Parashat Bo: Light Years Behind
I’ve long been a fan of Shakespeare and seen quite a few filmed renditions of his plays, with Laurence Oliver’s Hamlet being my favourite. A few days ago, I watched the “The Taming of the Shrew” with Elizabeth Taylor and her then husband, Richard Burton. What started off as an entertaining and colourful spectacle descended into much darker territory. I’ll admit that this wasn’t a play that I was too familiar with, although I had a general idea of the theme. If you don’t know the storyline, it features a Paduan nobleman (Baptista) who has two daughters and refuses to allow the younger one (Bianca) to be courted (as they used to call it) until her older tempestuous sister (Katherina played with gusto by Elizabeth Taylor) finds a suitor who will be able to ‘tame’ her, as per the title. Richard Burton’s Petruchio enters the picture and the expected mayhem ensues resulting in their being married (allowing young student Lucentio to elope with Bianca) and Petrucio subjecting Katherina to