Pictured is the AFTLS The Taiming of the Shrew cast. From left, Tom Kanji, Evelyn Miller, Carl Prekopp, Lizzie Hopley, and Chris Donnelly.

NOTRE DAME—William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew will be performed by the renowned five-member British touring group, Actors From The London Stage, Feb. 28, March 1 and March 2 at Notre Dame’s Washington Hall.

Founded by Homer “Murph” Swander, Sir Patrick Stewart, and members of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1975, AFTLS has been visiting university campuses for week-long residencies ever since.

“We are excited to return to one of Shakespeare’s most enduring comedies, The Taming of the Shrew, for the first time in a decade,” says Scott Jackson, the Mary Irene Ryan Family Executive Director of Shakespeare at Notre Dame.

He adds, “The conversation surrounding gender relations has shifted dramatically since that last AFTLS staging in 2008, giving our audiences a new frame of reference by which to experience (and ultimately judge) this controversial work.”

In Shrew, fortune seeker Petruchio arrives in Padua only to meet his match in Katherine, whose reputation as an ill-tempered, willful woman precedes her. As Katherine’s sister Bianca is romanced by a series of comically ill-fitting suitors, Petruchio sets about to “tame” the tempestuous Katherine, leading to one of Shakespeare’s most famous (and infamous) romantic pairings.

PERFORMANCE LOCATION, DATES, AND TIMES:

• Washington Hall on the University of Notre Dame campus
• At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28; Thursday, March 1; and Friday, March 2
• Tickets: Regular $23, Student $13, Under 18 FREE with regular ticket purchase (limit five)
• For tickets visit performingarts.nd.edu or call (574) 631-2800.

Hailing from such prestigious UK companies as Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, AFTLS actors are uniquely prepared for their week-long dual-focus residency. During their Notre Dame residency, they will not only present three performances of The Taming of the Shrew, but they will also visit dozens of classrooms for text-focused workshops.

In addition to enlivening theatre and English departments, the AFTLS experience is tailored to enrich coursework across the academic spectrum. Their dynamic, hands-on approach heightens students’ intellectual curiosity regardless of discipline. Whether coaching accounting students on successful presentation skills, or instructing law students in the art of persuasion, these workshops promote a campus-wide dialogue inspired by the works of William Shakespeare.

Actors From The London Stage is one component of Shakespeare at Notre Dame, a program that also includes the McMeel Family Chair in Shakespeare Studies and the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival, the University of Notre Dame’s professional theatre in residence. The mission of Shakespeare at Notre Dame is to establish the University nationally and internationally as a center for the study of Shakespeare in performance.