The Taming of the Shrew Jean-Christophe Maillot
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The Taming of the Shrew Jean-Christophe Maillot
©Alice Blangero
The Taming of the Shrew Jean-Christophe Maillot
Ekaterina Petina & Matej Urban ©AB
©Alice Blangero
The Taming of the Shrew Jean-Christophe Maillot
Katrin Schrader ©AB
Alessandra Tognoloni & Francesco Mariottini ©AB
The Taming of the Shrew Jean-Christophe Maillot
©Alice Blangero
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Watch the video!
©Alice Blangero
Ekaterina Petina & Matej Urban ©AB
©Alice Blangero
Katrin Schrader ©AB
Alessandra Tognoloni & Francesco Mariottini ©AB
©Alice Blangero

The Taming of the Shrew

J-Ch. Maillot

"Rather than turn The Taming of the Shrew into a macho how-to manual for ‘taming’ shrewish women, the idea was to stage the encounter between two powerful personalities who see themselves reflected in one another. Their antisocial and unpalatable characters stem primarily from their instinct for solitude, an imposed loneliness inflicted on them by personalities seemingly incompatible with the norm. This character trait explains the excesses that have led them to where they now find themselves, with no man or woman capable of matching their larger-than-life nature. Two albatrosses in a flock of sparrows. This is love at its most unusual, and the proof is in the ending: although we might have assumed him to be interested in nothing more than his father-in-law’s fortune, Petruchio does not abandon his new wife after the wedding, but takes her with him, rather than helping himself to her dowry. He has a genuine interest in Katherine, and the real dowry and prize is her essence. He puts her through a series of tests to ensure he hasn’t made a mistake, and that he has indeed met his match. He hasn’t made a mistake, and neither has she. She yields to her husband’s demands, not because she is weaker, but because she recognises in him something of herself. Rather than submitting, she is in fact playing at submission. Yet the two lovers see each other as plain as daylight, and Petruchio isn’t fooled by his wife’s new and apparently docile nature. To the outside world, at least, and to those who knew the fierce and untamed woman Katherine once was, social norms have been preserved, and society at large heaves a collective sigh of relief, safe in the knowledge that even the most wayward rebels eventually submit to convention. Yet in reality, Katherine and Petruchio continue their merry, unusual dance in perfect harmony, and in a series of subterfuges and subtexts, succeed in forging a relationship far removed from the ordinary". Jean Rouaud


Ballet in 2 acts
Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillot
Music: Dimitri Chostakovitch
Scenography: Ernest Pignon-Ernest
Lighting: Dominique Drillot
Costumes : Augustin Maillot
Argument: Jean Rouaud d’après William Shakespeare
Assistant to Choreographer: Bernice Coppieters
Duration: 1h50 (including an intermission)

With the participation of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Lawrence Foster & Kalle Kuusava

Premiere by the Bolshoi Ballet, on July 4th 2014, Moscow
Premiere by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, on December 28th 2017, Grimaldi Forum Monaco