I went to see The Taming of the Shrew recently in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens and was very pleased with it.
People complain about this play because on the surface it seems to be about men dominating women. Using my first rule of Shakespeare, "The Bard never gets out of date", I decided to look at the story beneath the surface and see what it had for us. I found the 'taming' process the most interesting part and it is the main subject of this review. Katherina's sudden transformation is a mystery. What is the key?
A quick resume: Katherina is a very intelligent, bored and seriously obnoxious young woman who gets married. After a process of apparent mistreatment by her dominating husband, she falls in love with him and becomes easy to get on with. A weird story?
Lets look at Kate before her marriage. She is mistrustful of everyone. She avoids control and most human contact by constant aggressive behaviour. She has no friends. Everyone is afraid of her. She is so bored that she avoids most communication. She can match her suitor Petruchio pun for pun.
What happens after the wedding? Her husband, Petruchio, uses the technique of constantly out-creating her.
She shows no respect for him. He shows even less respect for her by being late for the wedding and turning up badly dressed.
She has no respect for her family. He shows even less respect by refusing to attend the reception and insisting on going home.
She is aggressive and hyperactive. He becomes even more aggressive and hyperactive. While treating her with affinity, he refuses to sleep or eat and is rude to the servants and the tailor.
She rejects people and situations. He outcreates her in rejection. He rejects food, his servants' work and new clothing for Katherina, claiming that it is all substandard.
Katherina, of course, is overwhelmed by all of this, and after 48 hours of no food and no sleep and a perfectly nice new outfit torn to shreds, she is almost at the pleading stage. No luck! Next day they have to journey to her parents' house for a visit.
On the way, Petruchio wants to play "lets pretend we are in another reality". He pretends that it is night and refuses to continue the journey until Katherina joins the game. This is the moment of transition.
Katherina agrees to play along, and my theory is that suddenly the penny drops. "Hey, here is some magic at last! After a lifetime of nonsense being fed to me, here is someone who actually has some interesting games to offer." For the first time in her life she has a chance for some fun and someone who doesn't insult her intelligence, who is worthy of her friendship."
They try another round with the old man Vincentio whom they encounter, pretending that he is a young girl. He ends up dismayed, but Katherina is really getting into the swing of the game.
I think that, later, when she 'wins' the 'wife obedience contest', Katerina comes to Petruchio's call not because she is obedient but because he is her friend. I like to imagine another scene for these enlightened times, where she is sitting in the drawing room with her friends and Petruchio wins a 'husband obedience contest' as well.
Obedience and submission of women to men was certainly part of the culture of Shakespeare's time. Look beneath that veneer and you will see how well Shakespeare's understanding applies to modern people, even though our culture is different. If you wish to transform something undesirable, you need to be able to out-create it. If you wish to entice someone or make a friend, try some magic.
David Stephensen 1998
PS: Before the show, the chorus enthusiastically sang and acted the audience rules for the performance (no cameras, tape recorders etc.) with Italian accents. Workshop coordinators take note!