The Tamer Tamed

Petruchio, the celebrated tamer of shrews, has married for a second time, to an apparently innocent and docile young woman named Maria. But Maria I has a surprise for him on their wedding night ... Nearly twenty years after Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, his colleague, John Fletcher, decided to write a response in which Petruchio finds out what it is like to be on the receiving end of a taming campaign. Often described as a feminist or proto-feminist play, The Tamer Tamed is a free-wheeling and witty comedy in which the place and status of women, and the nature of marriage, are subjected to sustained attention, demonstrating one way in which early modern writers were able to challenge and invert social convention, and to at least imagine alternative modes of behaviour. The Tamer Tamed is currently being rediscovered by critics and theatre audiences alike, as both an early example 'of the appropriation of Shakespeare's work and as a funny and thought-provoking play in its own right. This student edition contains a fully annotated version of the play-text in modern spelling. The introduction includes an account of Fletcher's life, an examination of the play's themes in their historical context, a description of its original cast and staging, and a critical discussion of recent performances. The editor, Lucy Munro, is a Senior Lecturer in English at Keele University. The New Mermaids plays offer. Modernized versions of the play text edited to the highest textual standards. Fully annotated student editions with obscure words explained and critical, contextual and staging insight provided on each page. Full Introductions analyzing context, themes, author background and stage history --Book Jacket.