SOURCE: Neill, Heather. “Shrewd Changes.” Times Educational Supplement, no. 4538 (27 June 2003): 26.

In the following preview of The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare's Globe in London, Neill explains director Barry Kyle's decision to use an all-female cast in his production.

That most problematic of Shakespeare's plays for feminists is about to be performed by an all-female cast, with Kathryn Hunter as Kate and Janet McTeer as Petrucchio. Director Barry Kyle says that, in any case, to see the play in terms of simple sexual politics misses the point.

Katherine's speech of submission at the end of the play, the “destination” speech to which everything appears to lead, seems to suggest that a happy woman is one who has found the right man, but, says Kyle, “it is also about the master/servant relationship and there are master/servant relationships all over The Taming of the Shrew, often with people...