Shakespeare in Performance: Film
The Taming of the Shrew (1980, Jonathan Miller)
| Title | The Taming of the Shrew |
|---|---|
| Year | 1980 |
| Release Locations | GB |
| Director | Jonathan Miller |
| Medium | Color video |
| Length | 2 hrs, 5 mins |
| Audience | college and university general public high school |
| Play Connections | The Taming of the Shrew (teleplay) |
| Series | The Shakespeare Plays |
Description
The most extraordinary thing about this production was Jonathan Miller's assault on stage tradition that saw Petruchio converted from a kind of rollicking swaggerer (e.g., Douglas Fairbanks and Richard Burton) into a rigid, suffocatingly puritanical figure. Miller's Petruchio somehow got cross-hatched with Malvolio. Miller's characteristically brilliant rationale for this apparent absurdity, however, was that Petruchio is actually a puritan. One only has to think of his constant exhortations to Kate that mere outward appearance, fine clothing, do not make the man. This point he underscores by showing up at the wedding outfitted in a ridiculous getup. To make the joke even more delicious, Miller selected one of the funniest men alive, John Cleese, of the Monty Python show, to play this solemn Petruchio. It's like casting Woody Allen as Hamlet. Moreover Miller gets away with it. He creates an absorbing show
Description from Shakespeare on Screen : an International Filmography and Videography by Kenneth S. Rothwell and Annabelle Henkin Melzer. ©1990 Kenneth S. Rothwell. Cited by permission. — Added 2008-11-14
Cast Overview
Production Team and Crew Overview
Production information courtesy of: Kenneth Rothwell