What might interest an average reader into reading two gentlemen from Verona?

Answer 1

My first question would be whether an average reader really wants to read play scripts at all, and if so, whether they want to read a Shakespeare script.

But, for the sake of argument, let's say that this particular reader has read the scripts to, let's say, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar and Macbeth and Hamlet, and now says, "Hmm. What other Shakespeare play might I want to read?" Are there any reasons why that reader should pick Two Gentlemen of Verona? Here are some:

• It's a comedy. The plays you usually get in school are tragedies. A comedy makes a change of pace.
• It's an early play. Some think it was Shakespeare's first play. The style is different from the later plays: more poetic, less jagged.
• It's not a particularly well known play. More kudos for you for knowing it.
• There are some funny scenes with Launce and his mangy flatulent dog. The one where he tries to give it as a gift to his master's girl is absolutely ridiculous.
• There are some good scenes between Julia and her maid Lucetta.
• Generally the servants are very funny; maybe the funniest in any Shakespeare play.