CRITICISM

Bentley, Greg. “Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona.” Explicator 46, no. 4 (summer 1988): 7-9.

Studies Valentine's pun about Sebastian/Julia at the end of the play.

Feingold, Michael. “Wading Game.” Village Voice 39, no. 35 (30 August 1994): 81.

Faults Adrian Hall's production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona for its lack of focus and direction, noting that staging the play against the backdrop of Central Park took away from the performance, despite the skill of some of the actors.

Hutchings, Geoffrey. “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” In Shakespeare in Perspective, Vol. 2, edited by Roger Sales, pp. 191-96. London: Ariel Books/British Broadcasting Corporation, 1985.

Examines the concept of love in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and contends that the play is about “adolescent love and irrational behavior.”

McNulty, Charles. “Just Diversions.” American Theatre 13, no. 7 (September 1996): 11.

Review of 1971 Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of The Two Gentlemen of Verona by John Guare and Mel Shapiro.

Myers, Jeffrey Rayner. “‘In Nothing Am I Chang'd but in My Garments’: Shakespearean Cross-Dressing and the Politics of Sexual Frustration.” Annals of Scholarship: An International Quarterly in the Humanities and Social Sciences 11, no. 3 (1997): 217-38.

Examines the use of deferred sexual gratification as a dramatic device in three Shakespearean plays, including The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

Schleiner, Louise. “Voice, Ideology, and Gendered Subjects: The Case of As You Like It and Two Gentlemen.” Shakespeare Quarterly 50, no. 3 (autumn 1999): 285-309.

Studies ideological tensions in Shakespeare's writing using Two Gentlemen and As You Like It as representative examples.

Simmons, J. L. “Coming Out in Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” ELH 60, no. 4 (1993): 857-77.

Examines The Two Gentlemen of Verona as a play that reflects Shakespeare's anxiety regarding his debut as a young playwright, an image that is resonant throughout the action of the play.

Smallwood, Robert. “Shakespeare Performances in England, 1996.” Shakespeare Survey: An Annual Survey of Shakespeare Studies and Production, 50 (1999): 201-04.

Reviews the debut production of Two Gentlemen at the newly refurbished Globe theater in London as disappointing and unworthy of its surroundings.

Weller, Barry. “Identity and Representation in Shakespeare.” ELH 49, no. 2 (summer 1982): 339-62.

Contends that theater provides a realistic and powerful representation of human behavior, and that Shakespeare's writing is evidence of this thesis. Examines several major Shakespearean characters in this context, as well as his early plays, including The Two Gentlemen of Verona.