The Two Gentlemen of Verona: The 30-Minute Shakespeare

By William Shakespeare

Nick Newlin has broad experience marketing the Nicolo Whimsey Show to high school and library systems, and will incorporate The Thirty Minute Shakespeare into the Nicolo Whimsey website, mailings, school fairs, etc. We have purchased and successfully used theater mailing lists from MDR in the past, and will purchase new MDR lists aimed at the target users of The Thirty Minute Shakespeare for the initial launch, and annually or biannually thereafter. We expect that the abridgements will also be prominently cited by the Folger Shakespeare Library’s very active Folger Education program, recognized and used extensively by thousands of high school and college educators and including blogs, webinars, lesson plans, and conferences.

There are other "cuttings" of Shakespeare plays, but the only series with any trade visibility is "Sixty Minute Shakespeare" by Cass Foster, with six plays published by Five Star Publications. Nick Newlin's "Thirty Minute Shakespeare" series is publishing 12 plays in 2010, all "road tested" at the Folger's annual Student Shakespeare Festival, and superior to the competition on many levels: better stage directions and performance notes, more professional page design, a competitive pricing structure, and better visibility in Bowker, Amazon, key wholesalers, etc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicolo Whimsey Press
• Release date: May 24, 2011
• ISBN: 9781935550273

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

Book preview

SCENE 1. (ACT I, SCENE II)

Verona. Julia’s garden.

STAGEHANDS set table and two chairs center stage, placing flowers, tea pot, and cups atop table.

Enter NARRATOR from stage rear, coming downstage center.

NARRATOR

Our play begins in Julia’s garden, where Julia

receives a love letter from Proteus. Lucetta, Julia’s

woman-in-waiting deals with Julia’s mixed feelings.

SOUND OPERATOR plays Sound Cue #1 (Merry domestic music).

Exit NARRATOR stage left.

Enter JULIA and LUCETTA from stage right. JULIA sits in chair stage left; LUCETTA sits in chair stage right.

JULIA

But say, Lucetta, now we are alone,

Wouldst thou then counsel me to fall in love?

LUCETTA

Ay, madam; so you stumble not unheedfully. (dusts)

JULIA

Of all the fair resort of gentlemen

That every day with parle encounter me,

In thy opinion which is worthiest love?

LUCETTA

Please you repeat their names, I’ll show my mind

According to my shallow simple skill.

JULIA

What think’st thou of the rich Mercatio?

LUCETTA

Well of his wealth; but of himself, so-so.

JULIA

What think’st thou of the gentle Proteus?

LUCETTA

Of many good I think him best.

JULIA

Why, he, of all the rest, hath never moved me.

LUCETTA

Yet he, of all the rest, I think, best loves ye.

(mysteriously)

Peruse this paper, madam.

LUCETTA gives JULIA a letter. JULIA

Say, say, who gave it thee?

JULIA opens the letter and glances at it.

LUCETTA

Sir Valentine’s page; and sent, I think, from Proteus.

He would have given it you; but I, being in the way,

Did in your name receive it: pardon the fault, I pray.

JULIA

Now, by my modesty, a goodly broker!

Dare you presume to harbor wanton lines?

To whisper and conspire against my youth?

There, take the paper: see it be return’d;

Or else return no more into my sight.

JULIA gives the letter back to LUCETTA.

Will you be gone?

Exit LUCETTA stage right, accidentally dropping the letter on her way out.

JULIA

And yet I would I had o’erlook’d the letter: (paces, picking up, then putting down, the letter)

Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love,

That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse; (sits)

How churlishly I chid Lucetta

Reviews for The Two Gentlemen of Verona

[mariannem85-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite comedies.

[dinadansfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One rates Shakespeare plays to acknowledge that in art, there are varying responses to the same work. For the drama, "Is this the right director and cast, are the costumes correct, did the spirit of the author's original intent come through?" there's a different set of criteria for single poems, or paintings. Some modest thoughts follow. This is early Shakespeare, and quite readable, but a test bed for a lot of better stuff that came later. Not many famous quotes/clichés in this one, but a workable script.Read seven times.

[birdie.newborn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not your usual Shakespeare play, but worthy.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting play in the world of Shakespeare, though not one of his strongest. It is assumed to be one of his first plays. It has one of his smallest casts and it contains one of the biggest jerks in the whole of Shakespearean literature. The two gentlemen of the title are Valentine and Proteus, best friends living in Verona. One of the two, Proteus, is deeply in love with a woman named Julia. The other, Valentine, is sent to Milan at his father’s bidding, where he falls in love with the Duke’s daughter, Silvia. The horrid Proteus follows Valentine and despite swearing his undying love to Julia, he quickly falls in love with Silvia. Not only is he betraying Julia with this infatuation, he is betrays his best friend. He is a selfish and horrible man and it’s hard to understand why Julia would remain true to him. My favorite scene in the play is between Julia and Silvia. The women find common ground where Silvia expresses her disgust with Proteus for abandoning the woman he swore to love. She had no idea that she was telling this to that same woman and it touches Julia deeply. The play shares a dozen similarities with Shakespeare’s later work. It has a woman following the man she loves and meeting him in disguise when he falls for someone new from All’s Well That Ends Well. It has Thurio, a useless lover picked by the girl’s family ala Paris from Romeo and Juliet. It also has a bit from Twelfth Night with a woman pretending to be the male servant of the man she loves. These elements don’t work well together to make a great play, but each bit is an interesting plot point that is used more successfully in a later play. BOTTOM LINE: This play is definitely a precursor to some of the great work that came later, but it doesn’t have the strongest plot. It contains hilarious puns and beautiful lines. Unfortunately the flip-flopping Proteus’ happy ending is not satisfying to audiences and the play is rarely preformed live. “She is mine own, And I as rich in having such a jewel As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.” 

[audreya2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Though it seems rather presumptuous to criticize Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona is not one of the Bard's greatest works. Though an enjoyable read with some truly humorous moments and one particularly beautiful bit of verse (III.i.170-187), the end is hastily tied together and the characters very unbelievable. Still, as one of Shakespeare's earliest works, it is an interesting look at his development as a playwright.

[amerynth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" is not considered one of William Shakespeare's greatest works, I still found it to be a pretty enjoyable play. It was one of the bard's earlier comedies so much of it is used again later in this other, stronger works.The story follows Proteus and Valentine, two gentlemen who fall in love with ladies and troubles ensue. There is the typical Shakespeare disguise thrown in for good measure too.This play is pretty readable and was fairly amusing. The ending was kind of forced and wrapped everything up a little too prettily, but other wise I liked this one.

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Essential scholarly edition of this early Shakespeare play.

[girl_detective · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s easy to see it’s one of Shakespeare’s earliest. The prose and poetry aren’t as polished, and it prefigured many of his later, better plays in some of the phrasing, and the cross-dressing of a female character in love. Its ending is neatly tied up, though surprising in some of the particulars, like a threat of rape and an overquick, overgenerous forgiveness. For completists, or in anticipation of a production, which is why I read it.

[alanwpowers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I taught Shakespeare, I would often start with TGV, on the second class myself doingLaunce and his dog Crab, along with removable shoes, a cane--and for a couple years, our English Sheepdog Ugo. The first year he did okay, the second year he headed fro the classroom door, to leavefor a treat from my wife who drove him there. The Launce scenes really take a pro with the props and the stage business: taking off one's shoes,demonstrating the sad scene of parting by designating one of the shoes for each parent etc, meanwhile reprimanding the dog fro being unsentimental. An added tincture of interest for me was the play's MIlan references: Ugo came from Milan,where my daughter has lived for many years.