The World of the Stage
“Etonne-moi. Astonish me.” Sergei Diaghilev. Plays are what bring scripts, dull words, to life. What brings a play to life are its actors. They perform in such a way that you are forced to love them. The production of The Taming of the Shrew was superior to reading the script because of the actor’s facial expressions, gestures, and the physical comedy. In the production of The Taming of the Shrew, the facial expressions were obviously rehearsed down to perfection so that they seemed to be natural and authentic; because of this validity, the performance was more powerful and direct than the script. Seeing their facial expressions helped the audience to connect and understand the characters and the plot. Through the production, the audience was able to relate to the characters better. For example, while Petruchio was trying to court Katherine, the audience was able to see their flirtation, which they couldn’t see by reading the script. In the production, Kate stared at Petruchio’s body as she winked at the audience, making it obvious that she liked him. Although Kate did like Petruchio, she often screamed at him. Reading about her angry outbursts, seemed slow and uneventful. Kate seemed to hate Petruchio with a passion and never expressed once that she could possibly ever like him.