Shakespeare The Animated Tales: The Taming
Of The Shrew (1994) stars Nigel Le Vaillant, Amanda Root, Gerald James,
and John Warner. The screenplay is by Leon Garfield. It was directed by Aida Ziablikova. This
delightful version is done with puppets. And though this version is only
twenty-six minutes long, it includes the Induction. It does, however, cut
several characters, including Tranio and Biondello. It begins with the Hostess’
line “A pair of stocks, you rogue,”
which is spoken off screen. The door opens and Sly comes stumbling out. Oddly,
it’s daytime. Sly immediately falls asleep. The Lord comes upon him and says, “Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine
image.” He turns to one of his men and whispers to him. They had
successfully hunted a boar and are carrying it tied on a large stick. They drop
the boar, and continue along with Sly tied in its place. They take him to the
Lord’s house, and it’s not long before they convince him he’s a lord, and they
do so without the page playing his wife.
Act I
The Taming Of The Shrew begins after a curtain is opened.
It begins with Baptista’s line: “Gentlemen,
importune me no father,/For how I firmly am resolv’d you know.” When he
says “elder,” Katherina pushes her
way in to stand between Baptista and Bianca, and in doing so knocks over Gremio
and Hortensio. It’s interesting, because it’s like she wishes to be married,
though when she gets there, she crosses her arms. Bianca is dressed in pale
blue, with blond hair; Katherina is in red, with red hair.
The curtain is drawn, and Petruchio rides in on our side
of the curtain. It then opens to reveal Hortensio at a window. After Petruchio
says he won’t sleep until he sees Katherina, he rides off, and the wall is
raised to reveal the next scene…
Act II
The next scene is a courtyard with a fountain. We hear
soft crying and then we see Katherina pulling Bianca in on a rope. Katherina
dunks Bianca’s head in the fountain. Baptista breaks it up, and then Petruchio
arrives. Gremio and Hortensio are cut from the scene, so there is no bit with
the lute. After Petruchio says that it is nothing to get Katherina’s love, a
chamber pot is hurled down at him from Katherina’s balcony. He catches it and
continues looking up at her as Baptista speaks. It’s a nice touch, and gives a
little more humor and meaning to Baptista’s questions, “Shall I send my daughter Kate to you?” Their scene is done as sort
of a dance. After Katherina’s “remove you
hence,” Petruchio says, “Come, come,
you wasp, i’faith you are too angry,” thus cutting the great joke about
asses and women being made to bear. Also, the lead-up to the wasp line is cut.
When Petruchio says “in his tail,” he
gives Katherina a playful slap on the behind. But then the lines about “tongue” are sadly cut. Katherina simply
says “And so farewell.” He then goes
right to “Nay, come again.” I love
his straight, serious delivery of “I
swear I’ll cuff you if you strike again.” When Petruchio says “And, kiss me, Kate, we will be married a’Sunday,”
she exits without kissing him.
Act III
It then goes straight to the wedding day, beginning with
Katherina’s line “I told you, I, he was a
frantic fool.” Interestingly, considering it’s animation, Petruchio’s
outfit isn’t too over-the-top odd. He wears a big yellow and green feathered
hat, and two mismatched boots. Petruchio kisses Katherina after “And seal the title with a lovely kiss.”
It then cuts to the feast and so cutting everything that happened at the actual
ceremony. Petruchio and Katherina enter. Because Tranio is cut, only Gremio
entreats Petruchio to stay before Katherina does, so her entreating isn’t as
strong. Two of her lines are combined, cutting out Petruchio’s response. She
says: “Let me entreat you. Now if you
love me, stay.” So we lose that great bit about him being content. Also,
everyone is already at the table, so Katherina saying “Forward to the bridal dinner” doesn’t really make sense. Neither
does Petruchio saying “They shall go
forward, Kate, at thy command” and “go
to the feast.” The stuff about Grumio drawing his weapon is cut. Interestingly,
Lucentio is there to say, “Mistress, what’s
your opinion of your sister?” Bianca’s response, “That being mad herself, she’s madly mated,” is the last line of the
scene.
Act IV
We see Petruchio and Katherina riding in the rain.
Katherina falls from the horse, but Grumio is not present, and Petruchio helps
her up. They then arrive at Petruchio’s home, and Petruchio begins berating his
servants. They enter the bridal chamber, and soon pillows are tossed back out
through the doorway. Nathaniel and Peter’s lines are left intact – “He kills her in her own humor.”
Petruchio then re-enters, eats some of the meat, then gives just the first and
last lines of his big speech.
A short narrator closes the curtain and says, “While Kate was learning one lesson, her
sister, the fair Bianca, was learning another.” He then opens the curtain
on the next scene, explaining that Lucentio, “cunningly disguised as a schoolmaster,” outwitted his rivals and
won Bianca’s heart. Bianca begins the scene with her line, “What, master, read you?” And she and
Lucentio kiss, leading the narrator to tell us that Hortensio and Gremio gave
up their hopes for Bianca’s love, and that Hortensio decided to marry a widow.
Back at Petruchio’s home, Katherina finally gets to eat.
She is seated at a table, but eats with her hands. The Haberdasher is cut, but
the Tailor presents both the hat and the gown. When Petruchio says it is seven
o’clock, he and Katherina are actually standing in front of a clock on the
mantel. Hortensio is there to deliver the last line of the scene: “Why, so this gallant will command the sun.”
The next scene, with the Pedant, is cut.
Petruchio and Katherina travel on horse to Baptista’s
house, but Hortensio and the servants are not with them, so Hortensio can’t
advise Katherine on what to say. The scene ends after the sun/moon bit, with
Katherina’s line “And so it shall be so
for Katherine.” Vincentio is cut.
Act V
A curtain is closed, and then opened on the next scene.
The narrator explains who married whom. And we go to the banquet. The exchange
between the Widow and Katherina is cut. It begins with Baptista’s line “I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all,”
which is odd, because the line comes out of nowhere. It leads Petruchio to
suggest the bet. While Katherina gives her big speech, we see Sly in bed
watching. Katherina’s speech is cut after “Too
little payment for so great a debt.” After Petruchio and Katherina kiss,
Petruchio says, “’Twas I won the
wager/And, being a winner, God give you a good night!” He delivers the line
out, as if to us and to Sly. And the actors all bow. The Lord and narrator applaud.
And then, interestingly, we get the closing scene from The Taming Of A Shrew (likely a bad
quarto of Shakespeare’s play), with Sly back outside calling for another drink,
then waking to see the players are gone. He gets up, saying: “I have had the
bravest dream. I know now how to tame a shrew.” And he goes back inside the
house he was originally tossed out of. But a moment later the Hostess yells her
first line again, “A pair of stocks, you rogue,” and out comes Sly again.
Time: 26 minutes
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