Inside Shakespeare's mind:

The Two Noble Kinsmen

Written in 1613-1614 and sited in Athens and Thebes (a country near Athens) is yet another play so unlike Shakespeare. I do not understand why he had to complicate an already messed-up plot, listless and weary, and turn it into a melodrama to call the play The Two Noble Kinsmen.

From the of set, the character of the Goaler was quiet uncalled for as much as his daughter who only distracted whatever little romance that was included. She never fits into the play though Shakespeare wanted it that way and made her a part of it.

Thus Shakespeare gets into a story whatever there is in its changing light and yet come out unscathed. There is neither pause nor rest from the first Act to the last as the play moves on gathering momentum.

There is a foreign origin from where Shakespeare may have adapted and true to such belief there is now a general consensus that this romance could have been derived from Chaucer's Knight's tale which was a partnership of Shakespeare and Fletcher. It did not get into the Folio of 1623 but his allowed the whole of Act 1 and the first scene of Act 111 and the whole of Act v except scene II. As I mentioned earlier the unloved, uncalled for Goaler's daughter is assigned to Fletcher. Yet, how much the two dramatists edited the other, none can speculate. So, here lies the problem; two making contributions towards the play, reduced it to what it is today as speculated. Perhaps, this may be the reason the play was not included in the 1623 Folio.

Synopsis

There is celebration of marriage between Hippolyta and Theseus, the Duke of Athens at which stage the three mourning queens request Theseus to attack and kill Creon, the king of Thebes who assassinated their husbands. Theseus agrees and assign the task to Creon's two nephews, Palimon and Arcite. They are the two noblemen fighting for Thebbes but the Duke captures and imprison them. From the window of the prison, they see Emilia, sister to Hippolyta and both fall in love with Emilia. Arcite is released from prison and is banished from Athens. He goes disguised into Emilia's service.

In the meantime the goaler's daughter who is infatuated by Palamon, helps him to scape and later goes wild and repentant at his loss. The two kinsmen meet up with each other to spar on the intercession of Emilia who through her foolishness, cannot say whom she loves and Hippolyta. Theseus warns and orders them to return in a month's time to fight again. The winner shall have Emilia and the loser to be executed. A wooer is selected to impersonate Palamon to restore the sanity of the Goaler's daughter.

The month goes by. Arcite prays to Mars while Palamon beseech upon Venus for success. Emilia too prays at the altar of Diana. At the combat, Arcite wins but later falls from his horse and is mortally wounded. When he breathe his last, he gives Emilia's hand to Palamon wishing him all the world's joy and happiness.

Palamon is saved from execution by Theseus's command. The Goaler's daughter recovers and about to wed, Thus ends his most irrevelant play.

In performance

Not an attraction to directors as well as thespians. Directors did find a touch of melancholy in the dialogue and not pleasant enough for the stage. Is it because he got involved with Fletcher to spice up the drama? One or two selected ACTS debuted but they also went on to the shelf. Jacobeam Theatre tested a mirrored incidental pageantry and that too minus the subplot of the Goaler's daughter.

In 1664 Daventant adapted the play as The Rivals removing the Goaler's daughter. Nothing was heard until 1928 when Andrew Leigh put on the true text at the Old Vic with Earnest Milton and Eric Portman as Palamon and Arcite with Jean Robertson as the Goaler's daughter. The drama was adapted in an imaginary simple Open Air Theatre with a revival at Regent Park in 1974. A brighter version for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986 had Hugh Quarshie and Gerard Murphey as the noble kinsmen.

Silly story-drama and mercifully dropped from among Shakespeare's thirty-eight plays.

As to why, no one knows.

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