There's no denying that The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a deeply flawed play, but does it deserve its status as the dullest sword in Shakespeare's armory? The Merchant of Venice is messy, Henry VI is dull, and there's little that's funny in the so-called comedy of Troilus and Cressida. Yet Two Gentlemen remains the butt of Shakespearean jokes. Is this warranted?

In the debut episode of Shakespeare Unbard, Joel Fishbane examines this question. Also: the show is summarized in one minute, and the 1983 BBC production of Two Gentlemen of Verona is reviewed.

REFERENCES

On this episode, you'll hear quotes and clips from:

Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Riverhead Books, 1999.

MacDermot, Galt with John Guare and Mel Shapiro. Two Gentlemen of Verona (Musical), 1971.

Madden, John, dir. Shakespeare in Love. Miramax, 1998.

Shakespeare, William. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. (The Riverside Shakespeare) Houghton and Mifflin, 1974.

Shakespeare, William. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Librivox Recording

Wilson, Edmund. ed. Shaw on Shakespeare. Penguin, 1961. 

REVIEWED

Taylor, Don, dir. The Two Gentlemen of Verona. BBC, 1983.

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