Shrew Petruchio

The day has come where we step into the amazing world of live theatre at one of the most historic theatres in London, The Shakespeare's Globe. As a Thespian, my soul was filled with joy and excitement to step into the theatre as the doors opened. It was finally going to be the day where we get to watch a live production of a Shakespearian play in one of the most famous theatres. The play that we watched was The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare has always been one of my favorite playwrights but unfortunately that was one of the plays that I haven't read. After watching the show, I felt so much hate for the way Petruchio treated his wife Kate. The play started as a comedy but as it continued, it started to become dark. 

One of the images that provoked me was watching Kate follow Petruchio around wearing her once white wedding dress which has become soiled. The woman who was untamable was turned into a quiet obedient wife who listen to her husband. It astounded me that Kate had allowed her husband to treat her like she was a piece of trash and let herself suffer. He had beaten down this once vibrant and outspoken untamable creature to a fearful little mouse. Kate walked across the stage in her wedding dress covered in stains and rips that revealed her undergarments. The back of her dress has a tint of red, which made me think that it was blood. Across her body were patches of dirt and she did not look like she had showered for days.Watching Kate walk across the stage in this dress caused my imagination to wonder about what had happened to her offstage. She seemed that she has been beaten and dragged across the floor and suddenly she was unrecognizable. 

The major theme that I got out of The Taming of the Shrew was loneliness. Everyone in the play seemed to be lonely and wanted somebody in their life to make them happy. Kate was the older sister that nobody wanted because she was not the average lady. In the beginning of the play, she seemed like the type of person who did not care if she found somebody but deep inside we can tell that she wants to be loved. When Petruchio arrived in her life, she disliked him until he admits that he has fallen in love with her and will do what it takes to make Kate love him. At that moment, we see a sparkle in Kate's eyes as she realizes that someone wants her to be their wife. The sparkle starts to fade as Kate starts to realize the type of person Petruchio is. 

The second image in the play that really made me upset was the look of hunger on Kate's face. She looked as if she hasn't been eating for days. When a giant piece of meat is set on the table she quickly reaches for the food and Petruchio slaps it out of her hand. This made me so upset because he was physically abusing her and did not care about her health. To top it all off, Petruchio decides to wash up, as Kate is distances away still covered in filth. He then allows her to wash up in the dirty water he has just used and the moment she tries to dip her hands into the water, he smacks it away. It was a very disgusting sight and made me hate him even more. The Taming of the Shrew really gave me the impression of an arrange marriage turning into a blackhole. In the end, I really enjoyed this play and thought the actors all did a fantastic job with their characters.