🌹 Event: "The Taming of the Shrew" — Casa Shakespeare
📅 When: 5–7 March at 7:45 pm / 8 March at 5:00 pm
📍 Where: Teatro Satiro OFF, Vicolo Satiro 8, Verona
🎟️ Tickets: Online with Women's Day promo | Under 12 free | Students €5
ℹ️ Info: shakespeare2026.com
"The Taming of the Shrew" on stage from 5 to 8 March 2026
There is a very particular way to celebrate 8 March in Verona, and it goes through the stage of the Teatro Satiro OFF in Vicolo Satiro. From 5 to 8 March 2026, Casa Shakespeare brings to the stage "The Taming of the Shrew", one of the most discussed and fascinating shows in the Shakespearean repertoire, reread with a female and contemporary gaze thanks to the direction reprised by Lucia Messina.
This is not a simple revival of the classic. Casa Shakespeare deliberately chooses not to defend the text, but to walk through it critically: the show invites the audience to observe the play of roles and masks that the characters wear in their relationships, raising a question that goes well beyond Elizabethan England. How much are we really ourselves in our relationships? How much, instead, are we playing a part? The "taming" of Katherina — which in Elizabethan England reflected very rigid social hierarchies — becomes here the pretext for a reflection that speaks directly to the present.
The plot is that of the original text: Baptista Minola has two daughters of opposite character and demands that the eldest, Katherina, of strong personality, find a husband before the gentle Bianca. Enter Petruchio, determined to marry the "shrew" no matter what, setting off a relational duel made of disguises, strategies and attempts at domination. But this time, the final question does not sound like a command: «Will you kiss me, Kate?» — a recognition, more than a surrender.
The cast is made up of the company's young performers: Viola Rizzardi Penalosa as Katherina, Solimano Pontarollo as Petruchio, with Francesco D'Ippolito, Riccardo Caserta and Kelly Negro. The show is in Elizabethan costume, with dialogue in English and accompaniment in Italian, lasting about 50 minutes.
Performances are on Thursday 5, Friday 6 and Saturday 7 March at 7:45 pm, and Sunday 8 March at 5:00 pm. Tickets are available online, with a special Women's Day promo. Admission is free for under 12s (accompanied, with mandatory booking), while high school students from Verona and the province can attend at €5 by presenting their school badge. The Carta Docenti and Carte Cultura are accepted.
The show is part of the Shakespeare 2026 programme and is included in the schedule of the Cultural Olympiad of Milano Cortina 2026.