SOURCE: “The Touring of the Shrew,” in New Theatre Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 7, August, 1986, pp. 275-81.

In the review below, Cousin examines two productions of The Taming of the Shrew. The critic maintains that although The Medieval Players' production raised interesting questions concerning gender roles, it failed to take the sex-reversal experiment far enough, and describes the Royal Shakespeare Company production as “sombre,” praising the production’s unflinching portrayal of Petruchio's “unpleasant” side.

During 1985, it was possible to see, as I did, two productions of The Taming of the Shrew performed in non-conventional playing spaces. On one of the few sunny afternoons of the summer, I saw an open-air performance by the Medieval Players in the New College cloisters, Oxford; then in December the RSC Nat West touring version came to the Whitbread Flowers Warehouse, Stratford. I found a good deal to admire and enjoy about both productions, but...