1978: Michael Bogdanov production

Prologue

Servant What raiment will your honour wear to-day?
Sly I am Christophero Sly; call not me 'honour' nor 'lordship.' I ne'er drank sack in my life

Sly wakes up to find himself being attended to by a cluster of servants.

Sly - Jonathan Pryce (centre)

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 1 Scene 2

Petruchio Hortensio, peace! thou know'st not gold's effect. Tell me her father's name, and 'tis enough;
For I will board her though she chide as loud / As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.

Petruchio arrives in Padua, with his servant Grumio, on a motorbike. At Hortensio's house, he first hears about Kate and is confident that he can 'tame' her.

Petruchio - Jonathan Pryce
Grumio - David Suchet

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 2 Scene 1

Petruchio And you, good sir! Pray, have you not a daughter / Call'd Katherina, fair and virtuous?
Baptista Minola I have a daughter, sir, call'd Katherina.

At the Minola's house, Petruchio speaks to the girls' father Baptista to find out what dowry he would be entitled to if he married her.

Petruchio (white suit) - Jonathan Pryce
Baptista (seated) - Paul Brooke

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 2 Scene 1

Petruchio Come, come, you wasp; i' faith, you are too angry.
Katharina If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

Petruchio is alone as Kate is sent to meet him. They fight immediately.

Katharina - Paola Dionisotti
Petruchio - Jonathan Pryce

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 4 Scene 1

Petruchio 'Tis burnt; and so is all the meat. / What dogs are these? Where is the rascal cook?
How durst you villains bring it from the dresser / And serve it thus to me that love it not?

At dinner at Petruchio's house, the servants present a perfectly-cooked dinner. As the start of his plan to starve Kate, Petruchio complains that the food is burnt and throws it back at them, telling Kate they would be better to fast than eat burnt meat.

Petruchio - Jonathan Pryce
Katharina - Paola Dionisotti

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 4 Scene 3

Katharina Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave,
That feed'st me with the very name of meat.
Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you / That triumph thus upon my misery!

Petruchio has been starving Kate as part of his plan to 'tame' her. She pleads with his servant Grumio to bring her some food. He toys with her and refuses. Desperate and hungry, she attacks him.

Grumio - David Suchet
Katharina - Paola Dionisotti

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 4 Scene 3

Petruchio O mercy, God! what masquing stuff is here? ... Why, what a devil's name, tailor, call'st thou this?
Tailor You bid me make it orderly and well, / According to the fashion and the time.

A tailor presents the dress Petruchio has commissioned him to make. Despite the dress appearing to be perfect, Petruchio angrily rejects it and insults the tailor.

Left to right:
Petruchio - Jonathan Pryce
Katharina - Paola Dionisotti
Tailor - James Griffin

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 4 Scene 5

Petruchio Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon!
Katharina The moon? The sun! It is not moonlight now.
Petruchio I say it is the moon that shines so bright.
Katharina I know it is the sun that shines so bright.

On the road back to Padua, Petruchio continues tormenting Kate by insisting she calls the sun they see in the sky 'the moon'.

Grumio - David Suchet (centre left)
Katharina - Paola Dionisotti (centre)
Petruchio - Jonathan Pryce (centre right)

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Act 5 Scene 2

Katharina I am asham'd that women are so simple / To offer war where they should kneel for peace; ...
Vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, / And place your hands below your husband's foot;
In token of which duty, if he please, / My hand is ready, may it do him ease.
Petruchio Why, there's a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.

At Luciento's house, Petruchio and the other men makes bets to decide whose wife is most obedient. When Kate is totally compliant, Petruchio wins, leaving the other wives shocked at her subservience. Petruchio then asks her to tell the assembled guests what duty women owe their husbands. Again, she compiles.

Taken literally, this speech is difficult for modern audiences to accept but, as with many moments like this in Shakespeare's plays, it is open to interpretation. For a more palatable contemporary ending, it can be argued that Kate and Petruchio planned this moment so they could win money from the other men...

Katharina - Paola Dionisotti
Petruchio - Jonathan Pryce

Photo: Joe Cocks Collection © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust