Katharina. A very mean meaning.

Widow.

Right, I mean you.

Katharina. And I am mean indeed, respecting you.

Petruchio. To her, Kate!

Hortensio. To her, widow!

Petruchio. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.

[All laugh, especially Katharina and the Widow.]

Widow. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush;
Then pursue me as you draw your bow.

You are welcome all.

[She runs out trippingly R. 2, followed by Bianca and Katharina.] Lucentio. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself; 'Tis thought your deer holds you at bay.1

Baptista. O ho, Petruchio! Lucentio hits you now.
Hortensio. Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here?
Petruchio. He has a little galled me, I confess;
And, as the jest did glance away from me,
'Tis ten to one it maim'd you two outright.
Baptista. Now, in good sadness,2 son Petruchio,
I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.
Petruchio. Well, I say no; and therefore for assurance
Let's each one send unto his wife,

And he whose wife is most obedient

To come at first when he doth send for her, Shall win the wager which we will propose. Hortensio. Content. What is the wager? Lucentio.

Petruchio. Twenty crowns!

Twenty crowns.

I'll venture so much on my hawk or hound, But twenty times so much upon my wife. Lucentio.

A hundred then.

1 at bay: the hunter's term. When a deer turns in desperation to face its pursuers, it is said to be "at bay."

2 in good sadness: in all seriousness.

Baptista. Son, I'll stand half, Bianca comes.

Lucentio. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself. [Reënter Tranio R. 2.]

Lucentio. How now! what news?

Tranio. Sir, my mistress sends you word
That she is busy and she cannot come.

Petruchio. How! she is busy and she cannot come!
Is that an answer?

Hortensio. Tranio, go and entreat my wife

To come to me forthwith.

[Exit Tranio R. 2.]

Petruchio.

O, ho! entreat her!

I am afraid, sir,

Nay, then she must needs come.

Hortensio.

Do what you can, yours will not be entreated.

[Reënter Tranio R. 2.]

Now, where's my wife?

Tranio. She says you have some goodly jest in hand.
She will not come; she bids you come to her.
Petruchio. Worse and worse; she will not come!
Grumio, go to your mistress;

Say, I command her come to me.

[Exit Grumio R. 2.]

Baptista. Now, by my halidom,1 here comes Katharina!
Katharina enters [R. 2].

Katharina. What is your will, sir, that you send for me?
Petruchio. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife?
Katharina. They sit conferring by the parlor fire.
Petruchio. Go, fetch them hither.

[Exit Katharina R. 2.]

Lucentio. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder.
Hortensio. And so it is; I wonder what it bodes.
Petruchio. Peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,
And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and happy.
Baptista. Now, fair befall thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns,
Another dowry to another daughter,

For she is changed, as she had never been.
Petruchio. Nay, I will win my wager better yet. -
Katharina reënters with Bianca and Widow.

Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not;
Off with that bauble, throw it under-foot.2

[She does.]

Widow. Let me never have a cause to sigh,

Till I be brought to such a silly pass!

Bianca. Fie! what foolish duty call you this?
Lucentio. I would your duty were as foolish too.
The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca,

Hath cost me an hundred crowns since supper-time.

Beginning to laugh, Katharina walks over to her husband, and the curtain falls upon the picture of her looking up into Petruchio's face with a smile of complete understanding.

1 by my halidom: upon my sacred oath.

2 Katharina complies with this command instantly; she has grown into the merry spirit of Petruchio's ways and suspects already some goodhumored ending to whatever he proposes.

NOTE. When playing without a front curtain, the actors may feel that they need a final couplet from the complete play to help their exeunt from the stage.

Petruchio. [To Lucentio.] 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white;

And, being a winner, God give you good-night!

[Exeunt.]

ADDITIONAL READINGS

The story of Hortensio's attempt to court Bianca in the guise of a musician is interesting.

I, ii, 117–137,1 172–176.

II, i, 54-61, 76-111, 143-166.

III, i.

IV, ii, 1-43.

If one of the cast can play a guitar or mandolin, a most interesting addition may be made to the playlet by presenting Hortensio as the music teacher. The additional lines can be supplied easily from the foregoing supplementary readings. The Latin in Act III, Scene 1 should be omitted, leaving Lucentio and Bianca to converse in whispers that are inaudible to Hortensio.

1 The line numbers refer to the Tudor edition of The Taming of the Shrew.

HAMLET

A Playlet, Covering the Basic Plot of

THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK

THE PERSONS OF THE DRAMA

CLAUDIUS (clô'dí-ŭs), King of Denmark (děn'märk).

GERTRUDE (gûr'trood), Queen of Denmark, and mother to Hamlet. HAMLET (hăm lět), son to the late, and nephew to the present King. HORATIO (hô-rā'shō), friend to Hamlet.

POLONIUS (pō-lō'ní-us), Lord Chamberlain.

LAERTES (lā-ĕr'tēz), son to Polonius.

FRANCISCO (från-sis'kō), a soldier.

Five Players.*

OSRIC (Ŏz'rik), a courtier.

FORTINBRAS (fôr'tin-brăs), Prince of Norway.

Ghost of Hamlet's father.

17 reading parts.*

SETTING: Denmark.

TIME: The tenth century.

SYNOPSIS

ACT I. Scene 1. A platform before the King's castle. The guard. Horatio. The ghost of Hamlet's father.

Scene 2. Polonius' advice to Laertes, who is leaving Denmark for France, to attend the University.

Scene 3. Hamlet watching with the guard the next night.

*It is possible to reduce the cast to 11 if Fortinbras is omitted, and if Francisco, Osric, Laertes, Marcellus, and Bernardo read the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth actors respectively. Many supernumerary soldiers and attendants may appear.