Real life husband and wife Cody Nickell and Kate Eastwood Norris starred in the Folger’s recent adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.  As you can guess from pic above, the comedy was set in the Old West (director Aaron Posner was inspired by HBO’s Deadwood).  There was original music played onstage by the composer.  Also, two of the traditionlly male characters (Baptista and  Tranio) were turned into women.

At the start of the play, Kate is angry, bitter, and fights w/ her little sister, Bianca, and the suitors who constantly mill about her.  Of course, she is only masking her disappointment and loneliness. 

When he first arrives in town to see his old buddy Hortensio, Petruchio is a bold, brassy golddigger; he’ll marry ANY woman if she’s rich.  Bianca’s suitors (Gremio, Lucentio,  Hortensio) can’t believe their luck, b/c once Kate’s married off, they can court Bianca. 

There are a LOT of laughs in this production, BUT at the heart, it’s love story of two VERY strong-willed individuals.  If you know the text, you probably noticed that some lines were switched from Kate to Petruchio.  The final scene showed that the couple were on equal footing; the audience REALLY enjoyed the twist!