Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – In the deceptively lightweight TO HAVE AND TO HOLD, Laura Lapidus dissects “Shrew” with surprising nuance for contemporary audiences

• By drediman
• August 27, 2026
• No Comments

Earlier this week, Laura Lapidus’s new play To Have and to Hold opened at Theatre 154 in the West Village. As a spin on Shakespeare’s notoriously problematic The Taming of the Shrew, the loose adaptation regularly veers from the path established by the Bard, instead providing audiences a meditation on the play’s themes, even expanding them to embrace a wider notion of love and marriage beyond than the narrow lens of Shakespeare’s underlying play. In short, the new comedy chronicles the unfurling of Kate — a feminist with an anti-marriage stance — who finds her staunch beliefs on matrimony tested when her younger sister Bianca decides to get married and subsequently meets Peter, a seemingly perfect match for Kate.

On the surface, the decidedly slight 90-minute play takes on a familiar rom-com guise. However, it quickly breaks through the lighthearted veneer, becoming more than mere breezy entertainment. More specifically, it moves beyond matters between the sexes, in the end almost questioning the centrality of hetero-normative romance in society, yet still genuinely admitting to the benefits and comforts that such constructs have in store for ascribers. Indeed, nothing is black and white in this quirky little play. Indecision, uncertainty, and inner turmoil are instead more the norm for the two sisters as they strive towards the best versions of themselves — whatever that may be. As such, that To Have and to Holdconcludes in a relatively unresolved manner is unsurprising. Another interesting feature of the play is the occasional shift of the dialogue to Shakespearean language whenever the situation calls for it, a touch that’s actually not as jarring as you’d think. In fact, it adds texture to the play, connecting it directly to Taming when there’s an overlap in sentiment between the two plays.

Kate is portrayed by playwright Laura Lapidus, who plays the conflicted character with an exuberant mixture of strength and vulnerability. There’s palpable chemistry between Lapidus and her two co-stars. Lapidus and Tedra Millan — so neurotic, sweet, and disarmingly honest as Bianca — form an uncannily symbiotic, lived-in sisterly bond, imbuing their amusing back-and-forth banter with a sort of kooky improvised quality. As Peter — the work’s stand-in for Petruchio — the easy charms of Yuriy Sardarov spark undeniable chemistry with Lapidus, whose Kate is sent into an unexpected tailspin and crisis of identity as a result. Despite limited resources, director Zoë Adams has come up with a snappy and stylish production that keeps things moving at a zippy clip. It must be said that her erratically hilarious use of the show’s curtain amounts to a character all its own.

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TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
Off-Broadway, Play
Theater 154
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through September 12