“He after honour hunts, I after love” – Proteus

Episode 3 is live! We begin our three-episode investigation of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, arguably the Bard’s first play, circa 1589. Join me for a journey through the highs and lows of the plot, by way of Greek mythology, why the Ancients liked green honey, and our first casual bigotry alerts!

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at podcastshakespeare@gmail.com. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn.

Be sure to check out the new Spotify playlist. You can also visit the bibliography page here, which is a work in progress.

Links mentioned:

The Grand Tour of Europe
Don Quixote
The Hellespont
Hero and Leander (excerpts) by Christopher Marlowe
Isaac Asimov, Guide to Shakespeare
Harold Bloom, The Invention of the Human
Mythological Proteus
Stephen Greenblatt, Shakespeare’s Cure for Xenophobia, The New Yorker, June 2017
The senex iratus
Unseen characters on television
Medieval and Renaissance manuals on chivalry
Saint Sebastian
Derek Jarman’s ‘Sebastiane’
‘Who is Silvia?’ text
Dame Janet Baker singing ‘Who is Silvia?’ by Franz Schubert, with Murray Perahia on piano
And also Barbra Streisand for some reason…?
Thou, thee, and so on
Augustus Leopold Egg, ‘Launce’s Substitute for Proteus’ Dog’, oil on canvas, 1849
Ancient Greek colour vision
Harold Goddard’s The Meaning of Shakespeare

Clips:

Opening and closing: Henry Rowley Bishop, “Who is Sylvia?”, for the Frederic Reynolds production, Covent Garden, 1821 – Philip Pickett, Susan Gritton et al

Arkangel Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 2006, d: Clive Brill
with Damian Lewis (Valentine), Michael Maloney (Proteus), Saskia Wickham (Silvia)

Royal Shakespeare Company, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 2014, d: Simon Godwin
with Mark Arends (Proteus), Michael Marcus (Valentine), Martin Bassindale (Speed)

Marlowe Society, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1959, d: George Rylands
with Olive Gregg (Julia)

Oregon Shakespeare Company, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1957, d: James Sandoe
with William Oyler (Valentine), Doris Viola (Julia), Nagle Jackson (Speed), Marcia Thayer (Lucetta), Jim Sheldon (Thurio)

BBC Complete Works, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1983, d: Don Taylor, p: Shaun Sutton
with Tony Haygarth (Launce), Tyler Butterworth (Proteus), Paul Daneman (Duke of Milan), Andrew Burt (Third Outlaw)

Gerald Finzi, “Who is Sylvia?” from ‘Let Us Garlands Bring’ (1942)
with Martin Vögerl – singer, Mira Teofilova – piano