Taming of the Shrew Retellings

Shakespeare's Play: Taming of the Shrew, 1590/1591 (near the beginning of Shakespeare's career)

Definitive versions: Taming of the Shrew (1967) with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Taming of the Shrew (1980) from The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare, starring John Cleese (The Complete Works did all the plays, so, hey, it's definitive).

Retellings: 10 Things I Hate About You and Taming of the Shrew from Shakespeare Retold

MIKE SAYS of all the the Shakespearean retellings I've seen, 10 Things is by far my favorite, mostly due to the fact that if a person were completely ignorant of Shakespeare, that person would have no idea that it was an adaptation.

Every time I watch the film, however, I'm always surprised by the crude humor in the first half of the film; it's so overpowered by the later half that I forget all about it. The film is superbly written and acted, smart and funny throughout, and far closer to the original play than it has any right to be.

The core of the movie is really Gordan-Levitt and Heath, who bring star power to the film years before either would hit it big.  Stile's Kat is fun and well done, but it's far more fun to see the other actors react to her grumpiness. It's also obvious that the actors are having a blast on the set, and the fun permeates the movie.  It's also apparent that the writers really love The Bard, and this love is evident throughout the film.

The understated humor in the film is what I enjoy most: I still laugh every time I see the gym teacher stumbling in the background after being shot by Bianca's arrow.

The Shakespeare Retold version is far more odd and usually in more odd ways.  This version was unexpected in a lot of ways. I went into it not knowing how long it was, what tone it would take, or even who was in it.

Henderson's Katherine is downright terrifying and is completely convincing.  The rest of the cast is fun, and Sewell's Petruchio is just plain nuts.  It's a clever re-imagining, if a little dark and scary at times.  My wife walked in on the wedding night scene, and it took me a full ten minutes to convince her it wasn't a rape scene.

Probably the biggest difference between the two is the intent of the versions.  Retold is all about telling the story in a way that was new and current for a culture that knew the story inside out, while 10 Things is for a culture that wouldn't care about or even understand the original.  Both work and capture the fun of the story.

KATE SAYS the two retellings do a far better job capturing the humor and pure magic of this play than more artsy, literary productions.

For the play to work, Petruchio can be portrayed one of two ways: as an old-fashioned, domineering bully. Or a whack job.

Either way works. The Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton version is an excellent example of the former. Taylor and Burton are so full of piss & vinegar plus pure animalistic vigor, the movie just cannons from beginning to end.

But then in the 1980s and 1990s, directors got all feminist and self-aware, blah, blah, blah, and Petruchio became a total prick. To be fair, I should write that Petruchio became a progressive feminist out to tame the love of his life. This is how the Complete Works presented Petruchio (played ironically and self-deprecatingly by John Cleese).

The problem with making Petruchio all forward thinking is that he comes off as much worse as a "sensitive" guy than he does as a bully. Instead of being this big, weird, pushy guy who falls in love with a bigger-than-life, weird, pushy gal, he comes across as a condescending jerk who thinks it is his job to "enlighten" the ignorant woman and bring her into the 21st century for her own good. I've met this type of so-called male feminist, and he makes you want to vomit.

Sorry, just getting a bit too much it to the "Kate/Kat" persona.

Regarding the Shakespeare Retold version, it also helps that I love the actors. The movie includes two of my favorite comedians of all time: Shirley Henderson and Stephen Tompkinson. In addition, the movie showcases Rufus Sewell all grown up and hilarious, so now that's three comedians that I love (until Shakespeare Retold, I'd only seen Sewell in serious dramas from his 20's).

I never would have guessed Shirley Henderson for the role of Katherine, but she is perfect--not only in her hunched strutting walk and baby voice that can pierce ears but in her tininess. Half of the film's jokes come from the vast difference in height between her and Sewell, partly because Sewell's Petruchio still finds Henderson's Katherine completely intimidating (when he isn't finding her utterly alluring) and partly because, as Jack on Stargate would say, Henderson's Katherine is a "4-9 fighting machine." Henderson is just this adorable, rampaging ball of fire (I can call her that: at 5' she is slightly shorter than me).

10 Things I Hate About You also has a good cast although 10+ years later, I find Stiles the weakest of the group. But Heath as Patrick Verona is truly good (my favorite scene is his singing/dancing number where he gets to use his physical acting skills). Heath's Petruchio is not quite as crazy as Sewell's but close enough to really sell the part. Interestingly enough, the teen film is somewhat closer to the original play in which money plays a somewhat larger long-term role than in the Shakespeare Retold version. (However, I was glad that the Shakespeare Retold writers got rid of the money motive early on, concentrating instead on the supposed “taming.”)

The most remarkable thing about 10 Things I Hate About You, however, is the supporting cast. David Krumholtz, who I happen to adore in Numb3rs, does an great job as the funny friend though my absolute favorite fall-down laughing scene is the detention scene: no, NOT Stiles showing her boobs—the beginning of the scene where David Leisure accuses a student of having marijuana. It’s completely hilarious.

There’s tons of tiny moments like this from Larry Miller on the exercise bike to Daryl Mitchell's Mr. Morgan sending students to the guidance counselor.

And Joseph Gordon-Levitt, naturally, effortlessly pulls a straight-man act out of a hat. 

To return to my original point: these versions are much closer, I think, to what the play is supposed to be like than so-called "artistic" versions. The combination of sex jokes, pure slapstick, and surprising visual humor is actually much closer to Shakespeare’s brand of comedy than more refined literary-type jokes. Shakespeare was about as bawdy as a writer can get; the only reason he isn’t censored in high schools is because nobody understands the language!

But then, that's what retellings are for.