Ruff Love or What You Will

In this gender-friendly adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, director Deborah Wright Houston and her company of actors address the sometimes troubling subjugation of Kate by Petruchio and Kate’s final speech extolling patriarchal ideals. By focusing on the attraction between the two, Kings County Shakespeare explores the price Petruchio must pay in sleep and food depravation in order to deny Kate the same comforts. However frustrated Kate may be with Petruchio’s wit and affability at their first meeting, these very qualities also intrigue her enough to accept him as a husband, and to grieve when Petruchio does not appear at the appointed time on their wedding day.