Word: gentlemen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Before the day ended, there was one more graceful gesture. Begin rose to give his toast, and, after suggesting that Carter be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, he said, "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to pay tribute to a man who is the main adviser of the President of this great country-a gentleman who did so much day and night with his inventive mind, with his great learning and knowledge-Cyrus Vance." The guests rose in a prolonged ovation. When the self-effacing Secretary of State finally had the courage to look up, his eyes were...
Unfortunately, The Boston Shakespeare Company's production of Two Gentlemen falls headlong into the traps set by the flawed script. If many of Shakespeare's works invite reinterpretation, this one almost demands it. However, director William Lacey opts for a traditional construction of the script, playing much of it merely for laughs, and thus fails to adequately explore the darker side of the comedy or compensate for its flaws...
...flaws lie in Shakespeare's clumsy handling of the central plot. The two gentlemen, Proteus and Valentine, represent two conventional types of young Renaissance men: Proteus, the languid romantic, and Valentine, the seeker after honor. In the first scene, Valentine chides Proteus for wasting his youth on love and idleness before sailing for Milan to attend the Emperor--who later turns out to be a Duke in an odd but minor discrepancy. After an interlude with Proteus's lover, Julia, Shakespeare has Proteus sent off to Milan to follow in Valentine's footsteps...
Unfortunately, the director's overall interpretation of Two Gentlemen as a light-hearted, guileless pastoral undercuts the good performances by imposing shallowness on the production. When even the senex irotus figures chase after serving maids the integrity of the play gets undermined and the whole thing tends toward farce...
...interpretation. The Boston Shakespeare Company falls somewhere between farce and a successfully realized dramatic presentation. As it is, the production averages out to mediocrity; a relatively uninspired rendition of a relatively uninspired play. Perhaps The Boston Shakespeare Company should have done Shakespeare and themselves a favor and allowed Two Gentlemen of Verona to remain in the oblivion it so sadly deserves...