<P> The Taming of the Shrew in performance has had an uneven history . Popular in Shakespeare's day, the play fell out of favour during the seventeenth century, when it was replaced on the stage by John Lacy's Sauny the Scott . The original Shakespearean text was not performed at all during the eighteenth century, with David Garrick's adaptation Catharine and Petruchio dominating the stage . After over two hundred years without a performance, the play returned to the British stage in 1844, the last Shakespeare play restored to the repertory . However, it was only in the 1890s that the dominance of Catharine and Petruchio began to wain, and productions of The Shrew become more regular . Moving into the twentieth century, the play's popularity increased considerably, and it became one of Shakespeare's most frequently staged plays, with productions taking place all over the world . This trend has continued into the twenty - first century, with the play as popular now as it was when first written . </P> <P> The earliest known performance of the play is recorded in Philip Henslowe's diary on 11 June 1594, performed by the Lord Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men at Newington Butts Theatre; "begininge at newing ton my Lord Admeralle men & my Lorde chamberlen men as ffolowethe (...) 11 of June 1594 Rd at the tamynge of A Shrowe ." This could have been either A Shrew or The Shrew, but as the Lord Chamberlain's Men were sharing the theatre at the time, and as such Shakespeare himself would have been there, scholars tend to assume it was The Shrew . The earliest definite performance of The Shrew was at court before Charles I and Henrietta Maria on 26 November 1633, where it was described as being "likt". </P>

When was taming of the shrew first performed