S1E1 The Two Gentlemen of Verona is possibly the first play by William Shakespeare. Possibly. Today on Ear Read This, join Ash as he discusses the date of its composition, and argues with E. M. W. Tillyard and a rambunctious Dr. Johnson. 

Music: "Not Drunk" by The Joy Drops

Works cited. The Two Gentleman of Verona, As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (Penguin, 2005).

Tillyard, E. M. W., Shakespeare’s Early Comedies (1965).

Arthos, John, Shakespeare: The Early Writings (1972).

Quiller-Couch, Arthur, ed, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (2010).

The majority of critical quotations are taken from Two Gentleman of Verona: Critical Essays edited by June Schlueter (Routledge, 1996). The individual essays and authors collected within the volume, and those referenced by Schlueter are listed below.

Pope, Alexander, ed. The Works of Mr. William Shakespeare (1723-25)

Small, S. Asa, ‘The Ending of The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ (1933)

Theobald, Lewis, ed. The Works of William Shakespeare in Seven Volumes (1733)

Asimov, Isaac, Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare (1970)

Upton, John, Critical Observations on Shakespeare (1746)

Johnson, Samuel, ed. The Plays of William Shakespeare (1765)

Sargent, Ralph M., ‘Sir Thomas Elyot and the Integrity of The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ (1950)

Bullough, Geoffrey, Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare (1957)

Hazlitt, William, Character of Shakespear’s Plays (1817)

Brooks, Harold F., ‘Two Clowns in a Comedy (To Say Nothing of the Dog): Speed, Launce (and Crab) in The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ (1963)

Campbell, Kathleen, ‘Shakespeare’s Actors as Collaborators: Will Kempe and The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ (1996)

Swinburne, Algernon Charles, A Study of Shakespeare (1880)

Kiefer, Frederick, ‘Love Letters in The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ (1986)

Perry, Thomas A., ‘Proteus, Wry-Transformed Traveller’ (1954)

Ewbank, Inga-Stina, ‘”Were Man But Constant, He Were Perfect”: Constancy and Consistency in The Two Gentlemen of Verona’ (1972)

Lusardi, James P., Review of Young Company Production of TGOV, first published in Shakespeare Bulletin, November 1984 Charlton, H. B., Essays and Studies (1963)

Haight, Gordon S., George Eliot: A Biography (1968)