The Taming of the Shrew in performance reviewers as being extremely physical. Lunt and Fontanne were the most famous celebrity couple of the time, and their backstage fights were rumoured to be just as ferocious as their on-stage performances. So legendary did the tempestuous reputation of the couple become that Cole Porter's 1948 musical "Kiss Me, Kate", about a fiery couple attempting to stage an adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew", was based on their real-life antics. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the play has been frequently staged all over the world. Some notable productions include: "The Shrew"s popularity on stage has continued
The Taming of the Shrew the same text for the purposes of copyright, i.e. ownership of one constituted ownership of the other, and when Smethwick purchased the rights from Ling in 1609 to print the play in the "First Folio", Ling actually transferred the rights for "A Shrew", not "The Shrew". One of the most fundamental critical debates surrounding "The Shrew" is its relationship with "A Shrew". There are five main theories as to the nature of this relationship: The exact relationship between "The Shrew" and "A Shrew" is uncertain, but many scholars consider "The Shrew" the original, with "A Shrew" derived from it; as