Shrew Tamed at Ring

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Suitors in disguise, mistaken identity, and an epic toe-to-toe match between Kate and Petruchio to gain the upper hand in their marriage—you won't want to miss one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies THE TAMING OF THE SHREW May 30 - June 15. (Click title for full article) 

Presented by Seven Stages Shakespeare Company (7SSC) at the Players’ Ring theater in Portsmouth, NH, the SHREW runs May 30 through June 15, and sponsored by Strawbery Banke and New Hampshire Public Radio.

Meet Bianca, the beautiful and sought-after younger sister of Katherina, the razor-tongued and hot-tempered “shrew.” Many a suitor seeks Bianca’s hand, but her father will only allow her to be wed once a husband has been found for her elder sister. Enter Petruchio, the confident bachelor who makes it his mission to turn Kate into a honey-tongued trophy wife. What ensues is a unique love story wrapped in a hilarious tangle of masquerades that, in the end, dares ask us not only why we love, but how we love.

“Shakespeare's TAMING is not the play we sometimes think it is,” says director Andrew Codispoti. “The central narrative and Petruchio's ‘taming’ of Kate is actually a play-within-a-play. This famous Shakespeare play is actually a play that characters in a Shakespeare play are watching. We'll answer this metatheatrical triumph with a further inversion: is it possible for true love to live at the center of a story about apparent subjugation that is meant to be a farcical commentary on relationships, and is itself wrapped in another brief comedy about a drunken man and his relationship to his wife? We like to think so.”

Providing professional quality Shakespeare performances for free is at the heart of Seven Stages Shakespeare Company’s mission to provide artistically excellent and financially accessible productions and programs created to engage, enliven, and enlighten both company and community. With that mission in mind, 7SSC has made all tickets for THE TAMING OF THE SHREW “FREE FOR ALL, Or Pay What You Will.” 

The cast includes: Dan Beaulieu, Robin Fowler,Jennifer Henry, Kolby Hume, Tim Jacobs, Justin MacDougall, Kyle Andrew Milner, Christine Penney, Geoffrey Pingree, Jim Sears, and Michael Towle. 

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW at the Players’ Ring plays on: Fri, May 30 at 8PM; Sat, May 31 at 8PM; Sun, June 1 at 7PM; Fri, June 6 at 8PM; Sat, June 7 at 8PM; Sun, June 8 at 7PM; Fri, June 13 at 8PM; Sat, June 14 at 8PM; and Sun, June 15 at 2PM.  For more information visitwww.7stagesshakespeare.org