Tag Archives: Taming of the Shrew

Taming Americans through Gaslighting

By Robin Bates | Published: January 7, 2020

Increasingly we are being gaslighted by Donald Trump and his GOP followers. Carl Rosin identifies “Taming of the Shrew” as one of the great plays about gaslighting.

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Verbal Combat Trumps Soft Romance

By Robin Bates | Published: November 11, 2019

Shaw contributed some great plays to the feuding couples comedy genre, including Man and Superman and Pygmalion.

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Feuding Beats Shrew-Taming

By Robin Bates | Published: October 29, 2019

“Taming of the Shrew” may have set the stage for the far more egalitarian “Much Ado about Nothing,” which launched the feuding couples comedy.

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Feuding Couples Comedy

By Robin Bates | Published: October 28, 2019

I have just begun teaching a “Feuding Couples Comedy” course. “Much Ado about Nothing” remains the quintessential example of the genre.

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Couples Fighting: It Must Be Love

By Robin Bates | Published: June 10, 2019

Tuesday I read plays all day yesterday with an eye toward an upcoming class on “Battling Couples in Theatre and Film (the Comic Version).” The September course is part of Sewanee’s “Lifelong Learning” series. As the course runs for four weeks, I will teach four plays and four movies, pairing a play with a film […]

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Trump’s Taming of the GOP

By Robin Bates | Published: December 21, 2018

Thursday Political scientists will debate for years how Donald J. Trump took over and “Trumpified” the modern Republican party. Multiple explanations exist, including George Packer’s theory that Trump represents a longtime rot within the GOP (I blogged about this on Monday). Nevertheless, it still boggles the mind that a disreputable realtor to whom no one […]

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Resolving Shakespeare’s Shrew Problem

By Robin Bates | Published: March 16, 2017

“The Taming of the Shrew” is one of Shakespeare’s problem plays because it seems to endorse Kate signing on to a male domination fantasy. Modern productions such as the Synetic Theater’s non-verbal version have to make adjustments to satisfy modern audiences.

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Can Fed Keep Going? The Bard Weighs In

By Robin Bates | Published: August 23, 2014

I fear that, in the upcoming U.S. Open, Roger Federer will be like Gremio in “Taming of the Shrew.”

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Cinderella vs. Jane Eyre in Soccer Final

By Robin Bates | Published: July 16, 2011

In tomorrow’s World Cup finals, Japan is Cinderella going up against America’s Jane Eyre.

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