The Two Noble Kinsmen

John Fletcher

William Shakespeare

Friendship turns to rivalry in this study of the intoxication and strangeness of love

Two best friends, knights at arms, are captured in battle and imprisoned. From their window they see a beautiful woman and both fall instantly in love with her, turning from intimate friendship to jealous rivalry in the space of a minute. One is released and goes AWOL in the woods of Athens, searching for a way to be near his beloved. When the jailer’s daughter frees the other, and follows him into the forest herself, the stage is set for absurd adventures and painful confusions in this study of the intoxication and strangeness of love.

Attributed to Fletcher and Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen is based on Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale.