The Two Gentlemen of Verona written by William Shakespeare, performed by the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, is a multifaceted play revolving around central themes of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. The lead characters in love, Julia and Proteus, Silvia and Valentine, all undergo tests of character which each handles in a very different manner. The actors and actresses in this play exacted their characters. The raw emotion, facial expression, tone of voice, and overall movement of the play were a sight to behold. .
I could not help but fall in love with the characters of Silvia and Julia. The bond between these two women is portrayed throughout the play, even though they do not meet until the final scenes. Julia, hopelessly in love with Proteus, whom she believes to share the same affection for her, follows him to Milan in order that they can be together. What she does not know upon deciding to depart from Verona is that Proteus is actually in Milan backstabbing his close friend Valentine and trying to steal away lady Silvia from Thurio, her fiancée so to speak. Despite Proteus' efforts to woo Silvia, she is devoted to Valentine and in fact had plans to elope with him until Proteus jealously and deceitfully undermined the two lovers. Upon Julia's arrival to Milan she takes on the character of a male in order to be close to Proteus. She later proves her strong and noble character while she watches her one true love fall at the feet of another woman. .
Lady Silvia refuses to hear Proteus' compliments, knowing his false and deliberate ways. Seeing this, Julia gains a great respect for Silvia, rather than falling into a jealous rage and causing cat-fight troubles to ensue. Julia faithfully delivers Proteus' message and her own ring to Silvia; during this interaction, Silvia and Julia have a heartfelt exchange about the state of Proteus' lady in love "back in Verona."" Silvia refuses to accept either the letter or the ring and exits.
