Based on Chaucer's Knight's Tale, The Two Noble Kinsmen was written at the end of Shakespeare's career, as a collaboration with the rising young dramatist John Fletcher. Neglected until
recently by directors and teachers, the play deserves to be better known for its moving dramatization of the conflict of love and friendship. This new edition, compiled by distinguished scholar
Eugene M. Waith, offers helpful new material on the play's authenticity as a work of Shakespeare, his collaboration with Fletcher, the relevance to the play of the contemporary ideals of
chivalry and friendship, and its limited but increasing stage history. Based on the Quarto of 1634, Waith's edition also sets out to clarify the stage directions, address problems of
mislineation, and provide useful guides to unfamiliar words, stage business, allusions, and textual problems.
