
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Arkangel Shakespeare
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Narrated by:
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Michael Maloney
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Damian Lewis
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Saskia Wickham
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Lucy Robinson
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John Woodvine
About this listen
Proteus loves Julia in Verona, Valentine loves Silvia in Milan. But when Proteus meets Silvia, he falls for her too, and the heartbroken Julia sets out in pursuit.
This delightful and sometimes disquieting early comedy of love lost and found offers lyrical poetry, disguise, clowning, outlaws, and a most unreliable dog.
Proteus is played by Michael Maloney and Valentine by Damian Lewis. Silvia is Saskia Wickham, Julia is Lucy Robinson, and John Woodvine plays Launce.
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Featured Article: 50+ Timeless Shakespeare Quotes
From knock-knock jokes to the wild goose chase, we owe many of our most-used and best-loved phrases to the talent of the Bard. His words are timeless in their direct wisdom, their witty humor, and their surprising applicability to modern life: its nature, its purpose, and its pitfalls. We’ve collected some of our favorite William Shakespeare quotes for when you want to think about life’s big questions, wax poetic on the nature of love, or just need a good laugh. Immerse yourself in these Shakespeare quotes to dive into the comedies and tragedies penned by the Bard of Avon.
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Story
Padua holds many suitors for the hand of fair Bianca, but Bianca may not be married until her spinster sister, Kate, is wed. Could any man be rash enough to take on Kate? The witty adventurer Petruchio undertakes the task. While he sets about transforming Kate from foul-tempered termagant to loving wife, young Lucentio and his clever servant, Tranio, plot to win Bianca.
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Problem play
- By Tad Davis on 01-24-15
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Julius Caesar: The Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Michael Feast, John Bowe, Adrian Lester
- Length: 2 hrs and 26 mins
- Original Recording
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At the heart of this tragic history is one of Shakespeare's most noble characters, the statesman Brutus, who is caught in a devastating conflict between private affection and public duty.
Julius Caesar has become the most powerful man in the Rome. Does his power now threaten the very existence of the Republic itself? A conspiracy is hatched, one that will have fatal consequences not only for Caesar and the conspirators but for the future history of the ancient world.
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Riveting!
- By 1624 on 06-15-15
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Romeo and Juliet
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Joseph Fiennes, Maria Miles, Elizabeth Spriggs
- Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
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In the world's most celebrated and lyrical love story, the sublime devotion of two young lovers transcends their earthly fate. The noble Veronese houses of Montague and Capulet are locked in a bitter feud. When Romeo (a Montague) and Juliet (a Capulet) fall in love, they are swept up in a series of violent events and cruel twists of fortune. Despite the passion and innocence of their love, they fall victim to the enmity between their families, and their story ends in tragedy.
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Well played!
- By April M. on 09-01-17
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Othello
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Don Warrington, David Threlfall, Anne-Marie Duff, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 1 min
- Original Recording
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Othello, a Moorish general in the service of Venice, has married Desdemona, beautiful daughter of a Venetian senator. But Iago, Othello's malignant ensign, is determined to destroy their happiness. Cunningly bending Othello to his own purposes, Iago persuades the Moor that Desdemona is unfaithful to him. Tormented in a hell of jealousy, Othello moves inexorably toward the destruction of his innocent wife and himself.
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Heartbreaking
- By Tad Davis on 02-17-17
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Richard II
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Rupert Graves, Julian Glover, John Wood
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Original Recording
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The sensitive and poetic Richard II is undoubtedly the rightful king of England, but he is unscrupulous and weak. When his cousin Henry Bolingbroke returns from banishment and mounts a challenge to his authority, Richard's right to the throne proves of little help to him. Richard is forced to abdicate, but as his power is stripped away, he gains dignity and self-awareness, and he meets his death heroically.
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I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
- By Darwin8u on 04-10-17
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The Winter's Tale
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Sinead Cusack, Ciaran Hinda, Eileen Atkins, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 52 mins
- Original Recording
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King Leontes of Sicilia is seized by sudden and terrible jealousy of his wife Hermione, whom he accuses of adultery. He believes the child Hermione is bearing was fathered by his friend Polixenes, and when the baby girl is born he orders her to be taken to some wild place and left to die. Though Hermione's child escapes death, Leontes' cruelty has terrible consequences. Loss paves the way for reunion, and life and hope are born out of desolation and despair.
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A Snapper-Up of Unconsidered Trifles
- By John on 06-10-17
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Antony and Cleopatra
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Estelle Kohler, Ciaran Hinds, Ian Hughes, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 22 mins
- Original Recording
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Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman world, has become the thrall of the fascinating Cleopatra. Affairs of state call him to Rome, but the attractions of the queen of Egypt prove impossible to resist. From one of history's greatest love stories Shakespeare builds this magnificent tragedy of the clash between love and duty.
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Immortal Longings
- By Darwin8u on 11-26-17
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The Merry Wives of Windsor
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Dinsdale Landen, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Penny Downie, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 14 mins
- Original Recording
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The dissolute Falstaff plans to seduce Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, two "Merry Wives of Windsor," there by gaining access to their husbands' wealth. The two women have the old rogue's measure, however, and Falstaff's plots lead only to his own humiliation. But the merry wives themselves fall prey to plotting as their plans to prevent Mistress Page's daughter Anne from marrying the young man she loves are frustrated in their turn.
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We have some salt of our youth in us.
- By Darwin8u on 07-06-17
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All's Well That Ends Well
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Samuel West, Emily Woof
- Length: 2 hrs and 36 mins
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The young and virtuous physician's daughter Helena desperately loves Count Bertram, but he regards her as beneath his notice. When Helena cures the king of France of a mortal illness, he rewards her with Bertram's hand, but before their marriage can be consummated the count flees. To win her husband back again, Helena forms a daring and resourceful plan. A plot to unmask the strutting soldier Parolles makes up another strand in this sometimes disturbing comedy of deception and disguise.
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“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
- By Darwin8u on 09-17-17
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Cymbeline: The Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Sophie Thompson, Ben Porter, Jack Shepherd, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
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Imogen, the daughter of King Cymbeline, is persecuted by her wicked stepmother, the Queen, and by Cloten, the Queen's doltish son. Disguised as a boy, she sets out to find her husband, the banished Posthumus. On her journey, she unwittingly meets her two brothers, stolen from the court as infants. Posthumus, meanwhile, has been convinced by the villainous Iachimo that Imogen is unchaste and agrees to a test of her faithfulness.
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Has its moments but it has a lot less than I hoped
- By Darwin8u on 12-21-17
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Henry IV, Part 2
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Jamie Glover, Julian Glover, Richard Griffiths
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
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Rebellion still simmers in England and King Henry's health is failing. Prince Hal has proved his courage but the king still fears that his son's pleasure-loving nature will bring the realm to ruin. Meanwhile, Falstaff and his ribald companions waste the nights in revelry, anticipating the moment when Hal will ascend the throne. Falstaff is in Gloucestershire when news arrives that the king has died. Has the dissolute old knight's hour come at last?
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Virtue is chok'd with foul ambition
- By Darwin8u on 07-06-17
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King Lear
- Arkangel Shakespeare
- By: William Shakespeare
- Narrated by: Trevor Peacock, Clive Merrison, full cast
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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This shattering drama of isolation and loss is one of the greatest tragedies in world literature. King Lear of Britain has three daughters: the hard-hearted Goneril and Regan, and the good and gentle Cordelia. He determines to divide his kingdom between them, giving the largest share to she who can say she loves him the best. Lear's tragic lack of judgment and self-knowledge is paralleled by the blindness of the loyal Gloucester who is persuaded to reject his virtuous son, Edgar, in favor of the villainous Edmund.
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tragedy par excellence
- By turbopro on 08-10-16
Shakespeare in a jazz lounge
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This is well done
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Love everything about this audio book!
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Bad music choice
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Friendship and Fidelity
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Great but for two faults
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"The Two Gentlemen of Verona" is not one of Shakespeare's best. My own private theory is that it was his first play, written before he even left Stratford. Most of the scenes involve only two people; the famous (or infamous) last scene leaves one character, Sylvia, mute for the last 10 minutes. The turning point of the play is completely unbelievable. The puns, some of them tedious to begin with, go on forever, and there's a surprising carelessness about place names. It's definitely prentice work.
On the other hand, the play has the servant Launce and his dog Crab. Launce is played here by the brilliant John Woodvine: if you're old enough, you may remember him as the evil uncle from the sprawling stage production of "Nicholas Nickleby." Launce is dumb as a post, but not so dumb that he can't see that his master, Proteus, is a scoundrel. Proteus is played by Michael Maloney (who did a brilliant turn as the Dauphin in Branagh's "Henry V"); he tries to betray the love interest of his best friend, Valentine, played by Damian Lewis (quite a change from his more recent incarnation on "Homeland"). In fact, one of the pleasures to be had from the series is recognizing the voices of actors who are better-known in other contexts.
The music for all of the Arkangel productions is composed by Dominique Le Gendre. The score sounds like the kind of jazzy, smoky music you'd hear in the background at a candlelit dinner. Usually it works, but the one criticism I have of the production is that his version of "Who is Sylvia?" misses the mark, with an overly complex melody that doesn't quite fit the pace of the lyrics. It's a rare misstep in the series.
If you're going for the Shakespeare highlights, you can give this one a pass. But if you're determined to do the whole canon, it's well worth your while: if nothing else, there's always Crab.
Prentice work
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Classic Shakespeare
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If with his tongue he cannot win a woman.
William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act III, Scene I
The first play in my 2017 First Folio journey is 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona'. The Bard is often held up as a genius when writing about human nature. This, his first play, has its moments and certainly its characters, but the ending especially shows that Shakespeare's brilliance came line-upon-line and not all at once. The ending seemed too much like a clip-on bow tie: too balanced, too perfect, too forgiving, too fake. It didn't ring true.
That said, the play isn't a complete disaster. This comedy of love did provide us with a cross-dressing Julia (Shakespeare will return to this), and servants that are often wiser than their masters. Speed and Launce were especially nice characters.
There were also several nice lines, specifically:
- "Fire that's closest kept burns most of all."
- "Till I have found each letter in the letter."
- "To her whose worth makes other worthies nothing."
- "Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift,
As thou has lent me wit to pot this drift."
For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it
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Terrific
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