Women on the Globe's stage? Surely not!. It just isn't Shakespeare!..Or is it? Taming of the Shrew currently showing in Wannamaker's famous 'O' really is something to talk about. Not because it is the first season in which plays have been produced with a cast solely of women, but because it is darn good. 
      Bianca looks upon her potential suitors, all eloquent and rich, they praise her wondrous beauty and virtue hoping for her hand in marriage. A clamour of smashing plates and a screeching woman's voice disrupts the air. Catherine, Bianca's sister is unhappy. She has a foul temper and bad manners. No suitors come to court her yet, until she is wooed and wed, Bianca must stay a maid. 
      The father of the girls, not wanting to see his beloved Bianca leave, thinks his plan is flawless as, he thinks, no one will marry Catherine and she does seem to be a most difficult woman. However he hasn't counted on how far Bianca's suitors will go to gain her fair hand in marriage. 
      Kathryn Hunter provides an acidic and grating performance of Catherine, her bilious tirades fitting perfectly the part of the bitter and violent elder sister. Laura Rogers compliments this well as a modest and demure Bianca, wishing herself away from her cruel sister. Each performance deserves praise although special mention must go to Janet McTeer, the true star of the show, her rendition of the hedonistic Petruchio in search of a wife, is nothing short of brilliance. Not only does she manage a hilarious performance, but also carries off the nuances of the play beautifully. 
      True, it is not in faithful keeping with the way things were in Elizabethan times, when all actors were men. Neither is the seating capacity (the original was the same size and held twice as many rather smelly people), nor the neon emergency exit signs, nor even the throwing of rotten fruit (although I'm not quite sure if this has actually been outlawed). However, turning the casting tables has given a new vibrancy to this play, much to the enjoyment of all. The women take control of the situation as they gyrate, swagger and command the attention of the audience in their breeches and boots, becoming lewd ruffians, distinguished gentlemen and their sloppy servants. After a while one forgets that they are women, their manners and their beards appear just a little too real. 
      The real beauty of this production lies in its message: for hundreds of years it has been men showing that marriage requires more than mere obedience from a wife. Now seeing women in those roles adds to the poignancy of the futile struggle of men to be masters over their wives.
Elizabeth Shenton