# data[].attributes.headline
Background Information about Taming of the Shrew

# data[].attributes.subject
Background Information about Taming of the Shrew

# data[].attributes.body
Gay Times

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Royal Shakespeare Company's Barbican season presents one of Shakespeare's less-performed comedies, in a new production directed by Justin Audibert.

The Taming of the Shrew has fallen out of favour in recent years and it's not hard to understand why. Central to the plot is a problematic relationship - the titular shrew refers to free-spirited wife Katherine who has to be "tamed" into obedience by her husband; it's a tricky plot to navigate for a show which was intended to be a lighthearted comedy. This production tackles the issue with a gender reversal, which breathes new life into the story and makes us look at a lot of scenes very differently - though an abusive relationship is still unpleasant to watch at times, even when it's a woman who dominates.

Unsurprisingly for the Royal Shakespeare Company, this is a slick and classy production. The set and costume design both look great, while their rather quaint tradition of musical interludes to bookend each act is present and correct, complete with a selection of pleasing and fitting ditties. The actors impress, too; this is a mostly traditional rendition, but there are a few more contemporary moments which provide a refreshing change. There are also some great comic touches - the way Sophie Stanton glides across the stage is a joy to behold, eliciting a giggle from the audience every single time she moves.

The gender reversal may not completely remedy the unpleasant undertone in the main story, but it allows for some other intriguing opportunities. This is most notable in the subplot, involving the former Bianca - now Bianco - who is now eligible to be wed, as his older brother has found a suitor. The various woman fawning over him are rather amusing and their ploys unfold entertainingly, while James Cooney is hilariously vain as Bianco, flicking his hair and striding flamboyantly across the stage.

There's much to enjoy in this production of The Taming of the Shrew. No, the gender swap doesn't fix the play's underlying issue - a manipulative, controlling relationship makes an uncomfortable narrative for a comedy, even when it is a man who is the abused - but it does present a number of scenarios in a thought-provoking new light. It is also a tad longer than we'd have liked - three hours is quite a slog and a little trimming wouldn't have gone amiss. What we're left with, though, is an intelligent and often very funny production, which looks and sounds great and is performed by a stellar cast.

GAY TIMES gives The Taming of the Shrew - ★★★★☆
More information can be found here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Gender swap breathes new life into The Taming of the Shrew - review

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Royal Shakespeare Company's Barbican season presents one of Shakespeare's less-performed comedies, in a new production directed by Justin Audibert. The Taming of the Shrew has fallen out of favour in recent years and it's not hard to understand why.

# data[].attributes.body
Londonist

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Taming Of The Shrew For The Woke Generation At Barbican Taming of the Shrew, Barbican

How do you solve a problem like Katharina - when any self-respecting heroine nowadays would kick most of Shakespeare's men in to touch? Justin Audibert's answer is good old-fashioned role reversal, and it certainly highlights how it was for Elizabethan girls. The only way to tame a shrew now is like this - try it straight and the rancid attitudes would get the raspberry not just from the ladies but many of us boys too.

This is a stylish and stylised production which modernises and makes accessible for a woke generation one of the more "problematic" works - showing why the RSC is still necessary. Yes, there's a deal of that "music with movement" thing the RSC goes in for to emphasise the beginning and end of the acts, and at a little over two and a half hours one does wonder if some of the servant mummery could have gone missing without harm coming to anyone, but overall it's a bold, witty reworking of a not-much-loved-anymore classic. It genuinely had me wondering at points just how much we've really come on - or are we still arguing the same old s**t despite identity politics, gender fluidity and other non-binary options?

Katharina and Bianca as boys who do girls who do girls like they're boys give you a David Walliams for grown ups moment. One is coy yet rogueish, and therefore marriageable, the other is outspoken and physical - Joseph Arkley wisely avoiding camp - but eventually (sadly) brought to heel literally, by a firm, female hand. While there's more than a little Miranda 'Queenie' Richardson in Claire Price's realisation of Petruchia, she is a commanding and convincing tamer, and is complemented by Amanda Harris as mother-of-the-bride-from-hell Baptista, who has just a hint of Norma Desmond in the latter stages of Sunset.

Sets by Stephen Brimson Lewis use a galleried space and the sweep of the apron effectively, especially with James Cooney's physically gyrating Bianco/a - and lots of floor cushions. Shrew is part of a three-work return to the Barbican for the RSC and it should be worth exploring the other productions too.

The Taming Of The Shrew, Barbican, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, £10-£59.50. Until 18 January

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Taming Of The Shrew For The Woke Generation At Barbican

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Taming Of The Shrew For The Woke Generation At Barbican Taming of the Shrew, Barbican How do you solve a problem like Katharina - when any self-respecting heroine nowadays would kick most of Shakespeare's men in to touch? Justin Audibert's answer is good old-fashioned role reversal, and it certainly highlights how it was for Elizabethan girls.

# data[].attributes.body
Timeout London

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This gender-swapped 'The Taming of the Shrew' only exacerbates the problems at the heart of Shakespeare's wife-beating comedy

Theoretically, flipping the genders in 'The Taming of the Shrew' sounds like a solid way of dealing with the main problem with Shakespeare's play, namely that it's a comedy about a man, Petruchio, who beats and gaslights his wife, Katherine, into submission.

But, er, does it?

Justin Audibert's RSC production seems to be set in a sort of parallel late Elizabethan age, a matriarchal society in which tough-talking women rule while men are long-haired, effeminate and subservient.

The thing is, the world wasn't and isn't like that - and the fact that the play is technically now about a woman called Petruchia mistreating a man called, um, Katherine (hey, 'Kiss me, Karl' doesn't have the same ring) doesn't make it feel any less like a play about men abusing women, because the social order it's depicting simply doesn't exist.

It might have worked if it served as satirical comment on the patriarchy. But by and large Audibert's 'Shrew' is presented as a big, uncomplicated comedy in which all the icky stuff is cheerily deemed to be solved by the casting.

Here Joseph Arkley's allegedly ferocious Kate is rapidly cowed - physically and psychologically - by Claire Price's diminutive Petruchia, has a horrible time for ages then capitulates at the very end and becomes her pal (it all feels pretty sexless). It sounds like there should be some grand feminist point buried in all this. But I really don't think there is, and the nastiness at the play's heart goes fatally unscrutinised.

Which is all unfortunate because there is enjoyable stuff here. Price is hugely watchable, with a pleasingly dotty Queenie-from-'Blackadder' sort of vibe, and doesn't seem particularly malicious in her abuse. But that hardly makes it better: if the whole thing's a big joke, Katherine isn't in on it.

Elsewhere, the relationship between Emily Johnstone's Lucentia and James Cooney's Bianco is a lot more fun: his preening self-regard and outrageous flirting inject a playfulness into a character that can often come across as rather square. There are nice costumes from Hannah Clark. And Sophie Stanton's comically smooth gliding motion while she drifts around as obnoxious suitor Gremia attracts spontaneous rounds of applause. Rightly so (respect to movement director Lucy Cullingford).

But 'The Taming of the Shrew' is ultimately Petruchio/a and Kate. Great productions confront the problems at the heart of the play. This one slaps on a dress and hopes we won't ask too many questions.

Snap up exclusive discounts in London

Time Out's handpicked deals - hurry, they won't be around for long...

This gender-swapped 'The Taming of the Shrew' only exacerbates the problems at the heart of Shakespeare's wife-beating comedy

Theoretically, flipping the genders in 'The Taming of the Shrew' sounds like a solid way of dealing with the main problem with Shakespeare's play, namely that it's a comedy about a man, Petruchio, who beats and gaslights his wife, Katherine, into submission.

But, er, does it?

Justin Audibert's RSC production seems to be set in a sort of parallel late Elizabethan age, a matriarchal society in which tough-talking women rule while men are long-haired, effeminate and subservient.

The thing is, the world wasn't and isn't like that - and the fact that the play is technically now about a woman called Petruchia mistreating a man called, um, Katherine (hey, 'Kiss me, Karl' doesn't have the same ring) doesn't make it feel any less like a play about men abusing women, because the social order it's depicting simply doesn't exist.

It might have worked if it served as satirical comment on the patriarchy. But by and large Audibert's 'Shrew' is presented as a big, uncomplicated comedy in which all the icky stuff is cheerily deemed to be solved by the casting.

Here Joseph Arkley's allegedly ferocious Kate is rapidly cowed - physically and psychologically - by Claire Price's diminutive Petruchia, has a horrible time for ages then capitulates at the very end and becomes her pal (it all feels pretty sexless). It sounds like there should be some grand feminist point buried in all this. But I really don't think there is, and the nastiness at the play's heart goes fatally unscrutinised.

Which is all unfortunate because there is enjoyable stuff here. Price is hugely watchable, with a pleasingly dotty Queenie-from-'Blackadder' sort of vibe, and doesn't seem particularly malicious in her abuse. But that hardly makes it better: if the whole thing's a big joke, Katherine isn't in on it.

Elsewhere, the relationship between Emily Johnstone's Lucentia and James Cooney's Bianco is a lot more fun: his preening self-regard and outrageous flirting inject a playfulness into a character that can often come across as rather square. There are nice costumes from Hannah Clark. And Sophie Stanton's comically smooth gliding motion while she drifts around as obnoxious suitor Gremia attracts spontaneous rounds of applause. Rightly so (respect to movement director Lucy Cullingford).

But 'The Taming of the Shrew' is ultimately Petruchio/a and Kate. Great productions confront the problems at the heart of the play. This one slaps on a dress and hopes we won't ask too many questions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'The Taming of the Shrew' review | Barbican Centre | Theatre in London

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This gender-swapped 'The Taming of the Shrew' only exacerbates the problems at the heart of Shakespeare's wife-beating comedy Theoretically, flipping the genders in 'The Taming of the Shrew' sounds like a solid way of dealing with the main problem with Shakespeare's play, namely that it's a comedy about a man, Petruchio, who beats and gaslights his wife, Katherine, into submission.

# data[].attributes.body
Video: Full Play

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Taming of the Shrew (UAA Theatre & Dance 2011 Performance)

# data[].attributes.body
"Atomic Shakespeare"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Moonlighting   s03e07   Atomic Shakespeare

# data[].attributes.body
Taming of the Shrew

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Big Bang Theory - Taming Of The Shrew - HQ

# data[].attributes.body
Audio Book!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare - Full audiobook

# data[].attributes.body
PowerPoint