The 2003 ‘Regime Change’ season at Shakespeare’s Globe saw the theatre belatedly extend its original practices experiments – which had included a number of productions with all-male casts – to a single-sex, women-led company, performing Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew in repertory. Phyllida Lloyd joined the project late in the day after Barry Kyle left the production, and the result (as seen on the archive video at Shakespeare’s Globe) is a joyful, comic, and playfully satirical take on the play that celebrates the bodies and improvisatory skill of the company’s women.Sandcolor Henxizucun Men Army Combat Desert Boots Mens Tactical shoes Armed Military Patrol Police Practical Footwear For Outdoor Hiking TravellingRed Men's Toe Real Fashion Derby shoes for shoes Lace-up Leather Party Wedding Formal Dress Pointed Classic Walking.Wolverine Men's Original 1000 Mile 6 Boot Grey 9.5 M USRed Wing Heritage Men's Blacksmith Vibram Boot.
For Lloyd’s company, men are a species unto themselves. Even rival suitors Hortensio (Yolanda Vazquez) and Gremio (Penelope Dimind) slap one another’s backs and share mutually reinforcing shouts and grunts. Petruchio, when he emerges in the imposing six-foot form of Janet McTeer, Black 2019 Men's shoes Loafer Flats Men's Black Brown OX Leather Loafer Boat Moccasins Slip On Style Sewing Round Toe Fashion ClassicGrey Qiusa Boy's Men's Stylish Formal Business shoes Lace-up Oxfords (color Fur Lined Grey, Size 5.5 UK)is the most alpha of the males, embodying a slightly swaggering but entirely self-possessed confidence that brooks no argument.
This commedia-inflected production plays the Shrew fairly straight, for laughs, and without the induction that might give it an ironic frame. Instead, any critique and irony comes from within the performances themselves, as the company allow the play to be a comedy but allow that comedy to push to uncomfortable places. Kathryn Hunter’s Katherina is a spoiled woman-child, stamping her feet and shouting wordlessly when she doesn’t get her way,Aquatalia Men's Nicholas Suede Chukka Boot, Black, 9 M USASICS Metarun Men's Running shoes and in the early scenes Petruchio brilliantly turns this against her when informing the other men that they have agreed she will do this – when she stamps, the men clap and cheer her; when she shouts, they turn it into a huzzah, depriving her of her best weapons. Her abuse of her sister Bianca (Laura Rogers) is thorough and quite violent, but this comes from justifiable resentment at the clear favouritism of her father Baptista (Anna Healy). Katherina has undeniable problems, but watching her passed over by her father and gaslit by her wooer is still hard to watch.
During the second half, at Petruchio’s house, the strategies are very clear and centred around food. In a clever move, Lloyd brings onstage Petruchio’s spaniel Troilus, an actor in a dog costume, who takes an immediate dislike to Katherina; Katherina tries to flee from the dog, Patagonia Men's Fitz Fashion SneakerECCO Men's Track II High GORE-TEX waterproof outdoor hiking Bootthen beats it with a broom, leaving it whimpering away to get the sympathy of the servants. Later, Katherina sneaks up to the dog while it and Grumio sleep to steal its boneMephisto Men's Shark Sandals Chestnut Waxy Tan Grain Leather 7 M US,purplec Stacy Adams Men's CYD Slip-on Driver Loafer Driving StyleMulticolour (White University Red 160) Nike Men's Court Lite Tennis shoes her hunger absolutely desperate by this point. Later, as a reward, Petruchio gives Katherina some food, but then embraces her and coddles her while Hortensio finishes it off. And increasingly it becomes obvious that Petruchio is treating Katherina exactly like his dog, right down to the whistles and shouts of ‘Here’. H By Hudson Men's Cruise Suede Chukka Boot
The comedy of the production is sincere, then, but leads to uncomfortable positions. Hunter’s virtuoso physical skills allow her to be tumbled upside down when she fights against Petruchio, and to be carried around the stage in all kinds of undignified postures;Black DuoShengZhTG Genuine Leather Men's shoes Fashion Lece Up Outsole Oxfords Low Top Ankle Boots for Gentlemen Casual shoesMarine bluee Canvas Cole Haan Men's Grand Crosscourt Ii Sneaker yet the audience’s laughter seems to doubly imply both recognition of her skill and enjoyment of her subjugation. The applause of the audience in the archive video after Katherina comes to Petruchio at his command seems sincere, as it the audience are approving the taming. It’s a microcosm of a production in which men are consistently awful throughout, but always mutually congratulatory.
The standout sequence, though, is Katherina’s final speech. At Petruchio’s command,Ariat Men's Quantum Classic Western Cowboy Boot she gives a speech of a few lines, and gets applause and approval from her husband. But then she goes for another few lines, and another, and another. An increasingly anxious Petruchio tries to get her to be quiet, but she begins exaggerating the speech more and more, getting up on the banquet table and flashing her legs, and finally lying down in a mockery of Petruchio,bluee U.s. polo assn. FLASH4089S9 T1 Sneakers Manbluee (Dark bluee) U.S.POLO ASSN. Men’s 4102S9 C1 shoes before flouncing offstage.La Sportiva Trango Cube GTX Women's Hiking shoes We see a glimpse of them having a fight in Italian, suggesting that Katherina is far from ‘tamed’, and indeed will continue to assert herself against Petruchio indefinitely, even as she learns to play the game of this patriarchal world. It’s a quiet reclamation of the play, but a potent one.