Catharine and Petruchio

Catharine and Petruchio is a reworking of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew by British playwright and actor David Garrick.

The Taming of the Shrew was revived following the English Civil War in the second half of the seventeenth century, but not necessarily in Shakespeare's 'original' version.

And, as in Nahum Tate's adaptation of King Lear, which transforms the tragic ending into a happy marriage between Cordelia and Edgar, the idea that Shakespeare's works were sacrosanct and inalterable was not yet established.

However, he does conclude the play with the lines: How shameful 'tis when women are so simple To offer war where they should kneel for peace, Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway, Where bound to love, to honor, and obey.

Finally, while Shakespeare's The Shrew allows other characters to comment on Katherine's speech and thus add layers of nuance and doubt to her pronouncement, Garrick's play concludes after these lines.

Garrick's play was a huge success, and major productions took place in the United States in 1754 (with Hannah Pritchard as Catherine), in 1788 (with Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble), in 1810 (again with Kemble and his real life wife, Priscilla Hopkins Brereton), and in 1842 (with William Charles Macready as Petruchio).