Katherine and Petruchio

Catharine and Petruchio is a reworking of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew by British playwright and actor David Garrick. It was written in 1754 and was performed far more often than the original The Shrew through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw multiple adaptations of Shakespeare's The Shrew. 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.

Of the many versions of The Shrew that appeared, David Garrick's was the most popular and influential. For example, his was the first production in which Petruchio uses a whip in Act II, scene II, seemingly initiated by actor John P. Kemble, who played Petruchio. Between 1754 and 1844, Catharine and Petruchio was the only version of Shakespeare's play performed on British and American stages, and the sixth most popular Shakespearean play, according to scholar Frances E. Dolan.

The play Catharine and Petruchio condenses Shakespeare's play into three acts. Much of the plot is also similar; Petruchio vows to marry Catharine before he has even seen her, she smashes a lute over the music tutor's head, Baptista fears no one will ever want to marry her; the wedding scene is identical, as is the scene where Grumio teases her with food; the haberdasher and tailor scene is very similar; the sun and moon conversation, and the introduction of Vincentio are both taken from Shakespeare. The Christopher Sly frame is also entirely absent.

However, much of Shakespeare's original dialogue is preserved, particularly when Petruchio discusses taming strategies.

The ending of Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew, particularly the question of whether Katharine is actually 'tamed' or not is frequently debated. Garrick's play provides a narrower interpretation than Shakespeare's ambiguous ending. There is no wager. Instead, Catharine makes her speech to Bianca, though without the offer to put her hand beneath her husband's foot. Her reasons for women's subordination, namely that their "soft and weak and smooth" bodies are unsuited for life outside the home, are omitted, as are her assertions that "my mind hath been as big as one of yours, / My heart as great, my reason haply more, / To bandy word for word and frown for frown; but now I see our lances are but straws/ Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare" (V.II.174-178).

...
Wikipedia