What fun this one was!

As a follow-up to my interview from last week, I had the pleasure of seeing the opening night performance of the Shakespeare BASH’d production of The Two Noble Kinsmen.

The Two Noble Kinsmen is co-written by Shakespeare and his protégé, John Fletcher. The play is about two cousins, Palamon (Emilio Vieira) and Arcite (Michael Man), and their shared love of a woman named Emilia (the lovely Kate Martin). In classic Girl Likes Theatre fashion, I shall provide a synopsis of the plot as I understood it. Spoiler warning:

• Three widowed queens come to Theseus and Hippolyta (rulers of Athens) and ask them to attack Thebes to avenge the deaths of their husbands. Theseus is reluctant, but Hippolyta and her sister, Emilia, guilt him into agreeing.
• Meanwhile, Thebans/cousins Palamon and Arcite are chatting about how much they hate the tyrant of Thebes, but then they learn they have to go to war for him, and they’re like, “cool no prob.”
• Palamon and Arcite are captured and held in the dungeons of Thebes (sad), but through a conveniently placed window, they see Emilia in the garden, and immediately fall in love with her. Now the cousins hate each other.
• Arcite is released from jail (not really sure why), but he’s banished, so he puts on a hoodie as a disguise (in this production, at least), wins a sports competition, and gets appointed as one of Emilia’s servants. Palamon, meanwhile, is still in prison, but the jailer’s daughter falls in love with him (it’s not reciprocated – Palamon is oblivious), and she helps him escape.
• Arcite brings Palamon food, and they agree to duel over Emilia.
• The jailer’s daughter goes mad because that’s what love does to you. There’s a dance. It wasn’t bad.
• Arcite and Palamon fight, but Theseus interrupts them. The cousins admit they’re dueling over Emilia. Now the plan is for Arcite and Palamon to duel publicly, the loser will be executed and the winner will get Emilia’s hand in marriage.
• The jailer gets a friend to pretend to be Palamon so his daughter will sleep with him and be cured of her madness. This works. Sex cures.
• Arcite and Palamon duel. Arcite wins, but he dies falling off his horse shortly after (whomp whomp), so Palamon gets Emilia after all. The end.

It took me a solid 20 minutes to understand what was going on in this play, but after the initial hump, I was fully on board. This is a fun one!

The Two Noble Kinsmen is a tragicomedy, so it lives in this unpredictable middle-ground where I had no idea what was going to happen. If it were a true comedy, the play would end in a wedding or two; instead, the play ends with only the promise of two weddings. If it were a tragedy, both lead characters should have died. Instead, only Arcite dies (I would’ve been pissed if I had to watch poor Emilio die twice in one year. Stratford’s Richard II was sad enough). It kept me on my toes, because I didn’t know anything about this play going in, beyond what Mel and Jeff told me in our interview the week prior.

The Two Noble Kinsmen is silly and funny at times, and it’s serious and heart-wrenching at times. I really enjoyed this play, and this production.

For my first Shakespeare BASH’d show, I was impressed. First off, the talent is very strong. Lots of Stratford and Shaw Festival mainstays, along with some promising up-and-comers. Of course, Emilio Vieira was exceptional, and I find his way of speaking incredibly intuitive to understand. Michael Man as Arcite, Kate Martin as Emilia, Julia Nish-Lapidus as the Jailer’s Daughter – they were equally impressive as well, and made me feel for these characters. But truly everyone held their weight, even people in supporting roles. Shoutout to 郝邦宇 Steven Hao as the Wooer, who was very charismatic and chaotic in the most pleasant way. I would be excited to watch any of the 14 cast members in a future show.

In terms of the set…there wasn’t one. There was one major prop, which was an altar in the temple scene. There were no seats or chairs (on the stage – the audience had seats), though the stage itself is sunken, so the cast used the back ledge as a platform in certain scenes. Overall – very stripped down, very much focused on the text and the actors, which is exactly what Mel and Jeff told me to expect. I think some sets could have helped my basic mind to better follow along with the plot, but I respect the artistic choice.

Regardless, the show felt very professional, polished, and the pacing was great. No dropped lines, no awkward pauses, no weird tech mishaps (even though they had a last minute stage management emergency. I would never have known had they not made an announcement).

I also really liked the beginning sequence where all the actors put on their costumes in front of the audience. I’ve seen this done before, but it helps me feel a part of the show, and it’s very much in line with the opening prologue that helps set the stage of the play, explaining to the audience the background of the story you’re about to hear. Cool stuff.

I’m not a Shakespeare scholar, but my husband Jacob has seen dozens more Shakespeare plays than I have, so I asked him for his professional opinion on the show. I give you now, unedited, his eloquent thoughts:

“It was fun. It was way better than I thought it would be, and I don’t understand why they don’t do it more. It sort of was like the same level of bro-love triangle you would’ve seen in college.” – Jacob Silverman

So there you have it, folks. Is Shakespeare BASH’d’s production of the Two Noble Kinsmen worth seeing? Definitely. What an amazing opportunity to see a rarely produced play performed by incredible talent. I look forward to my next Shakespeare BASH’d production!

Thank you to the Shakespeare BASH’d team for the invite to this show! The Two Noble Kinsmen is playing in downtown Toronto until Feb. 4, 2024. You can purchase tickets here.

Featured image: Emilio Vieira & Michael Man; photo by Kyle Purcell