Comments on: Shrew love waits http://robinabrahams.com/2009/10/20/shrew-love-waits/ Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:34:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: David Evett http://robinabrahams.com/2009/10/20/shrew-love-waits/comment-page-1/#comment-2526 David Evett Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:59:26 +0000 http://robinabrahams.com/?p=1682#comment-2526 The money's important. It was important to Shakespeare, too (all those Oxfordians eager to see him merely as a grasping businessman). But it's worth considering how he made it, and how that throws light on the end of Shrew. He worked in and wrote for a make-it-up-as-you-go business, most always hand-to-mouth (only a very few plays could be reliably revived for a few years). Risky, but also, when it worked, rewarding: the work itself, as performers know, is exhilarating, in ways that the reliable, predictable things most people do for a living are not. That's Petruchio's style, too. In Katherine he finds a woman who has the independence and energy to adopt it. If she can become a full partner in it . . .. In my book on Shakespearean service I've discussed at length a concept I call volitional primacy--living life as though the things that shape it over which you have no control are things you have freely chosen. (It's the basis of all art, really: the dancer uses gravity, the sculptor the resistance of the stone, rather than being defeated by it.) Petruchio and Kate (and Tranio, though not so fully) come to life in that way. The money’s important. It was important to Shakespeare, too (all those Oxfordians eager to see him merely as a grasping businessman). But it’s worth considering how he made it, and how that throws light on the end of Shrew. He worked in and wrote for a make-it-up-as-you-go business, most always hand-to-mouth (only a very few plays could be reliably revived for a few years). Risky, but also, when it worked, rewarding: the work itself, as performers know, is exhilarating, in ways that the reliable, predictable things most people do for a living are not. That’s Petruchio’s style, too. In Katherine he finds a woman who has the independence and energy to adopt it. If she can become a full partner in it . . ..

In my book on Shakespearean service I’ve discussed at length a concept I call volitional primacy–living life as though the things that shape it over which you have no control are things you have freely chosen. (It’s the basis of all art, really: the dancer uses gravity, the sculptor the resistance of the stone, rather than being defeated by it.) Petruchio and Kate (and Tranio, though not so fully) come to life in that way.

]]> By: telophase http://robinabrahams.com/2009/10/20/shrew-love-waits/comment-page-1/#comment-2525 telophase Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:54:38 +0000 http://robinabrahams.com/?p=1682#comment-2525 I saw a Shakespeare in the Park-type production years ago in which the final scene is played straight until the very end - just before Kate exited, she turned back and gave a sharp whistle and a jerk of her head, whereupon Petruchio leaped up and ran after her with a grin. It gave me the same impression - they were in cahoots and doing it for the money, though I don't recall the money being on the table. I saw a Shakespeare in the Park-type production years ago in which the final scene is played straight until the very end – just before Kate exited, she turned back and gave a sharp whistle and a jerk of her head, whereupon Petruchio leaped up and ran after her with a grin. It gave me the same impression – they were in cahoots and doing it for the money, though I don’t recall the money being on the table.

]]> By: Shulamuth http://robinabrahams.com/2009/10/20/shrew-love-waits/comment-page-1/#comment-2517 Shulamuth Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:08:28 +0000 http://robinabrahams.com/?p=1682#comment-2517 First of all, where to we find the fan fic? My favorite production (a Shakespeare in the Park thing with Raul Julio and Merle Streep that was shown with documentary footage about making it, as Kiss Me, Petruchio) portrays Kate as realizing Petruchio is up to SOMETHING, and going along with it out of solidarity and because it's obviously going to bug the other woman, but his cueing her was on the subtle side. Putting the cash on the barrel head is brilliant. (BTW, another great production -- also set in the more or less modern world -- is the BBC's wonderful Shakespeare Retold version; perhaps the most believable I've every watched.) First of all, where to we find the fan fic?

My favorite production (a Shakespeare in the Park thing with Raul Julio and Merle Streep that was shown with documentary footage about making it, as Kiss Me, Petruchio) portrays Kate as realizing Petruchio is up to SOMETHING, and going along with it out of solidarity and because it’s obviously going to bug the other woman, but his cueing her was on the subtle side. Putting the cash on the barrel head is brilliant.

(BTW, another great production — also set in the more or less modern world — is the BBC’s wonderful Shakespeare Retold version; perhaps the most believable I’ve every watched.)

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