipulator to make it appear that she becomes tame when in essence her character remains the same.
* Why to do it now? This is the first question any director asks himself. Educational goals are obvious -- Shakespeare, comedy, classic, big cast... Artistic reasons are even more important.
Last year the Internet dating service hit the record mumber and it's in billions of dollars! You see the ads everywhere. Yes, it's not easy to find your match in fast moving global world -- and even more difficult to get the "match made in heaven" (ideal marriage).
Family? Love and marriage? How come that for every wedding we have one divorce? Maybe old Shakespeare has the answers for Americans? After all, his tale is told from the stage for over 400 years. What are the secrets of Petruchio and Katharina?
They learn the worse about each other even before they meet! They hide the best of them; their respect for each other, love and admiration...
... if his work is indeed supposed to be timeless (as I believe it is) then we have to make it relevant to today. I think it will be performed a thousand years from now, because it's goes against the hypocrisy of pop-culture approaches to love, marriage and family matters.
theatre theory
