a teacher guide for studying the play and attending Southwest Shakespeare Company’s performance
a teacher guide for studying the play and
attending Southwest Shakespeare Company’s performance
January 2014
Letter to Educators …………………………………………………………………………………………
3
General Information
Meeting Arizona State Standards …………………………………………………………………
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About the Play
Comments from the Director …………………………………………………………………………
Helpful Tips for Seeing and Exploring Shakespeare …………………………………….
Taming of the Shrew – An Introduction …………………………………………...…………
Taming of the Shrew – Sources and History………………………………………….…….
Shakespeare’s Critics ……………………………………….……………………………………………
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Classroom Applications
Anticipation and Reaction Guide ……………………………………………………………………
Character Map ………………………………………………………………………………………...…….
Staging Activities ……………….....…………………………………………………………………..…
Act-By-Act Writing Topics ………………………………………………………………………………
Journal Writing ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Dramaturgical Activity-Shrew Punishments...........................................
Additional Activities ……………………………………………………………………………………….
Recommended Reading ………………………………………..……………………………………….
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Educator Comments ………………………………………………………………………………………
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
Southwest Shakespeare Company
Mosaic Educational Services, LLC and Southwest Shakespeare
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Dear Educator:
Thank you for joining us for Southwest Shakespeare's 20th Anniversary Season! We are
thrilled you are bringing your students to one of our productions, especially during our
Winterfest offerings. We are hard at work updating our teacher guides to reflect the
changes in the Arizona common core curriculum to ensure these guides are helpful for
you and your students.
While we revamp our guides to match your new curriculum, we are keeping the same
helpful content you have come to expect from this supplementary material including
background about the play, questions with the director, and additional enrichment
material.
As always, we hope that you find the enclosed information, activities, and resources to
be helpful and entertaining. If you have any suggestions for activities and topics not
already found in this study guide, please feel free to contact me via e-mail:
[email protected]. We are always interested in hearing new ways to excite
your students (and you!)
See you at the show!
Amanda Trombley
Director of Education
Southwest Shakespeare Company
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Along with viewing Southwest Shakespeare Company's production of Macbeth, the activities
and information included in this study guide will help teachers create lesson plans that
support the following Arizona Common Core Standards:
• Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says. (9-10.RL1,1112.RL1) through class discussion prompts, writing prompts, and staging activities.
• Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text (9-10.RL.2, 11-12.RL.2) through class discussion prompts and writing prompts.
• Analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including language
that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful (9-10.RL.4, 11-12.RL.4) through writing prompts and
the staging activities.
• Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem... evaluating how each version interprets
the source text (11-12.RL.7) through class discussion prompts, staging activities, and seeing the
Southwest Shakespeare production. (A talkback can be especially enriching for this goal.)
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research (910.W.9, 11-12.W.9) through class discussion, writing prompts, and staging activities.
• Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions, respond thoughtfully to
diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement. (9-10.SL.1, 11-12.SL.1)
through class discussion prompts and staging activities.
• Demonstrate effective speaking skills and behaviors for a variety of formal and informal purposes.
(9-10.SL.4, 11-12.SL.4) through class discussion and staging activities.
Additional Learning Opportunities:
• Demonstrate effective listening skills for a variety of purposes, and demonstrate understanding by critically evaluating and analyzing oral presentations.
• Use appropriate eye contact, body movements, and voice register for audience engagement in formal and informal speaking situations.
• Think critically about staging issues and how to translate Shakespeare's works from the page to the
stage
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These comments can be used to help you prepare your students to see Southwest Shakespeare
Company’s performance of The Taming of the Shrew and may also answer any questions about
changes or modifications made to the stage performance as compared to the written play.
Name of Production
The Taming of the Shrew
Name of Director
Sabin Epstein
In what time period is
this production set?
This production is set in a more contemporary time. the men's clothes are more
contemporary, relying on pattern and texture more than anything else but the
women's clothes are based in the late 16th century; I would like the audience to
think about the differences in freedom and behavior that men and women enjoy
now as well as then.
Is this switched from
the original text?
Have any characters
been cut?
Yes.
Is there any crossgender casting?
Have any characters or
scenes been added?
Are there fight scenes?
No.
Is there stage blood?
Not planned at this point.
Weapons?
Not planned at this point.
Sexual innuendo?
Yes, again we are doing the plays Shakespeare wrote and there are
love scenes and sexual inuendo in those plays and we include them as
they are necessary and vital to the action and development of the
story.
Other comments:
As we are producing this play as part of Winterfest, we've been
thinking of both Shrew and Macbeth as part of a rotating rep, meaning:
how do these stories relate to one another and how are they different?
We want to suggest and arena or combat zone without being too literal
and bring up ideas of war, role playing, and shifting identities in each.
At the same time, we tried to follow the basic principles of Elizabethan
theater. It is our hope that an audience member could see one
production and feel satisfied, or both and be drawn to comparing the
plays.
Southwest Shakespeare Company
Yes. Though all major characters are present as written, I've edited
down the script and cut or combined characters who are not vital to the
story telling.
No.
Yes. Only as they are called for by the script.
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Before seeing the play …
Before you see the characters of The
Taming of the Shrew brought to life on
stage by the vision of the director, spend
some time imagining your own version. Go
back to the text of the play and look for
clues that suggest what the characters
might look like and how they might behave.
What movie stars might you cast in the
various roles? Where would you set the
play? What would the characters wear? It
is up to you … you are only limited by your imagination!
A director will often choose to “dramatize” a play by portraying a wordless scene that
helps draw the audience into the action and
mood. If you were directing The Taming of
the Shrew and wanted to dramatize a
scene just prior to Act I, Scene 1 being
spoken, what would your scene portray?
“Neither the professor nor the actor has a monopoly on
Shakespeare.
His genius is that he wrote
texts to be studied
and scripts to be
performed.”
--Leonora Eyre
After seeing the play …
Did your views about the play or the
characters change after seeing the live
production? If so, how? Try to be very
specific about moments in the action that
affected you.
Which actor best portrayed his/her
character? What made the performance
so effective?
How was the live production different
from the written play? What decisions did
the director make about staging? Were
these effective decisions? Why or why
not?
What did you think of the production
values (sets, costumes, lighting, sound)?
Did they help you to better understand
the plot of the play?
If you would like to share your opinions or
ask questions of the director, actors, or
crew of play, send your letters to:
Southwest Shakespeare Company
Education Committee
P.O. Box 30595
Mesa, AZ 85275-0595
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Theatre Ettiquette
A Note About Technology:
As you probably know from movies or other plays you have attended, nothing ruins an
emotional moment in a story like the sound of a cell phone interrupting the action.
However, unlike at a movie, even having your phone on silent or texting during a
performance will distract not only your fellow audience members, but the performers
who are reacting in the moment to what is going on. Of course, this goes for taking
pictures or trying to record any of the performance as well. While Shakespeare's works
are now in the public domain, the work of the actors and set and costume designers still
has copyrights, so we ask that you save your instagramming and facbook posts for the
lobby. Once the show is over, we encourage you to tell all your social networks about
how much fun you had at Southwest Shakespeare, just save it for after the show!
Additional Tips:
*Arrive with enough time to get to your seats and use the restroom before the play
begins. Getting up during the performance is distracting to your fellow audience
members. There will also be an intermission during which you can use the restroom or
purchase refreshments.
*Do not talk to your neighbors during the performance. There is no rewind button in live
theatre to help others catch the lines they missed while you were talking.
*Have fun! Allow yourself to enjoy the play- listen, react, laugh, cry, and feel free to
applaud at the end.
*If you have a scheduled talkback after the show, please wait for directions on where
and when to move seats. If you do not have a scheduled talkback, please exit the
theatre efficiently and courteously, listening to your teachers for more further
instructions.
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Who should be in charge of a marriage: the man or
the woman? The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare's
early salvo in the battle between the sexes, raises
some very interesting questions about the relationship
between power and love in a relationship, not only in
the 1590's, when the play was written and first
performed, but also in our modern world.
The story is well known: Petruchio, a handsome
bachelor, comes to Padua in search of a wealthy
woman to be his wife. His good friend Hortensio
suggests Katharina, daughter to Baptista, whose only
fault is that she is "curst" and "shrewish." Petruchio
then sets out to "tame" her, which is the principal
action of the play.
Hortensio is in love with Baptista's younger daughter,
Bianca, who cannot marry until her older sister is wed. Bianca's other suitors include the elderly
Gremio and Lucentio, a young nobleman who changes roles with his servant, Tranio, in order to
have access to his love.
The locale of the play oscillates between Padua, home of Baptista and his daughters, and
Petruchio's country estate, which comes equipped with a gaggle of unruly and comical servants.
Additional plot complications include the disguising of a scholar as Lucentio's "fake" father, the
abrupt arrival of the real father, a marriage between Hortensio and a wealthy widow, and a
good-natured bet at the end of the play about whose wife is most "obedient."
Beneath the comic exterior of Shakespeare's script lurk some intriguing themes, among them
the age-old problem of finding strategies to change someone's behavior, the extent to which
love is a process in which both participants willingly allow themselves to be "tamed," and the
challenge of discovering the recipe for a happy, successful marriage.
-- Michael Flachmann
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The Taming of the Shrew mostly likely was written sometime
between 1590-94, with the first known performance mounted by
the Lord Chamberlain’s Men at Newington Butts in June of 1594.
The Newington Butts stage was located in an area about one mile
south of London called the “Liberties,” those suburbs across the Thames that were beyond London’s city walls and therefore outside of the jurisdiction of the strict municipal laws of the city.
For this first known performance of The Taming of the Shrew,
Shakespeare himself played the part of Vincentio (Lucentio’s father) and the acclaimed actor Richard Burbage (and
Shakespeare’s later business partner) played Lucentio. However, there are some references that
a play entitled The Taming of A Shrew, first published in the so-called “bad quarto” in 1594, was performed earlier by the Earl of Pembroke’s Men. The “correct” version of The Taming of the
Shrew first appeared in the 1632 First Folio, which was compiled and published by
Shakespeare’s fellow actors John Heminge and Henry Condell. Shakespeare's main source for The Taming of the Shrew was most likely Supposes, George
Gascoigne’s English translation of an Italian play, I Suppositi, by Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1535).
Some scholars have theorized that another possible source was a play entitled A Pleasant and
Conceited History Called the Taming of the Shrew, but other scholars believe that this was a
pirated version of Shakespeare’s play.
The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies (and perhaps his first, as
some records date it back as early at 1589, which would then make it not only his first comedy
but also his first play), which may account for the subject of the play. Shakespeare drew upon a
topic that was much debated in Elizabethan society: the nature of women and their role in a
male-dominated culture. It is probable that Shakespeare grew up hearing folktales and songs in
which women were portrayed as “shrews” (tiny rodents that are extremely bad tempered;; when the term was used in reference to a woman, it meant she was intolerant, bossy, and sharptongued) or as unfaithful wives who needed to be “put in their place” by men. However, Shakespeare was able to take these misogynistic tales and turn them upside down and inside
out and create a story of an oddly successful relationship between two unique and somewhat
difficult individuals, Kate and Petruchio.
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“The Taming of the Shrew is almost the only one of
Shakespeare's comedies that has a regular plot, and downright
moral."
--William Hazlitt, 1817
“The last scene is altogether disgusting to modern sensibility. No
man with any decency of feeling can sit it out in the company of
a woman without feeling extremely ashamed."”
--George Bernard Shaw, 1907
“Kate is less powerful, less wealthy, less cheerful, less in the
playwright's confidence- less everything than Petruchio. When
the conflict with women is stressed but unequal, as it is here, we
are surely justified in leveling the charge of sexism.”
--Linda Bamber, 1984
“I believe Shakespeare was a feminist.”
--Michael Bogdanov, 1988
“Kate is a woman who has had language taken away from her...
Which for a Shakespearean character may well be the ultimate
tragedy.”
--Tina Packer, 2010
Shakespeare and Macbeth by the Numbers
BORN: April 23, 1564, in Stratford-uponAvon, England
DIED: April 23, 1616 (on his 42nd
birthday)
PLAYS: 37 (give or take) – 10 tragedies,
10 histories, 13 comedies, and 4 romances;
however, it is possible that he may have
written a few more!
260: Hours it takes to read the 936,443
words in The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare, if you read at the rate of 60
words per minute
18,301: Number of spoken words in the
uncut version of Macbeth*
24: Number of times the word “blood” appears in Macbeth – more than in any
other Shakespeare play**
1 PENNY: Price of the cheapest theatre
ticket in Shakespeare’s day
90%: Percentage of U.S. high schools
that require the study of Shakespeare
* according to the Complete Public Domain Text
** according to Scholastic Scope Magazine, January 2006 issue
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Directions: Before seeing or reading the play The Taming of the Shrew, rate each of thefollowing statements. Compare
your answers with a partner and discuss your reasons for your rating of each statement. After you have seen or finished
reading the play, revisit the statements and see if your ratings have changed. Discuss with your partner why you did or did
not change your ratings for each statement.
1
2
3
4
Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Agree
Agree Strongly
Rating
Rating
(BEFORE
seeing/reading
Macbeth)
Statement
(AFTER
seeing/reading
Macbeth)
Even though they say they love all their children the same,
parents can’t help having a “favorite” child. People who fall in love "at first sight" don't really understand the true
meaning of love.
Love is necessary for a successful marriage.
If you love someone, you will do what he/she asks you to do.
Giving someone a "taste of his/her own medicine" is the only way to
show that person that he/she is wrong.
If you love someone, you should never try to change him/her.
The best relationships are between two people who are equal to each
other in intelligence and ambition.
In every relationship, there is always one person who is "in charge."
There are some things about yourself you should never change or
sacrifice for someone else
Perception is reality; people believe what they want to believe
Part Two: After seeing/reading the play:
1. Did most of your ratings change or stay the same? Why do you think that is?
2. What did you learn about yourself by completing the anticipation and reaction guide?
3. What reactions would Kate, Petruchio, Baptista, or Bianca have to these same statements? After
reading and/or seeing the play, respond to these statements from the viewpoint of one of these
characters. Then, taking on the role of the character, debate these issues!
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Presentation skills are becoming more and more important in today’s society. The ability to speak well, whether it is with one person or in front of a large group, is a skill that people use
everyday. By encouraging your students to memorize and perform a scene written by William
Shakespeare, you will be immersing them in great thoughts and language. Not only that, but
you will help students remember that Shakespeare wrote Macbeth as a play to be heard and
seen, not just read on a page.
One of the great things about staging scenes is the way your students can explore multiple
performance choices. You can then compare and contrast these choices with what you will see
(or already saw) at our Southwest Shakespeare Company performance. We will give you a few
examples of staging choices in various scenes to help you get started, we have also provided
additional scene suggestions for you to explore in class!
Although your students may be initially nervous about performing in front of their classmates,
you can make the experience non-threatening by participating in it yourself … you will show your students that even YOU can do it, and probably provide them with some good laughs!
Staging Activity: THE SLAP
Scholars, students, and theater practitioners alike all seem to disagree on how problematic The
Taming of the Shrew is in modern society. While some insist the play is farcical and amusing,
others find it deeply problematic and misogynistic. What many people forget is that staging
choices create a performance text of the play that adds another layer of meaning on top of
Shakespeare's words. This activity should help explain why some productions of The Taming of
the Shrew may seem more funny while others seem more offensive.
In Act Two, Scene One, Katharina (or Kate) and Petruchio meet for the first time. This is
traditionally called "the wooing scene" but how much wooing is actually done depends on the
production and the staging choices they make. You will need two student volunteers- one to play
Kate and one to play Petruchio. You may choose to use these same two students for all of the
staging scenarios, or to have two different students each time. It will be helpful if you print out
the lines provided in this study guide for your students so they do not have scripts hindering
their physical activity.
The stage direction in this section of the scene reads that Kate strikes Petruchio. Explain to
students that it is important to SAFELY stage these different approaches to Kate's strike.
1. Have Katharina truly attacking Petruchio, selling the possibility to the audience that she could
do some serious damage to him, have Petruchio react in self defense and seem physically hurt
by Kate's attack.
2. Have Petruchio turn to leave during his final line before Kate's strike, then have Kate chase
after him and playfully whack him on the behind, initiating a cat and mouse flirtation between
the two characters.
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3. Have Petruchio stop Kate's hand before the strike even lands on him and truly threaten her
with the next line, in effect already "taming" her wild ways.
4. Ask students for suggestions on how they might stage this moment and try one or two more
staging scenarios.
DISCUSS: How did the students react to these different moments? How did it change the way
they felt about the individual characters? Did any or all make them uncomfortable or questions
the ending of this comedy? Did any change the way they thought about the following scenes, or
Kate's speech at the end?
Here are the specific lines for this staging activity:
KATHARINA
If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
PETRUCHIO
My remedy is then, to pluck it out.
KATHARINA
Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies,
PETRUCHIO
Who knows not where a wasp does
wear his sting? In his tail.
KATHARINA
In his tongue.
PETRUCHIO
Whose tongue?
KATHARINA
Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell.
PETRUCHIO
What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again,
Good Kate; I am a gentleman.
KATHARINA
That I'll try.
She strikes him
PETRUCHIO
I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again.
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The following scenes are suggestions for student performances:

Act I, Scene 3, Lines 1-79 (three characters) Petruchio, Grumio, and Hortensio discuss
Petruchio marrying Kate.

Act II, Scene 1, Lines 1-38 (three characters) Kate and Bianca bicker; Baptista has to
break it up.

Act II, Scene 1, Lines 183-217 (two characters) Kate and Petruchio meet for the first
time.

Act III, Scene 1, Lines 1-79 (three characters) Lucentio and Hortensio attempt to woo
Bianca.

Act IV, Scene 1, Lines 1-66 (two characters) Grumio tells Curtis about the disastrous trip
home with Petruchio and Kate.

Act IV, Scene 3, Lines 116-104 (four characters) Petruchio verbally assaults the Tailor.

Act IV, Scene 5, Lines 1-80 (four characters) Kate agrees with Petruchio when he says the
sun is the moon and an old man is a fair maiden.
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
Petruchio asks his wife to, "Kiss me, Kate." Kate doesn't think it is proper for them to kiss
in public, but when her husband says they will go home, she agrees to kiss him. DO you
think it is wrong of Petruchio to force Kate to kiss him by threatening her to go home? Or
do you think she is freed from society's expectations and is glad that Petruchio has led the
way for her to be herself?

In Kate's final soliloquy, she lectures Biancea (who is quite transformed from her meek
and mild ways portrayed in the beginning of the play) and the Widow about their duties as
wives. Do you think Kate truly believes what she is saying or is she being ironic? Or has
she been "tamed" into learning the language of this speech and has no other choice? Read
the speech with these three interpretations. Which way best fits the earlier action of the
play? Why?

Looking at this play through a modern perspective, do you find Petruchio's behavior sexist
and offensive? Or do you think Kate and Petruchio found a match in each other and will
have a happy marriage as is proper at the end of Shakespeare's comedies? Do you think
the two possibilities are incompatible?
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Directions:
Give students a list of quotes from which to choose to write a personal response to for five to
seven minutes. After writing, students can share their responses in pairs, small groups, or with
the class. Or, one day each week can be set aside for students to choose their best responses
and share them in small groups or with the class. Their responses can take many forms:

Write a three-part response: 1) indicate the meaning of the quote, 2) connect the quote with
other parts of the play, other literature, or personal experiences, and 3) discuss your
personal feelings about the quote, the character, or the action.

Write a completely personal expression. Take off from the quote and free-write wherever
your thoughts make take you: into fantasy; reflections on your day; problems you are
experiencing or have experienced; or people you care about.

Write a poetic response. Write your own feelings to the quote or continue the dialogue using
Shakespeare’s style. Or, write a poem reflecting a theme or idea suggested by the quote.

Copy the quote and illustrate it. In lieu of writing, draw the characters or illustrate the action
in whatever detail you like, from symbolic representation to realistic characterization.

Reply to the character. Write a letter to the character, either from your point of view or from
the point of view of another character in the play.
Directions adapted from A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
Act I
1.
“I pray you sir, is it your will
To make a stale of me amongst these mates?.” (Katharina, Scene 1)
2.
“... till I found it to be true
I never thought it possible or likely.
But see, while idly I stood looking on,
I found the effect of love in idleness...
Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl.” (Lucentio, Scene 1)
3.
“I say a devil... though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to
hell?” (Gremio, Scene 1)
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4.
“... there's small choice in rotten apples.” (Hortensio, Scene 1)
5.
“Such wind as scatters young men through the world
To seek their fortunes farther than at home
Where small experiences grow.” (Petruchio, Scene 2)
6.
“O this learning, what thing it is!” (Gremio, Scene 2)
7.
“Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,
And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies? ...
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue
That gives not half so great a blow to hear
As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?
Tush, tush! Fear boys with bugs.” (Petruchio, Scene 2)
Act II
1.
“Ay, when the special thing is well obtained,
That is, her love, for that is all in all.” (Baptista, Scene 1)
2.
“And where two raging fires meet together,
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
Though little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all.” (Petruchio, Scene 1)
3.
“Thou must be married to no man but me,
For I am he am born to tame you, Kate,
And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate
Comfortable as other household Kates.” (Petruchio, Scene 1)
Act III
1.
“He'll woo a thousand, 'point the day of marriage,
Make friends, invite, and proclaim the banns,
Yet never means to wed where he hath wooed.” (Katharina, Scene 2)
2.
“To me she's married, not unto my clothes.” (Petruchio, Scene 2)
3.
“I see a woman may be made a fool
If she had not a spirit to resist.” (Katharina, Scene 4)
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Act IV
1.
“He kills her in her own humor." (Peter, Scene 1)
2.
“This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humor.” (Petruchio, Scene 1)
3.
“Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks,
Shall win my love....” (Hortensio, Scene 2)
4.
“My tongue will well the anger of my heart
Or else my heart, concealing it, will break,
And, rather than it shall, I will be free
Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words.” (Katharina, Scene 3)
5.
“Belike you mean to make a puppet of me.” (Katharina, Scene 3)
6.
“For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich,
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honor peereth in the meanest habit.” (Petruchio, Scene 3)
7.
"Then God be blessed, it is the blessed sun.
But sun it is not, when you say it is not,
And the moon changes even as your mind.
What you will have it named, even that it is,
And so it shall be for Katherine." (Katharina, Scene 5)
Act V
1.
“Love wrought these miracles." (Lucentio, Scene 1)
2.
“A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.” (Katharina, Scene 2)
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* Write “Act VI” of The Taming of the Shrew. What happens now that Kate has been
“tamed” and other characters are married to women that aren’t quite as “tame” as they portrayed before marriage. Whose marriage is the happiest? Who regrets getting married?
Is Kate really as she seems? Continue Shakespeare’s exploration of appearance vs. reality
in your script.

Write a diary from the perspective of one of the main characters from the play. The diary
may be from the timeframe before, during, or after the play’s events. You will need several entries, and you may want to include personal keepsakes. Remember that
thoughts and feelings are very important in a diary.

Make several drawings of some of the scenes from the play and write a caption for each
drawing. Put all the drawings and captions in chronological order on a poster board to
create a storyboard of the play.

Create a newspaper that reports the various events of the play. You could include a frontpage story that reports the play’s main conflict and its resolution, a features article about one of the prominent and wealthy characters from the play (similar to an article about a
celebrity), sports and entertainment relevant to the setting of the play or the interests of
the characters, a society page detailing the various wedding celebrations, a weather
report, etc.

Construct a model of the Globe Theatre. You may construct it out of any materials that
you wish. Be sure to consult reliable sources to help you design your model.

Create a sculpture of a character from the play. You may use any combinations of
materials – soap, wood, clay, sticks, wire, stones, old toy pieces, or any other object – to
create your sculpture.

Create a comic strip that depicts a few scenes from the play. You may draw, use
computer graphics, use pictures from magazines, use photos your take yourself, or any
other way you wish to graphically create your comic strip.

Create a movie poster for the play using two or more of the following media: paint,
crayons, chalk, coloring pencils, ink, markers, etc. You may want to choose modern-day
actors to star in the movie and include their names and/or pictures on the poster. Look at
current movie posters to help you determine what information to include on your poster.
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The Taming of the Shrew Resources
No Fear Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew; Spark Publishing, New York, NY: 2004.
Presents the original text of Shakespeare’s play side-by-side with a modern version; includes
marginal notes and explanations along with full descriptions of each character. This is an
especially useful tool for struggling readers.
The Taming of the Shrew: Literary Touchstone; Prestwick House Inc., Cheswold, DE: 2005.
Includes an extremely helpful section entitled “Strategies for Understanding Shakespeare’s Language,” which clearly and concisely explains the structure of lines, the inversion of verbs and subjects, contracted words, etc. Also includes a glossary of the more difficult words as well as
sidebars to explain any confusing aspects or point out details the reader may have missed.
Reference Books
Discovering Shakespeare’s Language by Rex Gibson & Janet Field-Pickering
The Friendly Shakespeare by Norrie Epstein
How to Speak Shakespeare by Cal Pritner and Louis Colaianni
Shakespeare From Page to Stage by Michael Flachmann
Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom
Shakespeare: To Teach or not to Teach by Cass Foster and Lynn G. Johnson
Shaking Hands With Shakespeare by Allison Wedell Schumacher
Teaching Shakespeare into the Twenty-First Century edited by Ronald E. Salomone
Picture Books
A Child’s Portrait of Shakespeare by Lois Burdett
All the World’s A Stage by Rebecca Piatt Davidson
Shakespeare for Kids: Macbeth by Lois Burdett
William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki
Websites
www.swshakespeare.org - see what’s new at Southwest Shakespeare Company
www.folger.edu - access to primary documents and lesson plans for teaching Shakespeare
http://nfs.sparknotes.com - this is the “No Fear Shakespeare” website that presents the original text of Shakespeare’s plays side-by-side with a modern version.
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/educational.htm - includes links to sites designed for teaching
Shakespeare using the Internet; great for finding secondary resources to support the play being taught
www.stratford.co.uk - the official Stratford resource center on Shakespeare
www.teachersfirst.com/shakespr.shtml - on-line quizzes and surveys related to particular plays; also has
related sites with information about Elizabethan England
www.william-shakespeare.info/index.htm - a comprehensive site with links to the complete works,
including background information, biographical information and pictures, information about Elizabethan
theatre, a Shakespeare dictionary, quotes, and a discussion forum
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Please help us to improve. We invite you to share your thoughts about this production. Please return this
form to any Southwest Shakespeare Company volunteer as you leave, OR mail it to us at P.O. Box
30595, Mesa, AZ 85275, OR fax it to 480.924.4310. Thank you for completing this form, for coming to
our performance, and for introducing your students to the wonders of Shakespeare and live theatre!
Please feel free to use the back of this form to include any additional comments.
Name of Play:
Performance Date:
Did the confirmation packet provide you with the information you needed? Why/why not?
Did you find the Teacher Guide helpful? What did you particularly like/dislike?
Did you enjoy the performance? Why/why not?
Could you understand it?
Could you hear it?
What did you think of it visually?
Would you recommend Southwest Shakespeare to other educators? Why/why not?
Your name and school (optional)
E-mail address (optional)
Southwest Shakespeare Company
Taming of the Shrew
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