Valley Shakespeare Festival to present classic comedy at Shelton park

Iris-McQuillan Grace as Kate and Nate Murphy as Petruchio rehearse a scene from Valley Shakespeare Festival's production of 'The Taming of the Shrew.'/ Contributed photo

SHELTON - Valley Shakespeare Festival will celebrate its fourth season in the Valley with four free performances of Shakespeare’s classic comedy,“The Taming of the Shrew.”

Veterans Memorial-Riverwalk Park will again be the site of the festivities July 14-17.  

Audiences are encouraged to arrive early to picnic and socialize before the performances which begin as the sun sets, around 8 p.m.

This comedy has long been recognized in Hollywood as the basis for every screwball “battle of the sexes” comedy created, from the 1940 Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant  classic “The Philadelphia Story” to the 1967 Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton film version of the play itself, to 1999’s “10 Things I Hate About You” starring Julia Stiles and the late Heath Ledger.

As the story goes, Padua’s Signor Baptista Minola, a wealthy gentleman of the city, will not allow his younger daughter, the lovely and well-behaved Bianca, to date until his eldest daughter, the not-so-well-behaved Katharina, is married.  

Several of Bianca’s would-be suitors concoct a plan to find a husband for the challenging Katharina and light upon the bold and courageous Petruchio.  
Part one of the play revolves around the tumultuous courtship and part two deals with life after marriage.

The dialogue is fast and furiously witty, the comedy is vaudevillian in its physicality and the twists and turns will alternately shock, challenge and delight audiences.  
No need for Cliff Notes for this Shakespearean piece as Hollywood has been preparing audiences for this production for decades!

This is a press release from Valley Shakespeare Festival, a nonprofit theater company dedicated to bringing free and low-cost theater to the Lower Naugatuck Valley and surrounding communities.