Notebook

Directors Notebook

By Adriana Morales

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Table Of Contents

Title page………………………………………………………………………………..Page 1

Table of contents…………………………………………………………………….Page 2

Play history/response……………………………………………………………..Page 3

Main characters………………………………………………………………………Page 4

Scene Breakdown……………………………………………………………………Page 5

Influences of live theatre/costume ideas…………………………………Page 6

Costume ideas…………………………………………………………………………Page 7/8

Space/ Scene breakdown………………………………………………………..Page 9

Set design/ Lights/Induction scene 1 breakdown…………………….Page 10

Act 2 scene 1 breakdown…………………………………………………………Page 11/12

The Taming of the Shrew

Play History:

The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about the courtship of two very unlikeable people named Petruchio and Kate. This is one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays which mostly consisted of comedies. The date is very uncertain because another Elizabethan play was made around the same time, with the same plot but with different wording and character names named A Pleasant Conceited Historie. The date from this play however, was dated between 1590-1592 In the Elizabethan eras. Many people nowadays see this play as cruel and sexist but when looking at the society he lived in, it becomes pretty easy to understand. In Shakespeare’s time (almost 400 years ago) rat baiting, bull baiting and public executions were good entertainment and Women were still seen as child-bearing obedient and house-caring people. The men, on the other hand, were the breadwinners and the workers. A woman who was knowledgeable, outspoken and sharp-tongued was seen as odd and shrew-like. This was not a highbrow or female intended audience so it was written for the lowbrow males.

Response: My response to the play

As a person with a modern perspective I do believe that the sexism in this play is a tad too much. Just as Shakespeare made this play to match his time period, I would like to do the same. Instead of a man chasing a...