Shakespeare Project:
Taming of the Fool
Deduction to Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
By Megan Markham
Deduction Scene One:
Christopher Sly asleep in his box in the theatre. His attendants have been watching the play and at its close spring up applauding. The Lord looks down to see Sly and smiles.
Lord:
Seems our sir, unpleased with the performance
Hath fallen under a deep slumber
First Servant:
Should we wake him?
Lord:
Nay, wait a while,
Once the crowd hath cleared, the true fun ensues.
Sly wont know what hath become of him.
Second Servant:
Leave him where he is sir
Left to rot like sewage or the dead
Moved neither here nor there
Until he awakes
Lord:
I think not.
Move good Sly onto the stage,
Soon we shall make him dance like n'er before
I do think tonight is the night,
Sly shall learn the lesson I care to teach.
He made the fool of in front of many,
Go to the alehouse and dress the Hostess and all who are near
In robes of finest silk and colors.
Sly on the other hand, dress in actors apparel
To perform for us what he has learn'ed
And to show to us if he has changed.
If neither things have happened to him,
Shall at least have be a good jest.
Deduction Scene Two:
Christopher Sly is sitting center stage a single spot on him. The "audience" consisting of various masked lords and ladies including the Lord and the Hostess both in masked disguises, sits around the apron of the stage even a few in the actual audience. Sly is stirring tossing and turning still half asleep.
Sly:
Lord, I, I am a lord
Noble birth, noble stock,
From heritage of Kings of York
Or was it Kings of England.
No matter what or where my stock flourishes from,
Always I shall be a noble lord.
Lord:
He is coming to,
The darkness is fading,
Time for us to put on a show while we make him do so.
Sly: [awakening]
My slaves, my simple folk, my merry men,
Come to me in all your joy and jest,
Entertain me and amuse here forever more.
Lord:
What do you mean good sir,
For we are not merry men to please and pamper the likes
Of a man such as yourself.
We are lords and their ladies to be bemused by your craft.
If not your craft please,
Then sure joy in your sufferings.
Sly:
What be this? I awake once to find myself
In a lord's position higher than all
And the next-
Hostess:
We've not the time for your games sir.
This skit although amusing has been long out played.
We require a true and written play.
Sly:
I do not know of one.
Lord:
This is your craft sir.
You are an actor of the guild and trade,
Forever in love with the craft you stick to.
Sly:
Am I a good actor you say?
Lord:
Very good indeed.
Every fortnight I travel far through lands strange and treacherous
To come to your theater and see you perform.
Every performance I arrive to a sleeping sly,
And when you awake you have dreamt of a play.
What did you dream of sir?
Sly:
I dreamt of seeing a play in fact.
A farce of some sort
[aside] Portraying women as the slaves to men they are.
Lord:
Shall I entreat you to perform it.
Sly:
If it tis my craft and profession I should not be allowed to do otherwise.
Lord:
Good then on with the show.
Deduction Scene Three:
Hostess:
Lords and Ladies,
Lord Sly's men present,
Naming of the Shrews.
Sly:
To name a shrew tis not a goal,
Tisn't hard or requiring gold.
No patience needed to see a shrew,
You see and then you do.
For Kate it was that easy.
Sly exits, adopts a high voice and reappears, dressed similarly to Bartholomew in the induction, possibly in the same outfit.
Sly:
Oh woe is me I evil and cold and spiteful
Could n'er a man love me as one does my fair sister, Bininka.
Bininka with her glamour shall never be loved.
Women are only loved for their love of men
As they shower men with love they may be allowed to live.
Men control me and name me a Shrew until someone comes to marry me.
Sly exits again and this time returns in Petruchio's clothing
Sly:
Men name Shrews like Kate,
They have her not for a mate.
But I see Kate as quite a mate
With her money providing a way to fake
Happiness with her,
So long as the bed's kept warm.
Kate shall be kind
Kate shall be sweet
And Kate shall be slave to me forever more for naming her a shrew
Was all I needed to do for her to see her ways.
Lord:
And naming you a fool,
Was all I needed to do,
To see you tamed yourself.
In your play good sir,
Or the one you tried to present,
Kate has been tamed,
Well that's no coincidence.
I have shown you the Shrew rude and untamed
In my life Shrew be you sir,
And now made a fool the Shrew is tamed by humiliation,
The greatest tool,
Perhaps I shall go into falcon training.
Hostess, Lord, and company exit. Sly is alone.
Sly:
A laughing stock am I now?
The toast to that Lord who can make me think I,
I not Sly?
Nay for Shrew or fool I am living,
Never to do good.
He thinks he's taught a lesson and true he tricked me good.
But I Sly shall never change
I Sly shall never tame.
Petruchio not dare tame me.