Last night as we were working Act V, scene 1, I was enjoying Lucientio's speech about how his love for Bianca changed him into Cambio (his alias as her tutor) and then back again. An Italian speaker in the cast (I believe it was Ben) pointed out that Cambio means "change," which we all thought was cool. It got people wondering, what does Hortensio's false name as the music tutor mean? It must have an equally symbolic origin!
Thus began my hunt. My first breakthrough was that a typo in our version of the script had had me on the wrong track from the start as I thought that the name was spelled "Licio" when it should have been "Litio." I think this explained why my intital searches didn't yield much! Armed with the correct spelling, it didn't take long to find the answer: While "Cambio" highlights the literal and metaphorical changes in Lucentio on his quest for Bianca's love, "Litio" simply means "onion."
Katie Rasor
Dramaturg
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I love it! Onion! Proof that Shakespeare was not always being deep but sometimes just wanted us to have fun with him. No matter how many layers you peel, still onion!
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