The Taming of the Shrew: The State of Play

The Taming of the Shrew has puzzled, entertained and angered audiences, and it has been reinvented many times throughout its controversial history. Offering a focused overview of key emerging ideas and discourses surrounding Shakespeare’s problematic comedy, the volume reveals and debates how contemporary readings and adaptions of the play have sought to reconsider and resolve the play’s contentious portrayal of gender, power and identity. Each chapter has been carefully selected for its originality and relevance to the needs of students, teachers and researchers.

Key themes and issues include:
- Gender and Power
- History and Early Modern Contexts
- Performance and Politics
- Adaptation and Afterlife

All the essays offer new perspectives and combine to give readers an up-to-date understanding of what’s exciting and challenging about The Taming of the Shrew.

Jennifer Flaherty is Associate Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Georgia College, USA, and her research emphasizes adaptation theory and global Shakespeare.

Heather C. Easterling is Professor of English at Gonzaga University, USA, where she is a specialist in Renaissance Studies with research focused on early modern English drama and its urban context of 16th and 17th-century London.