The Two Noble Kinsmen

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries, textual notes on the plays and poems and an extensive Introduction. Since the late twentieth century, when scholarly attention began to focus on sexuality, collaboration and Shakespeare's late plays, The Two Noble Kinsmen has become an essential script. Turner and Tatspaugh's edition presents a strong case for taking the play more seriously now than ever before. A lively introduction discusses Shakespeare's craftsmanship in adapting a medieval tale for the Jacobean stage, the extent of co-authorship with John Fletcher, the rhetorical complexity of Shakespeare's late style, the themes of sexuality and friendship, and contemporary critical responses to the play. The edition demonstrates the theatrical vitality of The Two Noble Kinsmen and confirms it as a play for today.

• A fresh and lively introduction tackles all the main issues of the play, including its medieval sources, the co-authorship with John Fletcher and the complexity of Shakespeare's late style, and gives a thorough survey of contemporary critical responses, bringing the textual history completely up to date
• Presents a strong argument for the play's importance today, given its relevance to areas which have attracted recent scholarly attention such as collaboration, Shakespeare's late style and sexuality
• Features a thoroughly annotated text prepared by Robert Kean Turner, commentary and introduction by Turner and Patricia Tatspaugh and a narrative performance history with a detailed chronological appendix by Tatspaugh