Historical Background, Dramaturgy, and Design

Photo of Melisa Soledad Pereyra, Nate Santana, Ryder Dean McDaniel, Monica West, Mark L. Montgomery, and Netta Walker by Michael Brosilow.

Explore the historical context of The Taming of the Shrew, its dramaturgy, and the design of Court Theatre’s production.

Historical Background

Explore analyses and adaptations of the play, and learn more about William Shakespeare.

The Taming of the Shrew: Watch video summaries and analyses of the play, and check out the trailer for the 1990s adaptation, 10 Things I Hate About You!

Bio of the Bard: Learn more about William Shakespeare’s life and work.

Tips for Reading Shakespeare: Learn how to navigate the language in Shakespeare plays!

How to read Shakespeare for pleasure (Article)
10 Strategies for Understanding Shakespeare (Text)
How to Read Shakespeare: Five Easy to Use Strategies (5:17)
How to Read Shakespeare (4:34)
No Fear Shakespeare (Online Resource)

A portrait of William Shakespeare, a white man with a beard and mustache, receding hairline, and hair down to his shoulders. He sports a gold earring and a quizzical look. — Circa 1600, English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-shakespeare.

An image of a building with large stone columns, decorative stone details, archways, and a tower. — During the 16th Century, Padua, Italy, was on the forefront of a scientific revolution. The University of Padua, where Lucentio has come to attend school.

Image courtesy of Enrico Della (Pietra/Alamy) https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190203-the-birthplace-of-modern-medicine.

A photo shows yellow and orangey buildings with terracotta roofs and a large domed church. — Modern-day Padua, the city where Katherina and Bianca live with their father in THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.

Image courtesy of https://www.vietri.com/blogs/meet-me-in-the-piazza/padua.

A small mammal with golden brown fur, small black eyes, a pointed nose, and whiskers. — A shrew.

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Dramaturgy

Learn more about the themes in The Taming of the Shrew, as well as those explored in the framing device of Court’s production.

Please Note: Some of these resources explore mature topics; if using resources in class, please vet these for your students as appropriate.

Consent
- Tea Consent (Clean) (2:50)
- What is Consent? – Animation (2:57)
- What is consent?: Crash Course in Sex Ed #11 (9:27)
- Teens & Why Consent is Important? | #BodyOfKnowledge | AAP (5:51)
- Consent, Kids, and Culture | Rosalia Rivera | TEDxOneonta (20:18)
BDSM and Kink
- What is kink?: Crash Course in Sex Ed #15 (8:08)
- The Psychology of Sexual Kink (Article)
- What can BDSM teach us about affirmative consent? | Candace Liger | TEDxGreensboro (16:58)
- Dr. Esslin Terrighena on the Psychology of BDSM (20:08)
- Communication: Learning from the BDSM Community – Esther Perel & Margie Nichols (7:26)
- How Does Our Trauma Affect Our Sexy Kinks (6:43)
Sex, Gender, Politics, and Religion
- The Incoherent Sexual Politics of the Right (1:15:20)
- What TikTok’s Tradwives Aren’t Telling You (Article)
- Surviving purity culture: How I healed a lifetime of sexual shame | Linda Kay Klein | TEDxMileHigh (14:12)
- An Inside Look at Domestic Discipline (Article)
- Christian Domestic Discipline and Queer Religious Studies (Article)
- Republicans and Democrats Are Also Divided on Sexual Fantasies (Article)

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Design

Coming soon—watch this space!

Posted on November 18, 2025 in Learning Guides, Productions