I just started this Shakespearean classic and got to ACT 2, where Petruchio, the 'gentleman of Verona' is about to meet and commence his 'taming' of Katherina the shrew... its a crazy comedy and actually presented to the audience as a play-within-a-play. The opening scene has a rich nobleman run across Christopher Sly, a down-on-his-luck, drunken peddler, who is passed out under a tree. The nobleman decides to play a trick on him and orders his servants to take him back to his house and pretend (when Sly wakes up) that he has been out of his mind these past 15 yrs and is actually a nobleman...
So effect the practical joke with good effect and Sly comes to believe them and they ask if he wants to have a play put on for him. He grudgingly puts off amorous relations with his 'wife' (who is actually a boy servant playing his wife) to watch the play...
that is when the actual Taming of the Shrew starts... its kind of a cool story within a story deal. I wonder if that was cutting edge for that period...? anyone? anyone??? Bueller??
another great story, in its own right...
ok, back to your regularly scheduled program....
No comments:
Post a Comment