The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew
Colorado Shakespeare Festival
Mary Rippon Theater
Boulder, CO
June 11 - August 13, 2017

Like many people, my best understanding of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew came from an episode of Moonlighting from 1986. However, the original play is not quite what I was led to expect.

The play was basically what the audience expected - an out of control woman in a world controlled by men. But there were elements not as well known, such as how Petrucio starved and tormented Kate until she was too weak, and broken, to argue with him. It was not the romantic "love conquers all" notion, it is in fact quite cruel.

The Shakespeare Festival's interpretation did nothing to frame this mistreatment in a better light. Setting the show in post World War II Little Italy added no depth to the story. In fact, the idea of a man starving his wife in the 1940's brought a sadistic bent to Petrucio's character.

The character of Bianca added to the mean bent of the story. While Kate was outspoken and often over the top, it is Bianca who often provokes this behavior to present herself as the more obedient daughter, when in fact, she was manipulating everyone for her own devices.


The set was well designed and functioned well to frame the action of the play. The costumes ran the gamut from military dress to Petrucio's gaudy purple suit. They were interesting but didn't always make sense.

The outdated story line was not made more acceptable by this production. If anything, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival shone a spotlight on the inappropriateness of the action.