My overall impression
In a brilliant, insightful production, Broads’ Word Theatre’s Fifty Shades of Shrew makes delightfully clear that The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s best comedies. Complex, interesting people have adventures, grow as individuals, learn about themselves and wind up at very different places—-all the while taking the audience along on an amazing romp. Interpreting the dynamic of the Kate/Petruchio relationship in terms of Domination/Submission, Kate is portrayed as at first restlessly acting out because she is unsure of herself, and finally coming to understand herself and to love Petruchio. For his part, Petruchio starts out thinking all he cares about is Kate’s money and ends up in a loving relationship with her. The other relationships in the play –Bianca/Lucentio and Hortensio/Widow expand this interpretation by offering variations on it. Altogether an insightful interpretation triumphantly realized by a uniformly splendid cast. The fact that they are all female helps the audience stop thinking about love/marriage in conventional ways and opens up the mind to new ways of thinking about what is often denigrated as a “problem” play.
