Taming of the Shrew review from 2009

Genre: Comedy
Opened 17 Feb 2009
Written: by William Shakespeare
Directed: Conall Morrison
Produced: Royal Shakespeare Company

What the popular press had to say.....
FIONA MOUNTFORD for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "Stone Age gender politics aside, the rest of this production is a tiresome grind." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "Deeply nasty comedy in which a vainglorious fortune-hunter inflicts physical and psychological torture on the woman he has married for her money in order to break her spirit and enjoy a quiet life...for all its ingenuity, this is a hateful, hate-filled night of theatre." SIMON THOMAS for MUSICOMH says, "There's no faulting the energy of Conall Morrison's cast...They work incredibly hard to distract us from some of the more unpleasant aspects and, if the production lacks the grace of the very best RSC work, it is at least in part the fault of The Taming of the Shrew itself." DOMINIC MAXWELL for THE TIMES says, "Yes, the Shrew's sexual politics are a minefield, and a director must find an intriguing angle on Petruchio's sustained humiliation of his new wife Katherina. But Conall Morrison's production, imported from Stratford, seeks to mock more than to explain. His characters cavort around the stage like caffeinated fifth-formers trying to prove that Shakespeare can be fun. But this much forcible fun is no fun at all." SARAH HEMMING for THE FINANCIAL TIMES says, "Unilluminating and overly complicated."

External links to full reviews from popular press
The Times
Financial Times
musicomh.com
Daily Telegraph

Production photo by Jillian Edelstein

Originally published on

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