With an engaging comedy of love, The Two Gentlemen of Verona deals with the conflict between friendship and romance, and features one of Shakespeare's most memorable clowns. This Penguin Shakespeare edition is edited by Norman Sanders with an introduction by Russell Jackson. 'Except I be by Silvia in the night, There is no music in the nightingale'. Leaving behind both home and beloved, a young man travels to Milan to meet his closest friend. Once there, however, he falls in love with his friend's new sweetheart and resolves to seduce her. Love-crazed and desperate, he is soon moved to commit cynical acts of betrayal, revealing how passion can prove more powerful than even the strongest loyalty owed to a friend. This book contains a general introduction to Shakespeare's life and Elizabethan theatre, a separate introduction to the play, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, an essay discussing performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary.