As strange as it is to think that something written over four centuries ago is still applicable to women today, The Taming of the Shrew brings gender roles and female empowerment to today’s audience with startling relevance.
This second of Shakespeare’s many plays tells the tale of wild and ill-tempered Katharine, who is married off to the lively and charming Petruchio. Meanwhile, suitors disguise themselves in increasingly absurd costumes in the fight for her younger and more obedient sister, Bianca. Needless to say, chaos ensues in one of Shakespeare’s most contentious battle of the sexes.
Katherine’s hostility towards other characters is derived from her frustration with the patriarchal system of her times. The play implies her behavior, which today is simply called empowered, needs “taming.” In more traditional interpretations, Petruchio, her husband, displays the need to oppress, starve, and torture her into submission. The play holds a mirror up to society by exposing the double standard between men and women. It presents a challenge to the actor playing Katharine: to present her as less of a shrill, one-note caricature and more of a complex, conflicted avatar for femininity.
“Shrew is probably one of the hardest plays I’ve ever done,” said Dani Herd, the actor playing Katharine in this month’s showcase of Taming of the Shrew at the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern. “I have had the great fortune of working with a Petruchio that I really trust, and who is as interested as I am in crafting a real relationship between these characters.”
In the final scene, Katharine presents a monologue suggesting that she has decided to conform to the dutiful role delegated to women of that time period.
The Shakespeare Tavern, however, took a different approach to this monologue.
“Reconciling Kate’s final speech about a woman’s duty to her husband, in particular, to my own views and beliefs as a feminist took a lot of work,” said Herd. “I don’t blame any women who don’t see anything at all redeemable about this play.”
Katherine’s convenient transformation mimics today’s social media savvy world, where anyone can transform themselves to suit their own needs. However, Herd sees things a little differently.
“When I speak Kate’s final words, especially this year, what I get from them is: ‘Hey, you can do whatever you want. I know how I feel about this person who has stuck around me even when I’ve been a jerk, and I would move mountains for him, because I really love him,’” she said.
From four hundred years ago to today, even the the staunchest of feminists wants what every other human wants: to find love and affection; a stable base in a constantly shifting world.
“There are a million ways to interpret any of Shakespeare’s plays, Shrew included,” she said. “Our production is interested in telling a love story.”
The Taming of the Shrew is running now through September 17th at the Atlanta Shakespeare Tavern.
