The Taming of the Shrew

Directed by John Allison William Shakespeare wrote the original play Music by Gerard Bernard Cohen

There are several versions of "Taming of the Shrew" floating around out there. Each with its strong points.

Howard Keel's Baciami kate! (1953) is the closest to the original.

Richard Burton La bisbetica domata (1967) is the most flamboyant and fun. But this animal has no socially redeeming value and lacks any memorable actors.

This film counts on camp to distract from the bad acting and pore timing. It is worse than a high school play. Karen Austin as Katherina is more sex than a shrew. Everyone else is just doofus.

People forget that Shakespeare was essentially a genre writer. Today he would more likely have been whipping out episodes of Mad About You or Another World than penning Merchant/Ivory pics.

So while this version's visual approach of being lit and edited like a soap opera may take some getting used to, the approach is not as much of a stretch as it might at first seem. Yes, at first glance, it's easy to dismiss the production values as cheesy, since the approach is so unlike what we have come to expect of televised and filmed Shakespeare. But ultimately the more "common" visuals help clarify the play's meaning.

And while the acting styles are a little uneven - the leads generally maintain a daytime soap sensibility grounded in realism while some supporting characters play with much more broad, theatrical strokes - the direction pushes the story forward at a breakneck pace. The constant movement imbues the bard's words with contemporary energy.

This is actually a great version to show high school students - the relationships are clear and identifiable, the language is kept intact but made accessible through the medium, and the fast paced direction will keeps interest high.

This version used to be free on google video, when that was a thing years ago. I really enjoyed this version, I felt like they really brought the comedy of Shakespeare alive.

The Bard Shrew reduces the play to a Punch and Judy show with Kate and Petruchio doing more roughhousing than wooing. Kate punches Petruchio in the jaw and knocks him to the ground. He grabs her from behind, and she flips him over her back. Kate bites Petruchio's hand, and later, he bites her toe. There is much struggling on the floor and bending of knees into awkward positions.

Nothing in the production moves very far beyond farce. Everyone on stage sighs whenever Bianca is mentioned, and the entire cast leans whenever anyone says "Pisa".

Lucentio makes an unsuccessful attempt to quote a Shakespearean sonnet, and Petruchio and Hortensio act as though they are afraid of being struck by lightning when the former mentions thunderclouds and the latter mentions Katherina Minola.

The costumes and the acting are equally garish.

This is mind numbingly bad. Camp acting, gabbled lines - they clearly assume the audience will not understand anyway, so they just play it for slapstick. Absolutely no redeeming features. All directors should watch this to understand how to make a make a mess of Shakespeare. Avoid at all costs. It is badly cast, poorly acted, badly directed and the critical taming scenes badly cut. This is just the sort of rubbish that puts people off Shakespeare and it is entirely the fault of the production and not at all the fault of the material. If you are studying the play, this will not help your understanding one bit. In fact you'd be better watching "10 things I hate about you" for all the liberties it takes.