The Two Noble Kinsmen, Lower Sproul Plaza,1979,U.C. Berkeley, directed by Linda Lees.  The Morris Dance is a fertility rite central to the play's amatory themes.

STAGING THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN

This eccentric play, a version of Chaucer's Knight's Tale, intersects the story of Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream just before his marriage, which is here deferred to allow him to lead an army against Creon, to revenge the widowing of three lamenting Queens. He returns victorious with two prisoners who fall in love with Emilia, the sister of his bride, Hippolyta (see clip in Video Gallery). After many vicissitudes one dies and the other marries a reluctant Emilia. Their jailer's daughter runs mad for love of one of the prisoners but is cured by marriage to a plebeian suitor.  The marriages are celebrated by a Morris Dance serving roughly the role of Pyramus and Thisbe in the earlier play (Gallery 1.6). This neglected play, co-authored apparently by Shakespeare and his successor John Fletcher, was scarcely performed until the twentieth century, but the charm and pathos of its lovers have earned it several professional productions recently (Gallery 6.2.36-38), with some success. HMR

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agate, James, Brief Chronicles: A Survey of the Plays of Shakespeare in Actual Performance, London: Jonathan Cape, 1943, 153-6. [Old Vic performance 3/1928]

Bawcutt, N. W., The Two Noble Kinsmen, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.

Bates, Merete, "Two Noble Kinsmen at York Theatre Royal", Manchester Guardian, 7/5/1973.

Berkowitz, Gerald M., "Shakespeare in Edinburgh", Shakespeare Quarterly 31 (1980) 165-6. [Cherub Co. production of Two Noble Kinsmen, 8/27-9/8/1979 ]

Bullock, Ken, “Lively, Playful Excursion Into Obscure Shakespeare “ [African-American Shakespeare Company: Two Noble Kinsmen to Oct. 23, Buriel Clay Theater, San Francisco.] Berkeley Daily Planet, 10/18,/2005:  www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?storyID=22561

D'Avenant, William, The Rivals: A Comedy. Acted by His Highness the Duke of York's Servants, London: William Cademan, 1668 [An alteration by D'Avenant of "The Two Noble Kinsmen" by Fletcher and Shakespeare.]

Dayton Daily News, "Two Noble Kinsmen Well Done at Antioch", 8/11/1955.

Fletcher, John, & William Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, London: Tho. Cotes, for John Waterson, 1634. ["Presented at the Blackfriers by the Kings Majesties servants, with great applause."] Reprinted: London, Tudor Facsimile Texts, 1910.

Frey, Charles, ed., Shakespeare & Fletcher: "The Two Noble Kinsmen", Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989.

Griffin, Alice, "Current Theatre Notes 1958-1959", Shakespeare Quarterly 11 (1960) 97-115, (Reading University production, 6/13-18/1959]

Howard, Tony, "Census of Renaissance Drama Productions", Research Opportunities in Renaissance Drama 22(1979): 78-85 [Cherub Co. production of Two Noble Kinsmen, 11/21-12/8/1979 ]

Hyde, Mary C., "Current Theater Notes", Shakespeare Quarterly, 6 91955):67-88 {Harvard Dramatic Club production, April-June 1954]

Jones, M. G., "The Two Noble Kinsmen", New Theatre Magazine 1964.3 (July,Sept.), 18-9. [Bristol University production, 7/14-18/1964.]

MacDonell, A. G., "Chronicles: The Drama", The London Mercury, 17.102 (April, 1928) 696-9. [ Old Vic production, 3/1928, p. 697]

Metz, G. Harold, editor, Four Plays Assigned to Shakespeare (Edward III, Sir Thomas More, Cardenio, The Two Noble Kinsmen); an Annotated Bibliography, New York: Garland, 1982. See p. xxiv.

Nicoll, Allardice, "Shakespeare and the Court Masque", Shakespeare Jahrbuch 94 (1958): 51-62. {Blackfriars performance.]

Potter, Lois, editor, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Walton-on-Thames: Nelson [Third Arden], 1997.

Potter, Lois, "The Two Noble Kinsmen in 1993-94," Shakespeare Quarterly 47:2, 197-203.

Richmond, Hugh M., "The Persistent Kinsmen of Shakespeare and Fletcher," Notes and Queries, New Series 40.2 (June, 1993), 232-4.

Richmond, Hugh M. "The Two Noble Kinsmen : Performance as Criticism," in Shakespeare & Fletcher: "The Two Noble Kinsmen" ed. C. Frey. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989, pp.163-85.

Richmond, H. M., Director, Shakespeare Program: The Two Noble Kinsmen,  Ed. TV Producer: P. Shepard, directors: L. Lees; G. M. Wallace & M. Winks [videos of two productions, in Moffitt Library], U.C.B., 1978.

Seltzer, Daniel, "The Staging of the Last Plays" in  Later Shakespeare,  Stratford-upon-Avon Studies 8 (1966) 127-65.

Smith, Irwin, Shakespeare's Blackfriars Playhouse: Its History and Design, New York: New York University, 1964, pp. 213, 218, 234, 236-7, 260, 349, 361, 377-8.

Stage and Television Today, "Impressive Noble Kinsmen", 7/12/1973 [York Theatre Royal production.]

Stoddard, Joseph R., Lillian Wilds, "Shakespeare in Southern California and Visalia", Shakespeare Quarterly 31 (1980); 254, 258-9.

Trewin, J. C., [ Regent's Park production of Two Noble Kinsmen] The Illustrated London News, 262:6915 (Oct. 1974), 107

Trussler, Simon, editor. The Two Noble Kinsmen, London: Methuen, 1987. [RSC production]

Waith, Eugene, editor, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Oxford: Clarendon , 1989.

Wells, Stanley, "The Two Noble Kinsmen at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon," Vikram Chopra, ed., Shakespeare: Varied Perspectives: 441-44. Delhi: B. R. Publishing, 1996.

Wickham, Glynne, The Two Noble Kinsmen or A Midsummer Night's Dream, Part 2, Elizabethan Theatre, 7. 167-96.

 The Fascination of Madness: frustrated in love the Jailer's Daughter echoes Ophelia's insanity (UCB, 1978)