Meryl Streep and Raul Julia Taming of the Shrew

[Hot Pants]

Posted: 1/5/20 at 5:43pm

I just came across some footage of this production, and I wanted to know if the entire show is available to watch, cause what I saw was really wonderful.

[msmp]

Posted: 1/6/20 at 10:14am

At the very least, there's a documentary ("Kiss Me, Petruchio" that I've seen available on youtube. It's not the full production, but there's a lot of footage from the Delacorte. IIRC they interviewed Streep and Julia afterwards for their thoughts on acting and the challenges of doing Shakespeare.

[Hot Pants]

Posted: 1/6/20 at 12:27pm

Yeah that’s what I saw, and I really loved it. I was very impressed by Julia’s ability to make a character as controversial as Petruchio genuinely likable. I wasn’t a huge fan of how they did the ending, as it seemed to much like Katherine was actually tamed, even though that’s not exactly what they seemed to be going for with the production. I guess I just prefer the standard knowing wink/sarcastic portrayal of the final speech. Still it seemed like a great production, and I would’ve liked to have seen more of it. Not sure why they had several actors in all that face paint though.

[cmorrow]

Posted: 1/6/20 at 12:31pm

In 1978 the entire play was taped for the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT), i.e. the video collection held at Lincoln Center. And fortunately, this is one of the older tapes which has been digitized, so it's available to view in the TOFT screening room.