The Two Gentlemen of Verona

A father who locks his daughter in a tower, gentlemen outlaws in a forest, a girl who dresses as a boy and runs away, a faithless lover who betrays his friend and attempts to rape his friend's girlfriend, and the sweetest dog-owner ever—what more could you ask? “Who is Silvia, what is she, that all our swains commend her?”

For a detailed synopsis, see Wikipedia.

For those of you who provide parts a scene at a time, this Character Chart shows all the characters' lines in each scene: Two Gentlemen of Verona

If your group reads the plays straight through in one sitting and you want to divide up the parts, we have a number of “cast” lists already divided up for you. These are text files that you can edit to suit your group. We always recommend in a straight-through read that each participant take a moment beforehand to mark their parts—then everything proceeds so smoothly.

• Cast for 7, plus a Reader for stage directions.
• Cast for 8, plus a Reader for stage directions.
• Cast for 10, plus a Reader for stage directions.

This may be (and feels like) one of the very first plays Shakespeare wrote.

This is an audio recording of the play by professional actors with sound effects:

I don't know yet how good this is, but there aren't very many film versions.