The Shakespeare Book

342

T

he Two Noble Kinsmen is

a collaborative work by

William Shakespeare

and John Fletcher, who also

collaborated on Henry VIII and

Cardenio (now lost). Shakespeare

is believed to have written the

following scenes: Act 1 / 2.1 / 3.1 /

3.2 / 5.1 / 5.3 / 5.4, although he may

not have been responsible for all the

writing in some of these scenes.

Scholars believe that Fletcher

was entirely responsible for the

character of the jailer’s daughter,

who in her madness echoes

Shakespeare’s Ophelia. The Two

Noble Kinsmen was not among the

plays included in the First Folio of

1623, and was unpublished until

1634. The play is notable for its use
      of theatrical effects and spectacle,
      common features in plays written for
      indoor theaters such as Blackfriars.

Friendship tested

Trials of friendship feature

throughout Shakespeare’s works.

In charting the deterioration of

the relationship between friends,

Shakespeare dramatized a rich

range of emotional responses:

resentment, disappointment,

frustration, and anger. From a

dramatic perspective, it is far more

interesting (and entertaining) to

present conflict between friends

than contentment. Major obstacles

must be overcome if feuding friends

are to be reconciled. Little wonder

then that Shakespeare’s career

opened and closed with tales in

which friends momentarily

transform into rivals.

Although 20 or more years

passed between his writing of The

Two Gentlemen of Verona and The

Two Noble Kinsmen, Shakespeare’s

belief that tests of friendship made

for good drama remained firm.

He and Fletcher went to some

lengths to emphasize the bond of

friendship between Palamon and

Arcite, a bond that would be broken

IN CONTEXT

THEMES

Love, loss, friendship,

madness, war, death,

identity

SETTING

Athens and Thebes

SOURCES

14th century The “Knight’s

Tale” from Geoffrey Chaucer’s

The Canterbury Tales is the

main source for the play.

c.1340 It is possible that

Shakespeare and Fletcher

were familiar with Chaucer’s

source, Boccacio’s Teseida.

The jailer’s daughter does not

appear in this source and may

be an original creation of

the authors.

LEGACY

1634 The play is published

for the first time.

1664 William Davenant

creates an adaptation of the

play called The Rivals.

1795 F. G. Waldron calls

his musical adaptation Love

and Madness; or, The Two

Noble Kinsmen.

1986 Barry Kyle’s production of

The Two Noble Kinsmen opens

the new RSC Swan Theatre in

Stratford-upon-Avon.

2000 The Two Noble Kinsmen

is performed at the Globe

Theatre in London, directed

by Tim Carroll. Jasper Britton

plays a hot-headed Palamon,

while Will Kean’s Arcite is

more worldly wise.

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN

A highly physical production by the

iconoclastic Cherub Company at the

Young Vic, London, in 1979, had an all-

male cast. Anthony Rothe and Daniel

Foley played the dueling kinsmen.