THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN to be Presented at The Hofstra Globe Stage

The Shakespearean "tragicomedy," The Two Noble Kinsmen, is the headline production of Hofstra University's 77th annual Shakespeare Festival. Audiences will see the play performed on Hofstra's Globe stage, the most authentic replica in North America, October 24 to November 2, 2025.

Co-written by John Fletcher, the play is believed to be the last written by William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen tells the story of Palamon and Arcite, cousins who become fierce rivals when they fall for the same woman, Emilia. The strength of their friendship and the cost of honor are tested in this lesser-known work of the Shakespearean canon.

Professor of Drama Cindy Rosenthal, director of The Two Noble Kinsmen, acknowledges that among her fellow theater historians, not many have studied the play or seen it performed.

"In that there is opportunity," she said. "We may be the one production of this play that our audience members see. The question is: How can we best present this under-illuminated text by the greatest writer in the history of civilization? Let's make the most of whatever ways we think it has value and interest. That's the job."

Among the aspects most interesting to Dr. Rosenthal and her students are the ways in which the play celebrates love, both heterosexual and queer. "It does that all the way through the text, both with women and men. Scholars have studied and written about the queer sensibility that permeates this play. I'm excited and the students are excited to explore and bring life to the relationships among the characters."

While Rosenthal has directed for previous Shakespeare Festivals, The Two Noble Kinsmen is her first time working on the Globe replica. "Performing on the Globe stage makes it feel like we are part of history. It's a beautiful achievement. Just being able to engage with the set is another part of the experience I look forward to sharing with the students and our audience."

Hofstra's Shakespeare Festival is the longest-running consecutive festival of its kind in the United States. Since it began in 1950 with a production of Julius Caesar, the festival has presented a varied selection of the 37 plays in the Shakespeare canon.

Dates and show times for The Two Noble Kinsmen are Friday, October 24, and 31, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, October 25, and November 1, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, October 26, and November 2, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, but members of the Hofstra community may receive up to two free tickets. Visit hofstra.universitytickets.com to purchase. (Hofstra faculty, staff, and students should log in with their portal username and password.)

Starting in 2011, the festival debuted one-hour companion plays that are performed on campus and tour local high schools. These productions are suitable for young audiences and may serve as an introduction to the works of Shakespeare.

This year's companion piece is What Fools!, a 1-hour version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, adapted by Hofstra Adjunct Professor Emerita of English Maureen Connolly McFeeley and directed by Hofstra alumnus Sal Salerno. Set in an enchanted forest, the story follows lovers, actors, and fairies whose paths cross in humorous and unexpected ways.

Performances take place at the Joan and Donald Schaeffer Black Box Theater in Joseph G. Shapiro Family Hall, South Campus, on Thursday, October 30, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, November 1, at 3 p.m.

Tickets to What Fools are $15, but members of the Hofstra community may receive up to two free tickets. Visit hofstra.universitytickets.com to purchase. (Hofstra faculty, staff, and students should log in with their portal username and password.)

Like the Shakespeare Festival, the Hofstra Collegium Musicum, directed by Adjunct Associate Professor of Music Christopher Morrongiello, has a long history at Hofstra.

The Hofstra Collegium Musicum is made up largely of Hofstra students, with several alumni and members of the faculty and community also taking part. It has presented concerts of early music every semester since it was founded by Professor Emeritus William E. Hettrick in 1969.

Dr. Morrongiello, a world-renowned lutenist and expert on Elizabethan and Jacobean music, has directed the Collegium since Dr. Hettrick's retirement from the group in 2013.

The title of this year's performance, "Sorrow Wanting Form: Sad Songs and Instrumental Music from Shakespeare's Time," is drawn from a passage in The Two Noble Kinsmen.

The Collegium's program includes the powerful tripartite song "Mrs. M. E. Her Funeral Tears for the Death of Her Husband," sung by Professor Tammy Hensrud. This elegy was composed by John Daniel, brother of the Jacobean court poet Samuel Daniel, who likely penned the exquisite poetry.

The program also features music by Shakespeare's contemporaries Orlando Gibbons, Anthony Holborne, John Coprario, Giulio Caccini, Robert Johnson, and John Dowland, the unrivaled master of melancholy. Dowland's motto was "Semper Dowland semper dolens" (Always Dowland, always doleful). Also joining Collegium for the performance is the Hofstra Recorder Ensemble, directed by Professor Judith Dansker.

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