The Taming of the Shrew

The next production will be The Taming of the Shrew.

Kiss Me Kate - the famous line from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew - will take on a new meaning in a York production being put on next month. Because in this show boys will be girls and girls will be boys and the immortal words will be said by Ali Borthwick as Petruchio to John Sharpe's Katherina.

It is all part of director Paul Toy's plan to give the play a makeover with the main male parts being played by women and vice versa when it is put on at Pocklington Civic Arts Centre and Joseph Rowntree Theatre.

All the three female roles - the marriageable daughters Katherina and Bianca and the widow - will be played by men while women will play nine male roles, including the main suitors, as well as assorted townspeople, officers and servants.

The project's acting chair Ali Borthwick said: "It was a tremendous achievement to put on Richard III at Joseph Rowntree Theatre last November. Now we can build on that success with our next two productions.

"We are pleased to be going back to Joseph Rowntree for The Taming of the Shrew and excited that we are also taking it to the Pocklington Civic Arts Centre.

"The idea of doing Comedy of Errors at community centres is also exciting. It shows our commitment to taking Shakespeare to as many parts of the York community as possible."

Paul, who was assistant director for the Millennium Mystery Plays in York Minster and musical director for the project's first production of Richard III last November, explained: "In The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare deals with marriage and the relationship between wife and husband.

"The views expressed, particularly in Katherina's final speech were strongly patriarchical, even in Shakespeare's time, and have caused many modern actresses and actors and audience members (both male and female) unease and concern.

"So for this production we have cast men in the role of the women and women in the role of male lovers.

"I don't believe a woman would say 'you can walk all over me'. Because we have got a strapping man saying the words it is not real, not naturalistic, and it gives the audience a jolt and makes the play double-edged

Ali said: "This is a great chance for me to say some of the best lines in Shakespeare. From an actress point of view, it is fun to be in charge. From a woman's point of view, it is fun to tease John."

John said: "It is challenging. Katherina is fun and it is interesting to do a role which you would not usually portray.

"The difficult thing is to sustain a subservient relationship with Ali. Katherina is on stage for a lot of the play and while it is not to difficult doing the lines, it is much harder getting the body language right."

You can see the production at

• The Civic Theatre, Pockington - 13th and 14th June (matinee Saturday afternoon)
• The Joseph Rowntree Theatre, Haxby Road - 16th to 21st June (matinee Saturday afternoon)

>>Review by Peter Lathan.

>>Rehearsal Photographs

Please note: there are five photographs on this page, so it will take some time to download.

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