THE TAMING SHREW - Royal Shakespeare Company

EXPLORING THE CHARACTERS
This activity can be used alone or as an extension of the exercise sequence described in the
teachers’ pack for the 2011 Young People’s Shakespeare production of The Taming of the
Shrew. The pack is available on this webpage: www.rsc.org.uk/education/resources
(Download the pack and read the description on page 6 of the active approach to exploring
character in this play.)
Shakespeare wrote for a bare thrust stage, with only the
theatre architecture, some carefully selected props and a
few bits of costume to provide all the stage design. This
was ‘actor’s theatre’ with the actor carrying the great
majority of responsibility for the success of the show.
The 2012 production of Shrew is also performed on a thrust
stage and while there is more in the way of stage set than
in Shakespeare’s time, the properties, or ‘props’, are still
very powerful on a comparatively plain set and give the
audience important information about the characters.
Personal props are especially useful for creating vivid
characters. In this production, for example, in the first two
acts, Kate is seldom without a cigarette and a drink.
Playing with props
Lisa Dillon as Kate in the 2012 production
To prepare, write the names of the Shrew characters on slips of paper and put them in a
hat/container.
Ask students work solo or in pairs. Each person or pair picks a character from the hat.
Explain to them about the story-telling power of props, especially on a thrust stage (see
above). If possible project the picture above and others from the photo galleries of the
1976 and 2008 productions, available in our Resource Bank:
www.rsc.org.uk/education/resources/bank/the-taming-of-the-shrew/images/
Have students draw a prop taking up about half of one side of A4 which they feel would
give important information to the audience about the character they have chosen and
which would also help the actor in creating the role.
Specify that it must be something the character can use in at least one scene in the play.
Ask the students to write their name at the top of the paper. Then pass the papers
around the class. As other students receive them, ask them to guess which character the
prop is for, and write that character’s name below or beside the drawing.
If possible, and if you have time, ask students to bring in equivalents for the props they have
drawn or provide them from the school’s property store. Then:
Ask students to move around the space using these props as they believe their character
would. When they encounter another character they should greet the character by
name and in a way they imagine their character would.
Ask all the characters to gather for a group photo with their props. They negotiate with
one another their positions in the photo. Tell them the photo must show clearly the
relationships between the characters toward the start of the play. It should also show
the characters using their props in typical fashion.
Who wants to be near whom? One chair is allowed. Who gets to sit in it?
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