Page "The Taming of the Shrew" Paragraph 215

Lily Brayton was a noted Katherina in the Edwardian era, playing the part in a number of productions, sometimes opposite her husband Oscar Asche, and in the 1907 Oxford University Dramatic Society production opposite Gervais Rentoul.

In 1913, Martin Harvey staged a major production at the Prince of Wales Theatre, as did William Bridges Adams in 1919, where the Induction was completely omitted.

In 1923, Max Reinhardt included the Induction and concentrated on the farcical nature of the play, presenting it as a type of commedia dell ' arte.

Barry Jackson also kept the Induction in his 1928 production at the Royal Court Theatre.

In 1931, Harcourt Williams used the conclusion of A Shrew ( in which, after the Petruchio / Katherina story is finished, the Lord returns the now sleeping Sly to the inn where he was found, and who, upon waking up, announces he has had a dream in which he has learned how to tame his own wife ).

The longest running Broadway production was the 1935 Theatre Guild adaptation with husband and wife Alfred Lunt ( who also directed ) and Lynn Fontanne, which ran for 129 performances.

Presented as a rollicking farce involving circus animals, dwarfs, acrobats and clowns, the production also toured the United States after its run on Broadway.

According to some reports, Kiss Me Kate, a 1953 filmic adaptation of the Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate was inspired by the backstage antics of Lunt and Fontanne, who continually fought both on and off stage, but who always reconciled, both on and off stage.