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The Taming of the Shrew
April 23, 2014 - May 4, 2014
The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare
directed by Dan McCleary
Dixon Gallery & Gardens/Winegardner Auditorium
April 23 – May 4, 2014
Generously sponsored by Ann and Wellford Tabor and
The Dunbar Abston Fund for Sustainable Excellence.
William Shakespeare’s early commedia piece is one of his most outrageously funny and controversial plays. Here, it shows up quite by accident on the 1927 doorstep of Mr. Hugo Dixon of Memphis, Tennessee. He hires the traveling theatre troupe to perform a play for mirth and merriment in his luxurious home, which one day will become Dixon Gallery & Gardens.
In the play, Kate neither looks nor acts like her younger, alluring sister Bianca – nor any other woman, for that matter. This is bad news for Bianca, since she cannot wed until Kate does. Any man who’s man enough to tackle the shrewish Kate wins a wealthy dowry, says her father, but is Kate too high a price to pay? Not for the recently destitute Petruchio. He arrives looking to wed for riches, not love. The meeting of Petruchio and Kate is one of the hallmark scenes in all of theatre.
But something happens after their name-calling, arm-wrestling, horse-riding, sleep-deprived, mutually-starved trip to the altar – they inexplicably fall in love.
Tickets for the April 23-24 Preview performances are $15. Free Will Kids’ Nights are on April 24 and May 1.