Plays 52 - The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

6. The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare

The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy of five acts, and is essentially a play-within-a-play, told in the context of a practical joke played upon a drunkard named Christopher Sly. The play-within-the-play itself is set in and around Padua, Italy and concerns the wooing of two sisters, one of whom, Katherina, is very ill-tempered and scolding. The other, Bianca, is the target of several suitors, most of whom are just as concerned with her father's wealth as they are with her own attributes. They are frustrated, however, by the condition that Bianca is only free to marry once Katherina has also found a suitor.

The play begins with an altercation between Sly and the hostess of a pub. He is very drunk and has apparently caused a significant disturbance the night before. He is asleep on the ground when a hunting party rides in and stops at his side. The Lord in charge of the hunt decides to play a practical joke on Sly and tells his servants to create the illusion that Sly is in fact a lord and has been ill or mad for some time, only now recovering. He also arranges for his Page to masquerade as the 'Lord' Sly's wife.

Upon awakening, Sly falls for the illusion and believes that he is in fact a Lord. He is about to make amorous advances on his 'wife' when a troupe of players enters and at the behest of the 'real' Lord they begin to perform a play.

Lucentio and Tranio, his manservant, have travelled from Pisa to visit Padua to experience more of the world. As soon as they arrive they witness Baptista Minola and his two daughters Katherina and Bianca walking through the town, the latter of which Lucentio instantly falls in love with. Katherina lashes out both verbally and physically as Baptista attempts to introduce Bianca to potential suitors, Hortensio and Gremio. Baptista is resolved to find tutors for his daughters.

On overhearing this, Lucentio hatches a plan to act as a tutor to Bianca, while Tranio is to masquerade as Lucentio, carrying out his business in the town. Meanwhile, Hortensio and Gremio hatch a similiar plot, persuading their friend Petruchio to marry Katherina. Petruchio is ultimately persuaded by the lure of the potential dowry that would come his way if he marries Katherina. He reveals that he intends to tame Katherina's temperament by playing mind-games with her, by bullying her into submission. Lucentio, Hortensio and Gremio are all introduced to Baptista as tutors, whilst Tranio plays the part of Lucentio, now a potential suitor for Bianca. Petruchio also introduces himself to Baptista, announcing his intention of marrying Katherina. They are left alone and Petruchio begins taunting Katherina. He later tells Baptista that any hostility from Katherina is just for show and that they are really very much in love and are to be married on Sunday. Katherina's verbal and physical strength are here shown to be a way of dealing with her lack of control over her own life.

Sunday comes and Petruchio makes everyone anxious by arriving late and when he does so, dressed in very worn and poorly repaired clothing. Katherina, somewhat relieved that she will not be a laughing stock, is married by Petruchio and he abruptly whisks her away to his home in the country. When they return to Petruchio's home, he begins his mind games by denying her food, sleep and decent clothing. Meanwhile in Padua, Lucentio continues to woo Bianca while Tranio, still acting as his master, puts the other suitors off by showing how she flirts with her tutor, thus proving her infidelity. Hortensio resolves instead to wed a "lusty widow" who has previously declared her love for him. The way now clear, Tranio announces 'his' intent to marry Bianca and begins to negotiate with Baptista to secure the dowry, while Bianca and Lucentio arrange a secret marriage.

Quite by chance, Petruchio and an increasingly defeated Katherina meet Lucentio's father, Vincentio, on their way to Padua. He plans to meet with Lucentio and check up on him. Petruchio tells Katherina that Vincentio is in fact a beautiful young woman and that she should greet her as such, when she is corrected by Vincentio, Petruchio takes her to task on this and Katherina makes her excuses as to why she "mistook" the old man for a young lady. When they arrive at Padua, Vincento seeks his son but is taken aback to find Tranio dressed in Lucentio's clothes, with an old pedant claiming to be his father. Tranio threatens to have the real Vincento imprisoned so that the plan can go ahead, but the real Lucentio reveals his identity, but since he and Bianca are now married, all is well.

Later at a feast to celebrate Lucentio and Bianca's marriage, Katherina is shown to be fully tamed as she is the only one of the three wives, the others being Bianca and the former "lusty widow", to come when summoned by their husbands. She then goes on to praise the submissiveness of women to men, and to claim that all wives should be grateful of their husbands.

In one version of the play, Katherina's speech is effectively the end of the play, however there is an earlier version of the play which concludes the Christopher Sly story. Awakening back where he originally fell asleep, he tells the hostess that he has "had the bravest dream" and now knows how to tame a shrew, should his wife be angry that he has not slept at home the previous night. However, it remains to be seen how successful he will be.

Plays 52 - Closer by Patrick Marber

5. Closer - Patrick Marber

Closer is set in London in the mid-nineteen-nineties and the play takes place over several distinct time periods over the space of four and a half years. It follows the love lives of four people as their paths intertwine. The play is also an examination of how four different types of people play off against each other; Alice is a young woman from the town, Dan is an obituary writer from the suburbs, Anna is a photographer from the country and Larry is a doctor from the city. It is also an examination of how men and women relate to each other.

Alice and Dan become involved when she is struck down by a taxi and he escorts her to hospital. This first scene sets the parameters for their relationship throughout; Alice knows her own mind and is spontaneous, whereas Dan is quite evasive when talking about what he's doing and how he's feeling. A year and a half later, Dan later falls in love with a photographer, Anna, who is taking a photograph at the behest of the publishers of a book he has written, based on Alice's life. Alice overhears Dan and Anna, subsequently asking her to take her photograph.

Larry and Anna meet and become a couple as a result of his and Dan's conversation in an online sex chatroom. Dan pretends to be Anna and arranges to meet him the following day at the London Aquarium. All four characters are present at Anna's photography exhibition later that year, where Dan once again implores her to "jump" and be with him, which ultimately she does. Larry, in a later conversation with Anna, makes the observation that there is a deceptive quality to Alice, despite her apparent honesty. Sometime during the next year, Larry and Anna marry.

A year later, both couples undergo a cathartic separation, Larry and Anna's possibly more so, in a cleverly rendered split-scene where the stage space represents both couples' living rooms. Larry aggressively questions Anna about the nature of her sexual relationship with Dan, and there is a sense that this is what Larry needed in order to maintain control and not be hurt by Anna. Dan tells Alice about his relationship with Anna and she walks out on him, despite the fact that she still loves him. By chance, Larry later discovers Alice working as a stripper and she is evasive, hiding behind her stripper persona which is contrasted with Larry's blunt honesty. She does, however, reveal to Larry her real name; Jane Jones, but does so in a way that appears to be an attempt to own her 'real' identity whilst simultaneously protecting herself. Shortly after their meeting, Larry and Alice begin a predominantly consolatory sexual relationship.

In another split-scene, Dan and Anna's separation is shown alongside an earlier meeting between her and Larry. Anna agrees to have sex with Larry to ensure he will sign their divorce papers, yet her confession of this to Dan seals their fate. Dan later meets Larry in his surgery and finds out where Alice is working. The distinction between Dan and Larry is never more acute that this scene, where Dan is the "writer"; a man of words and Larry is the man of action; a man of the "real" world. Larry cannot bring himself to forgive Dan, despite getting back together with Anna and reveals his relationship with Alice.

Dan does indeed find Alice and a month later they are in a hotel room waiting for a flight to New York when Dan begins to quiz her about Larry. This results in their acrimonious separation, with Alice telling Dan that his declarations of love are just words and that she does not feel loved by him.

Six months later, Larry and Anna, who are no longer together, are at Postman's Park memorial, for people who have died saving the lives of others. It emerges that Alice has recently died in New York after being hit by a car. Larry points out that there is a memorial for a girl named Alice Ayres and "Alice" evidently took her name. Dan arrives at the park just as Larry is leaving and reveals that Alice's name was in fact Jane Jones.