The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Wrap Up

So the month comes to an end.  Time to say good-bye to Valentine and Proteus, our two gents from Verona.  I’m tempted to say “good riddance” as well, but I don’t hate the play.  I just didn’t like it on a first or second read.  I’d put it down at the bottom of barrel, both overall and of the comedies as well.  It’s rushed.  The characters are believable (or at my age, relatable).  I’m not bugged so much by that “gift” ending, as Silvia’s silence (of course, I think this is probably why it belongs earlier in the Canon than I placed it).

And yet… as I mentioned in the last podcast, I also think this could be a tremendous blast to watch on stage (I’ve yet to see The Two Gentlemen of Verona performed live… one of ten that have that status [the others: Titus, King John, the two Henry IV‘s (though the first one goes away this August in Ashland), Much Ado, Troilus, Timon, Coriolanus, and Cymbeline])… I think for the very reasons I’m dismissive of the play (its rushed and shallow qualities), it might make a rollicking good time for a live audience.  But that theory remains untested, and most definitely unproved.

So tomorrow brings a Dream

But until then, a quick look back:  We’re nine months into the project.  We’ve got four comedies, four histories, and a tragedy under our belts.  We’ve read the shortest play (Comedy) and the second longest (Richard III).  We’ve read the play with the most characters (2 Henry VI; 67) and the least (Two Gents; 17 not including the dog).  We’re now one-fourth of the way through the Canon.  We’ve read 195,000 words by Shakespeare (more or less), and wrote about 245,000, over the course of more than 300 blog entries, which have been visited over 6400 times.  We’ve recorded 38 podcasts (just under ten hours of content), that have been downloaded nearly 13,000 times (can’t believe it myself).

And next month, we’ll throw a Skype teleconference into the mix as I don the ass’ head and become a Bottom.

Yes, tomorrow brings a Dream… I cannot wait.

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