Starting Shakespeare

We began our Shakespeare unit with The Taming of the Shrew. This play consists of Katherina (Kate) and Bianca who are sisters in which the first is thought to be a shrew and the latter is that of exquisite beauty. In effect, all the men of Padua lust after Bianca and hope to court her as their future wife. The only problem is that their father, a Lord in Padua, refuses to allow the younger daughter to marry unless the older daughter finds herself a suitor. As a shrew, many of the men are not attracted to her because of this fact except for one: Petruchio. With this in mind, Hortensio (Bianca's suitor) persuades his friend Petruchio to court Kate. In the end, Lucentio beats Hortensio in courting Bianca and Petruchio receives the Lord's permission to marry Kate. It is ironic that Kate is the more obedient wife whereas her Bianca, the supposed angelic lady, is more difficult to deal with.

We were asked to stage our own version of The Taming of the Shrew and I focused more on the physicality. Petruchio and Kate would both be onstage and Petruchio would move closer to Kate and speak as if he is in awe with her. Kate displays this sharpness to contradict his attraction towards her and moves away from him as he approaches. She does not look at him and does not give him the time of day whereas he stares at her in amazement. The setting would be a room such as a parlor in Kate's home. It will be relatively minimal in terms of props as we will need to allot room for Kate to move around. Being the headstrong woman that she is, she will retort at Petruchio when he comments on her inferiority.