Two Gentlemen of Verona‏

A couple of days ago I had a discussion with a friend about 3 star reviews - he believes they should be banned as they are too flaky and a review should be more definite in its conclusion - but sometimes a show is just 'okay', not ground-breakingly brilliant, not embarrassingly awful, simply okay. I would suggest that a 3 star review is often a more nuanced reaction to a play and perhaps we should pay them more attention. They are certainly more difficult to write.

Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of Shakespeare's earliest works, the plot is improbable and paper thin but clearly within it are sketches for future characters and situations fully realised in later plays. Valentine leaves his best friend Proteus in Verona, whilst he skips of to Milan looking for adventure. Proteus remains behind to be with his true love Julia. Very soon he is despatched to Milan to join Valentine where he discovers his friend hopelessly in love with the divine Sylvia. It takes Proteus all of 3 seconds to forget Julia, fall in love with Sylvia and betray his best friend by telling Sylvia's father of Valentine's plan to elope with her. Valentine is banished. Meanwhile, Julia dressed as a boy and calling herself Sebastian, follows Proteus to Milan. The plot then contrives to get everyone into the woods, where Valentine is hiding out with a gang of outlaws, and so the lovers are reconciled.

This play licks along at a fair pace although it seems to take rather longer to get places in the first half and at one point I completely lost interest, (this, however, may say more about me than the production) but even the dog seemed completely non-plussed most of the time. The four young lovers gave credible performances but the characters are so thinly written that I really didn't care that much for them. Much more interesting was Turio, promised to Sylvia by her father, and brilliantly played by Nicholas Gerard-Martin, his rendition of 'Who is Sylvia' being the absolute standout moment of the evening.

This is a very good looking production with great stage design, a wonderful score by Michael Bruce and there is very little actually wrong with it, but ultimately it left me cold and a bit... well... 3 starred.

Alison Kirkwood