The Taming of the Shrew steps forward and speaks directly to the audience as herself; "Well, I must own, it wounds me to the Heart/To play, unwomanly, so mean a Part./What – to submit, so tamely – so contented,/Thank Heav'n! I'm not the Thing I represented." Cole Porter's musical "Kiss Me, Kate" is an adaptation of "Taming of the Shrew". The music and lyrics are by Porter and the book is by Samuel and Bella Spewack. It is at least partially based on the 1935/1936 Theatre Guild production of "Taming of the Shrew", which starred husband and wife Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, whose backstage
Shakespeare in performance and prompting a small Broadway success and a national tour. Other notable productions of the 20th century that follow this trend of relocating Shakespeare's plays are H.K. Ayliff's "Macbeth" of 1928 set on the battlefields of World War I, Welles' "Julius Caesar" of 1937 based on the Nazi rallies at Nuremberg, and Thacker's "Coriolanus" of 1994 costumed in the manner of the French Revolution. In 1978, a deconstructive version of "The Taming of the Shrew" was performed at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The main character walked through the audience toward the stage, acting drunk and shouting sexist comments before he