Fiona Shaw discusses playing Katherine in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, in this ebook taken from Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 – Twelve Leading Actors on Twelve Key Roles.
In each volume of the Shakespeare On Stage series, a leading actor takes us behind the scenes of a landmark Shakespearean production, recreating in detail their memorable performance in a major role. They leads us through the choices they made in rehearsal, and how the character works in performance, shedding new light on some of the most challenging roles in the canon. The result is a series of individual masterclasses that will be invaluable for other actors and directors, as well as students of Shakespeare – and fascinating for audiences of the plays.
In this volume, Fiona Shaw discusses playing the role of Katherine in Jonathan Miller's 1987 production of The Taming of the Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
This interview, together with the others in the series (with actors such as Ian Mc Kellen, Simon Russell Beale, Patrick Stewart and Harriet Walter), is also available in the collection Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 – Twelve Leading Actors on Twelve Key Roles by Julian Curry, with a foreword by Nicholas Hytner.
About the author
Julian Curry is a writer and actor who has appeared in many of Shakespeare’s plays. His extensive stage credits include leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and in London’s West End. He has acted in twenty-one of Shakespeare’s plays.
He is also well known as Claude Erskine-Brown in the popular television series Rumpole of the Bailey. Numerous other TV credits include Inspector Morse, Sherlock Holmes, The Misanthrope, King Lear, Kavanagh QC, The Wyvern Mystery, A Fine Romance and Midsomer Murders. Among many movies are The Missionary, Fall from Grace, Rasputin, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Escape to Victory (starring Pelé).
His one-man entertainment Hic! or The Entire History of Wine (abridged) has been performed over a hundred and fifty times, from Hong Kong to Bermuda to San Francisco, and sold out as a cartoon-illustrated book. He has also written and recorded A Guide to Wine for Naxos Audiobook.
He is the author of Shakespeare On Stage, shortlisted for the 2010 Theatre Book Prize, and Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2, both published by Nick Hern Books.