Possibly one of my favorite Shakespeares, The Taming of the Shrew is the story of two sisters, Katherine and Bianca. Bianca is fair, beautiful, and has many suitors waiting for her hand in marriage, whereas her sister is ill-tempered, violent, and disgusted by all men. This places Bianca in quite a predicament: since Katherine is the older of the two, Bianca cannot be wed until their father finds a husband for the elder. Bianca's suitors recognize this problem and pay a man to marry Katherine. This man is Petruchio, a traveller in search of a wife with a grand dowry.
Petruchio is just as witty and quick-tongued as Katherine therefore making them perfect matches for each other. Petruchio is determined to prove that he is capable of turning any woman into a good and loyal wife, thus the "taming of the shrew".
Like I said, this is one of my favorite of Shakespeare's plays because it has so man jokes, both clean and inappropriate. But I have one problem with it. The message itself is not very good. Without giving too much away, the main message is that women must conform and be obedient to their husbands. It makes Grease the Musical look like a parable. Shakespeare is making the argument that everyone in society is much happier when they conform to their expected role. Whether this play is actually a criticism of social roles is debatable.
Overall, though, this is a very good read. It continues to be read and performed because it's comedy and witticisms continue to be funny and relevant today.
I give it 5 out of 5 Wildes.
Here is Delaney and I performing a Act 2 Scene 1 from the show. We did this scene last year for drama class and had to perform it for every other drama class because we were so stellar!
