Baptista will not allow his saccharine younger daughter Bianca to marry until someone can rid him of his obstreperous older daughter Katherine. The swaggering Petruchio (John Cleese), eager to wive it wealthily in Padua, agrees to do just this. He proceeds to break her. First, he cools her scalding wit by putting his tongue in her tale; nearly jilts her on her wedding night and then shows up at the church in antic garb; forbids her food, sleep and the beautiful clothes he himself had tailored for her, all on the pretense of providing for her; and lastly, commands that she call the sun the moon, the moon the sun, an elderly gentlemen a fresh virgin and then refute her own assertions, all according to his whim.
That's the main plot, and simple enough. The other plot is a headache. Bianca has three suitors: the gray-bearded Gremio, the youngish Hortensio and the young and handsome Lucentio. Don't ask why, but Lucentio disguises himself as a tutor named Cambio. Hortensio disguises himself as a tutor named Litio. Tranio, Lucentio's servant, disguises himself as Lucentio, at Lucentio's request. A traveling pedant disguises himself as Vincentio, Lucentio's father, also at Luciento's request. Later, the real Vincentio shows up. This proves to be more enjoyable in performance than on the page, but it's still confusing.
This production is a typical one of the BBC series, "The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare." Great actors. Poor production values. Bad staging for the cameras. (Note how often we feel we should be seeing one actor's reaction to something when he's off camera or turned away. Note how an entrance of Kate, muddy and disheveled, is botched: the camera takes little note of it until it's too late to make an impression.) Did I mention great actors? They make all the difference in most of these productions. Derek Jacobi is a splendid Richard II. Bob Hoskins is my favorite Iago. George Costigan is a fascinating Bastard Faulconbridge.
So what about John Cleese as Petruchio? Cleese, one of the great comic actors, fails at this role. He seems to nibble around the edge of the part, rather than directly attack it. His Petruchio has no real confidence underlying his swagger. He's neurotic; and his antic disposition seems less put-upon than real. In an early scene where he matches wits with Kate, he plays it like a schoolboy, acting cocky and making weird noises to cover up how nervous he is.
The rest of the cast is fine. Sarah Badel plays Kate in an exaggerated manner without making her seem like a cartoon. She handles the last scene especially well, making it clear she's been tamed, not broken. I liked how John Franklyn-Robbins has his Baptista explode into exultant laughter at odd times. Jonathan Cecil is an amusingly prissy Hortensio. The reliable Anthony Pedley plays Tranio. Simon Chandler is acceptable as Lucentio, despite his unintelligible recitation in the opening scene. I also liked that blubbering elderly servant, whoever he is.
I'd rather watch this again than the well-produced, well-acted but exhaustingly frantic and slapsticky version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. But this is still not all that good.
That's the main plot, and simple enough. The other plot is a headache. Bianca has three suitors: the gray-bearded Gremio, the youngish Hortensio and the young and handsome Lucentio. Don't ask why, but Lucentio disguises himself as a tutor named Cambio. Hortensio disguises himself as a tutor named Litio. Tranio, Lucentio's servant, disguises himself as Lucentio, at Lucentio's request. A traveling pedant disguises himself as Vincentio, Lucentio's father, also at Luciento's request. Later, the real Vincentio shows up. This proves to be more enjoyable in performance than on the page, but it's still confusing.
This production is a typical one of the BBC series, "The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare." Great actors. Poor production values. Bad staging for the cameras. (Note how often we feel we should be seeing one actor's reaction to something when he's off camera or turned away. Note how an entrance of Kate, muddy and disheveled, is botched: the camera takes little note of it until it's too late to make an impression.) Did I mention great actors? They make all the difference in most of these productions. Derek Jacobi is a splendid Richard II. Bob Hoskins is my favorite Iago. George Costigan is a fascinating Bastard Faulconbridge.
So what about John Cleese as Petruchio? Cleese, one of the great comic actors, fails at this role. He seems to nibble around the edge of the part, rather than directly attack it. His Petruchio has no real confidence underlying his swagger. He's neurotic; and his antic disposition seems less put-upon than real. In an early scene where he matches wits with Kate, he plays it like a schoolboy, acting cocky and making weird noises to cover up how nervous he is.
The rest of the cast is fine. Sarah Badel plays Kate in an exaggerated manner without making her seem like a cartoon. She handles the last scene especially well, making it clear she's been tamed, not broken. I liked how John Franklyn-Robbins has his Baptista explode into exultant laughter at odd times. Jonathan Cecil is an amusingly prissy Hortensio. The reliable Anthony Pedley plays Tranio. Simon Chandler is acceptable as Lucentio, despite his unintelligible recitation in the opening scene. I also liked that blubbering elderly servant, whoever he is.
I'd rather watch this again than the well-produced, well-acted but exhaustingly frantic and slapsticky version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. But this is still not all that good.