A To Z Challenge 2022: Shakespeare - K Is For Katherina

 

Lilli Palmer and Maurice Evans. Public Domain

Today, K is for Katherina, the heroine of The Taming Of The Shrew. There has been so much argument over what he had in mind with this play, I’m going to give you a link to the Wikipedia entry and let you make up your own mind. Here it is. But read this post first, as it’s rather long and waffly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew

One thing you may not know about this play is that it is a play within a play. It begins with a nobleman having fun with pretending to a tramp, Christopher Sly, that he is a nobleman. The story of Katherina and Petruchio is done as a performance for the tramp  by a bunch of wandering players. The Wikipedia entry has a lot of arguments about how misogynistic the play is or isn’t  using the “induction”, but the fact is, I have only seen this done once, on a TV production. It was done in 19th century costume and set in Australia. It was fun, but really not necessary. 

I’ve seen it on stage with Pamela Rabe(a Canadian actress who lives in Australia )and Hugo Weaving(Elrond and Agent Smith), who also played Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing. It was done in 1950s costume, which worked well.

Katherina is a young woman whose father won’t let his younger daughter Bianca get married till Katherina is married. Bianca, who is considered a perfect woman, has several suitors, but nobody wants to marry Katherina, because she is considered rather too strong for the average young man.

Bianca’s suitors decide to find Katherina a husband so that they can get on with wooing the girl they want. One of them has a chat with Petruchio, who has just arrived in Padua, the setting of the play. Petruchio agrees and next thing you know he has married her and set out to “tame” her, by contradicting everything she says, throwing away food he says isn’t good enough, refusing her clothes she likes… When they are heading back to Padua for her sister’s wedding, he makes it quite clear that if she doesn’t agree with what he says, however stupid, she doesn’t get to go to the wedding. And there is probably more where that comes from.

In the end, she makes a long speech about why women should obey their husbands. 

However misogynistic this all is, he never actually commits any violence against her. He uses words, and not even abusive ones. 

Not my favourite play, but there is plenty to play around with. The stage version I saw ended with the two of them laughing and chasing each other around the house, clearly in love, in comparison with her sister, who isn’t quite as obedient as she pretends to be. 

Over the years, there have been many versions, but also many adaptations. The first film I saw of the original play was the Franco Zeffirelli version with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, made in 1967. It was very, very funny.

There are so many adaptations inspired by the play, though. There is an episode of Moonlighting, a TV detective series with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd, in which a teenager who has to study the play falls asleep while watching Moonlighting, and the characters play out the Shakespeare play. It was called “Atomic Shakespeare” in case you want to look it up, but means more if you are familiar with Moonlighting. Poor Bruce Willis has recently had to retire from acting due to a serious illness.

Musical Kiss Me Kate is not a direct adaptation of Shrew, but a play within a play. Fred and Lilli are actors who have been hired to do a show based on Shrew. They are divorced, and Lily is about to marry someone else. Fred, still in love with her, is hoping she will change her mind. In the meantime there are a lot of funny things happening and they do a lot of singing and dancing as part of the musical within the musical. The film version has Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, with the wonderful singer/dancer Ann Miller in the “Bianca” role. The film is easy enough to rent or buy online. It contains some wonderful songs by Cole Porter and is cheekily inspired by the fighting between the Lunts, a show biz couple, while they were performing the Shakespeare play.

There is 10 Things I Hate About You, which sets it in a high school, starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. This is another one you can rent or buy online. 

Here is a list of other versions on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew_on_screen#Television