The start felt a tad forced… too many puns and too little quality in the poetry; cheap thrills delivered in the cheap talk of sex-crazed, sex-starved (though seemingly well-educated) men who dream of the most unrealistic relationships and perpetrate wisdom from where the sun don’t shine, as if they’re pros on women, and other deep philosophical crap.

The women, on the other hand, are the sharp-tongued witty shrews Shakespeare is so fond of, with the Lady Rosalind shining most. At the end, they fall easily and without much persuasion into the so-called love offered, despite a momentary slight and misunderstanding, but I suppose when 40 was the average life-span, who had time to bother with sagacity and stability? At least the women are able to hold the men off in good sense for a time…

The rhyme scheme would have been a challenge to maintain throughout, and that for sure is a giant feat. The banter is fun, the budding of better banter yet to blossom in later comedies.

This was an early work of ole Bill’s. I think he was dodging getting the bubonic and might not have had much social interaction in the days leading up to this one. Thank goodness he refined his pen to paper in the subsequent years. There are some funny bits here, but it’s not overly smart or subtle, and the proclamations of love are like the infatuations prevalent in the lusty little lascivious novels of 2022…

Fortunately, one can always count on great narrators/actors to deliver in these Blackstone audio Arc Shakespeare productions.