One Play, Two Kinsmen, Three Dimensions, No Fourth Wall. Two best friends, skilled fighters both, fall in love with the same girl while they are stuck in prison. Their friendship takes a beating as they try over and over to prove who is most worthy to have her. Part As You Like It, part A Midsummer Night’s Dream and based on Chaucer's "A Knight's Tale" from The Canterbury Tales, The Two Noble Kinsmen leaves the outcome hanging until literally the bitter end. Join the cast and crew members for a lively Question and Answer session on Sunday April 10 after the show!



A part of The Shakespeare Evolution Series!

Special Event! Book Club with the Bard: The Two Noble Kinsmen Saturday April 2, 2016



Has it been just a little bit too long since your last college literature course? Do you miss the thrill of sitting in a circle and discussing symbolism and imagery? Fret not! The Atlanta Shakespeare Company is here to help! Join us on Saturday April 2 for our very first Book Club with the Bard! This month, we’ll be discussing William Shakespeare and John Fletcher’s The Two Noble Kinsmen! Never heard of it? Don’t worry! Come with your questions and thoughts on the text, and we’ll all dive in together. Meet your hosts, Dani Herd and Samantha Smith, in the upstairs lobby between 4:45pm and 5pm, and we’ll whisk you away to one of the Tavern’s rehearsal halls for our discussion! Complimentary refreshments will be served at 4:45pm! Our discussion itself will begin at 5pm! Free! Just RSVP to the box office here.



Read the

Two Noble Kinsmen Plot Summary





Three mourning queens urge Theseus, Duke of Athens – at the celebration of marriage to Hippolyta – to attack Creon, King of Thebes, who slew their husbands; Theseus agrees, Palamon and Arcite, Creon’s nephews, two noble kinsmen, fight for Thebes, but Theseus captures and imprisons them. From the window of their prison they see Emilia, sister of Hippolyta, and both fall in love with her. Arcite, released but banished from Athens, goes disguised into Emilia’s service. The jailer’s daughter, passionately infatuated with Palamon, enables him to escape and later goes mad for his loss. The two kinsmen meet and fight with each other; sparing them on the intercession of Emilia (who cannot say whom she loves) and Hippolyta, Theseus orders them to return in a month and fight again; the winner will have Emilia, the loser will be executed. To restore the sanity of the jailer’s daughter, a wooer is advised to impersonate Palamon.





The month passes. Arcite prays to Mars and Palamon to Venus for success, and Emilia prays at Diana’s altar. Arcite wins the combat but later, falling from his horse, is mortally wounded. With his last breath he gives Emilia, and with her all the world’s joy, to Palamon (who is saved from execution). The jailer’s daughter has recovered and is about to marry. The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare’s Plays by J C Trewin



Director's Notes

Directed by Troy Willis