SOURCE: “The Two Gentlemen of Verona on Stage: Protean Problems and Protean Solutions,” in Shakespeare's Sweet Thunder: Essays on the Early Comedies, edited by Michael J. Collins, 1997, pp. 126-54.

In the following essay, Carlisle and Derrick provide an overview of the major theatrical productions of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, noting the importance of collaboration between all members of the theater—including directors, actors, and designers—and the author in order to produce a successful staging of the play.

In the theater, as in the study, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, possibly Shakespeare's earliest comedy, has traditionally been one of his least popular plays. By our present count, there have been just twenty-four productions of it on the London stage since Shakespeare's time, and seven of these were first seen elsewhere.¹ At Stratford-upon-Avon there have been only ten since the annual Festivals began there in 1879. Most of the...