William Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew
The full script in Final Draft, Word & PDF
Petruchio sets out to marry the sharp-tongued Katherina for her dowry, in a play within a play that remains one of Shakespeare's most debated.
PDFs Only
$4.99
- ✓ Stageplay PDF (108 pp.)
- ✓ Screenplay PDF (95 pp.)
- ✓ Instant download
Full Package
$12.99
- ✓ Final Draft (.fdx)
- ✓ Microsoft Word + RTF
- ✓ Screenplay + Stageplay PDFs
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All 37 plays in every format cost $99, less than 8 single Full Packages. PDFs only: $55 for all 37.
- Genre
- Comedy
- Written
- c. 1590–1592
- Setting
- Padua, with an Induction in rural England
- Scenes
- 14
- Speaking roles
- 37
- Uncut running time
- ~2h 30m
What happens in The Taming of the Shrew
In the Induction, a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly is tricked by a lord into believing he is a nobleman and is entertained with a play. In Padua, Baptista Minola refuses to let his younger daughter Bianca marry until his elder daughter, Katherina, is wed. Bianca's suitors, including Lucentio, who disguises himself as a tutor, look for someone to take on Katherina.
Petruchio arrives from Verona, determined to marry for money, and takes on Katherina's temper with schemes of his own. After a chaotic wedding he takes her to his country house, where he controls her food and sleep. The play ends at a banquet where the three newly married husbands wager on whose wife is most obedient.
See the formatting
The first page of Act I, exactly as it appears in the files you download.
The biggest roles
Share of the play's spoken words, counted from the script. 37 characters speak; 23 of them have under 1% of the text — natural candidates for doubling.
| Role | Share of the text | Speeches |
|---|---|---|
| Petruchio | | 171 |
| Tranio | | 95 |
| Katharina | | 82 |
| Hortensio | | 71 |
| Grumio | | 63 |
| Lucentio | | 64 |
| Gremio | | 59 |
| Baptista | | 72 |
For directors
Petruchio holds 22.6% of the words, well ahead of Tranio (11.0%), Katharina (8.5%), Hortensio (7.7%), Grumio (7.1%) and Lucentio (6.7%), and nine roles are over 5%. With 37 speaking roles over 14 scenes and 23 under 1%, the cast can be doubled across Padua and the Induction. At about 2 hours 30 minutes uncut, it fits a standard evening without major cuts.
Cutting notes
- The Christopher Sly Induction is often cut entirely or kept as a framing device; in the Folio text Sly disappears after 1.1, so some productions bring him back at the end.
- Subplot scenes with Bianca's suitors, including the tutors' lesson in 3.1, are commonly shortened.
- Katherina's closing speech is usually kept, though productions differ greatly on how it is delivered.
For teachers
Typical themes include marriage, power between the sexes, performance and disguise, and the frame story of Christopher Sly. Students often debate Katherina's final speech on obedience in 5.2 and whether a production reads it as sincere or ironic, and how the Induction shapes the play. The anonymous play A Shrew, which does return to Sly at the end, is frequently discussed alongside it.
Questions
Is this the complete, uncut text of The Taming of the Shrew?
Yes. Every file contains the full play — 14 scenes and about 20,600 spoken words. Cut it yourself in Word or Final Draft to fit your running time.
What is the difference between the stageplay and screenplay layouts?
The stageplay layout indents stage directions and sets dialogue full-width, like a theatre script. The screenplay layout follows film conventions: scene headings and action flush left, character names centred, dialogue in a narrower column. Both tiers include both layouts as PDFs; the Full Package adds editable Final Draft and Word files of each.
Can I use this The Taming of the Shrew script for a production or a class?
Yes. Shakespeare's plays are in the public domain, so there are no royalties to pay for staging them. Edit, stage, film or teach with these files.
How do I receive the files?
Right after checkout you land on a private download page, and the link is also emailed to you. It keeps working, so you can re-download any time.
