The Taming of the Shrew is one of the most energetic and humorous of Shakespeare’s plays, accessible to many because of the wide range of insults exchanged throughout the play! From the scathing and witty to the sarcastic and silly, it is this that makes The Taming of the Shrew the perfect play for The Royal Shakespeare Company to help introduce children to Shakespeare.

As the Grand Theatre gears up to welcome The Royal Shakespeare Company with their First Encounter production of The Taming of the Shrew, we thought we would get in the mood by recalling some of the play’s finest quips and cutting remarks. Just how many can you get into everyday conversation with friends?

Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket thou! 

How foul and loathsome is thine image

You are lewd and filthy. 

Pray you stand farther from me.

You old pantaloon!

There’s small choice in rotten apples

You fiend of hell!

I know she is an irksome brawling scold

A monster, a very monster in apparel

I would not wed you for a mine of gold.

You heedless joltheads and unmannered slaves

Get thee gone, thou false deluding slave.

Preposterous ass! 

Think’st thou, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?

The RSC’s First Encounter: Taming of the Shrew comes to The Grand from 27 February – 1 March. For more information and tickets visit our webpage, and don’t forget to check out this fascinating interview by A Younger Theatre with Shrew director Michael Fentiman.