Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare.
Director: Andrew Hilton. Designer: Harriet de Winton.
Exeter Northcott Theatre. 4th – 8th June, 2013.
I thoroughly enjoyed this production of one of William Shakespeare’s lesser known comedies. The plot, I thought, was somewhat preposterous and the company achieved a fine balance between being faithful to the story and sending it up.
The story began with the two gentlemen in the play’s title, Proteus and Valentine, played by Piers Wehner and Jack Bannell, displaying their lifelong friendship and loyalty to each other. This loyalty was threatened, first by their separation through circumstance and then by rivalry in love. Despite their rivalry becoming intense and severely threatening their relationship, their loyalty to each other won through in the end.
Piers and Jack played their parts admirably both as respectful friends and bitter enemies and they showed great passion and humour through both their words and actions.
This was a profoundly masculine world and the two central women, Julia (Dorothea Myer-Bennett) and Silvia (Lisa Kay) showed themselves to be feisty characters, not prepared to play second fiddle to anyone and boldly standing up for their rights.
Two Gentlemen of Verona was full of humour and some superb singing and dancing.
The cast got to grips beautifully with the bizarre turns in the plot and unexpected changes of heart and cross-dressing. They coped well too with some of the absurdities of the plot, especially focusing well on the apparent sexism displayed by the male characters and by no means accepted by the women.
Looks and actions as well as words played their part in conveying attitudes and intentions. At the end, when the two pairs of lovers seemed reconciled, the women purposefully walked off together leaving their husbands-to-be to fathom out how to regain them.
The actors performing other parts were as perfectly chosen as the main protaganists.
Servants Speed and Launce (Marc Geoffrey and Chris Donnelly) gave witty and convincing performances and provided a lot of laughs.
The women in service (Nicky Goldie and Eva Tausig) were equally plausible and comic.
Paul Currier was captivating as the bumptious and preposterous Lord Turior, rival to Valentine.
Peter Clifford as the Duke of Milan, Silvia’s father was as authoratative as he was ultimately ineffectual.
Alan Coveney as Eglamour made a sound and likeable agent for Silvia in her escape.
Almost upstaging the actors was a real sultry yet well behaved dog who performed as Crab, Launce’s faithful companion.
Musicians Peter Clifford, Thomas Frere, David Plimmer and Eva Tausig were an absolute delight.
Andrew Hilton’s production of Two Gentlemen of Verona brought out the charm and vitality in this ancient play and made it surprising contemporary in its presentation. Harriet de Winton’s simple staging was delightful.
All involved in this production strongly deserved the hearty round of applause they got on the night I saw it.
Martin Hodge