Two Noblewomen
"I admire beauty more than Christ but know it for the traps it lays, for beauty oft betrays the truth like the pretty painted stones in a rich man's garden whose underside's a fetid shield for vermin. For 'tis this I value most--truth! Truth when ugly values more than pretty lies." Act I, Scene 5
"A woman's lot is hard, her eye suspicious, her ear alive to threats and pretty lies. We know what they say, but not what they are. Even amongst themselves, men play and boast and hide their wounded hearts." Act II, Scene 5
What would Shakespeare think of today's hyper-sexed society? Of gender equality? Of the vanishing frontiers between men and women? Undoubtedly, he would love it! The two noblewomen who hail from Croessus, the sisters Bianca and Catarina, are strong-willed young women anxious to know the world...from both a female and a male perspective. Their world is the Lombardy of Renaissance Italy, but their experiences, mentality and common sense are universal. They are aided by their uncle, eccentric but wise Modesta. From two young gentlemen of Verona, Antonio and Valentino, they learn truths both harsh and beautiful. The lovely Countess Beatrice traces for them, not the ages of man, but the ages of woman ("I would be young again, with skin like cream, breasts burdened by milk, their peaks raw and purple, admired by men and women both, courtiers, courtesans, soothsayers, any sage or fool"). Two Noblewomen of Croessus is a full-length play in two acts, written in heightened speech for 12 characters. Click on link below to read the first scene of Two Noblewomen of Croessus.