(BBC Television Shakespeare)
1980
3/5 stars
Baptista Minola (John Franklyn-Robbins) of Padua has two lovely daughters: Katherina (Sarah Badel) and Bianca (Susan Penhaligon). Bianca has many suitors, being retiring and maidenly. Katherina, on the other hand, is a shrew, short of temper and sharp of tongue. Baptisa vows that he will not allow Bianca to marry until her older sister has. Petruchio (John Cleese) comes to Padua, intent on finding a rich wife. Katherina is just such a prospect, and he quickly arranges with Baptista to marry her, and then sets about to tame her.
I truly dislike the play itself (my review here), and watched this only in hopes that seeing it staged would give me a better appreciation for it. Unfortunately, it didn't. However, the play was mostly well-performed, with Cleese making a surprisingly good Petruchio. I found that some of the actors tended to speak too quickly when the character was excited, which made it difficult to understand the lines. Overall, though, it was generally well-staged performance of a poor play.
This can be viewed for free with Amazon Prime.
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