[Full-Cast Audio Theater Dramatization. Frances Barber and Roger Allam are Kate and Petruchio. Lucentio is played by Alan Cox.]
Love and wit conquer all in Shakespeare's sparkling comedy of self-delusion and disguise. Padua holds many suitors for the hand of fair Bianca, but Bianca may not be married until her spinster sister, Kate, is wed. Could any man be rash enough to take on Kate? The witty adventurer Petruchio undertakes the task. While he sets about transforming Kate from foul-tempered termagant to loving wife, young Lucentio and his clever servant, Tranio, plot to win Bianca.
No Shakespeare play is quite as apologized for as Taming of the Shrew, with the obvious exception of Titus Andronicus. What is it about, really? Is it, as some have claimed, a sexist patriarchal proof text? Or is it really a deeply sarcastic commentary on misogynist culture in Shakespeare's time? Is Katharina really a shrew? Is Petruchio really a good man? And what's up with that ending speech?
Did you find this review helpful?