This has been an inspired season for adaptations: Madcat’s Elvis meets Moliere; Havanafama’s gay Bernarda Alba; and from New Theatre, a version of The Taming of the Shrew as Commedia dell’Arte. The style was wildly popular in Italy during Shakespeare’s lifetime, so it was not much of a leap to revamp the bard’s earliest comedy — set in Padua, Italy — in this raunchy style. Especially not for Italian director Roberto Prestigiacomo, who delved deep into research in his home country to prepare for this production.

If all that history sounds fusty, the execution is anything but. The pratfalls, sommersaults, and pranks never stop — and no opportunity for a double-entendre is left undoubled. The costume changes are so fast and furious that at times it seems impossible that this could be the same actor we have just seen in completely different garb just seconds before. The comic timing is spot on, especially by the stock characters of the unruly valets, randy widows, and old, blustery men.

Even the premise that a woman must serve her man, and like it, is made slightly more palatable as Kate, the shrew (Karen Garcia), and her would-be master Petruchio (Israel Garcia) naughtily sex up their quarrels with a hint of S&M. Israel is so affable, whether he is teasing the audience directly or tormenting his mate, that by the play’s end he leaves us eager to believe that he is only joking when he commands total obedience. Or maybe we’re just eager to obey.

The Taming of the Shrew runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m; Additional Sunday show at 5:30 pm on September 6, 13, & 20; New Theatre, 4120 Laguna St, Coral Gables, FL 33146-1409; 305-443-5909; tickets cost $40; new-theatre.org.