Bowler Crab return on tour in 2024 for The Taming Of The Shrew, one of few comedies new to the company after producing 32 Shakespeare tours in the last eleven years. Performing on the Sixpenny Lawn in front of Battle Abbey School with the ruins of the Abbey in the background.
The Taming Of The Shrew is a controversial comedy that explores the relationships between men and women alongside the expectations of society. A womanising drunk, Christopher Sly, is tricked into believing he is a Lord that owns a theatre company. The players put on The Taming Of The Shrew, all the while making their ‘patron’ question his sanity. In the play, by decree of her father, Bianca cannot marry until her brutish spinster of a sister, Katherina, is wooed first. One of many suitors to Bianca, Hortensio makes a bet that his friend Petruchio cannot tame the shrew, Katherina. But how well will Hortensio fair when another suitor has hatched a plot to steal Bianca away, disguised as her tutor? Will Pertuchio tame the shrew? And will Christopher Sly learn how to treat women correctly, rich or otherwise?
The Taming Of The Shrew is full of mirth, disguise, laughter, slapstick comedy, dance and song – all the while making us question the relationship between men and women and the performances society expects from stereotypes. Bowler Crab, ever eager to look at Shakespeare from new perspectives, have taken plot points, characters and scenes from the ever elusive “The Taming of A Shrew” published by Anonymous and believed to be the predecessor of Shakespeare’s play.
