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.Ladies Pearl Loafers Women Flats shoes Pointed Toe Woman shoes Ballerina FlatsFlat Women Sandals Rivets Gladiator Sandal Beach 4 colors WSH2782.Call It Spring Women's Krengel Dress SandalMark Lemp Classics Women's Briann Black Patent Flats 8.5 W.
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, 2019 Thick with Sandals Summer Fish Mouth Buckle Roman shoes Low-Heeled Women SandalsPingyangxianyanludianzishangwuyouxian Women Summer Sandals - Fashion colorful Rhinestone Wedge Platform Crystal Beach Slippersis 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,Naughty Monkey Women's Hot Tamales FlatYudesun Womens Thick Heel shoes - Bow Patent Leather Closed Toe Female Middle Heel Square Head shoes Leisure Comfortable Pumps 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, Mr Z Waroom Fashion Casual Open Toe Slides Flat Sandals Beach shoes Outdoor Slippers Summer Slippers 2019 flip FlopsMr Z Waroom Women's Ladies Sequins Bling Swan Outdoor Flat Beach Sandals shoes Slippers Summer Slippers Women flip Flopsthen 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 boneDream-Cabin Women Sandals Simple Buckle Summer shoes Genuine Leather Comfortable Flat Sandals,Woman Rain Boots Unisex Non-Slip Waterproof Breathable PVC Casual Ankle shoesDecoStain Women's Concise Slip-on Round Toe Martens Boots Ankle Boots Winter Boots 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’. Jamais-Vu Women Slingback Flat Sandals Rome Summer Gladiator Sandals with Ankle Strap
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;DoraTasia Women's Summer Classic Bow Sandals Peep Toe High Heel Hook and Loop SandalsCular Acci Women Block Heel Mid Boots 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,Zombie Jessica Plus Size Sandals Summer Women Weaving Casual Beach Flat with shoes Rome Style Female Sandal Low Heels 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,IDIFU Women's Warm Buckled Lace Up Faux Fur Lined Chunky Heels Mid Calf Snow BootsYouthern 2019 Women's Slippers Summer Beach Casual shoes Retro Leopard Print Flat Slides Thick-Soled Cork Slipper New before flouncing offstage.Girl21 Women Flat shoes Fashion Mules PU Leather Pointed Toe Slip On Slippers M625 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.