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.Braccialini Flats-shoes Womens Leather BrownGIANNI MARRA Pumps-shoes Womens Suede Grey.Fashion Stiletto Ankle Boots, Large Size Martin Boots Pointed Waterproof Platform Short Boots Side Zipper Non-Slip Comfort for Parties, Weddings, WorkZarbrina Womens Mid Calf Boots Casual Wedge Platform Square Toe Mixed colors Winter Warm Martin Fur shoes.
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, Callisto Viera Slip On Wedge Sandals, goldJazz Ballet Dance Genuine Leather shoes Lace Up Split Soleis 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,Modzori Palmyra Women's Low Wedge Reversible SandalRieker Womens Schtiefelette grey, 961622-9 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, The Fix Women's Gracie Block Heel Strappy Sandal HeeledEunicer Women's Classic Chunky Low Heel Sandal Open Toe Ankle Strap Dress shoesthen 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 boneReebok Classic Women's Club C 85 Lace Sneakers,Webb Perkin Women Sexy Pu Leather Thigh High Winter Party shoes Lady High Heels Platform Over-The-Knee BootsSkechers Synergy Moonlight Madness Womens Sneakers Pink Purple 11 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’. Vasque Women's Skywalk Gore-Tex Backpacking 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;Alfani Womens Elsaa Low Top Slip On Fashion Sneakers, New Navy, Size 6.5Honeystore Women's Classic Block Heels Mary Jane Leather Uniform Dress shoes 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,Summit White Mountain Women's Edlyn Strappy Sandal Silver Metallic Leather Size 40 M 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,MVE shoes Women's Sparkly Comfortable Closed Toe Single Strap High HeelsWomen's Fashion Boots，Stiletto High-Heeled Knee Boots Boots Women's Leather Boots Plus Velvet Ladies Boots Winter Women Wild shoes (color Black, Size 35) before flouncing offstage.Ankle Booties Chelsea Boots Women 6Cm Chunkly Heel Round Toe Casual Court Sheos EU Size 35-39 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.