Multimodal playmaking and the effects of boy actors in The Two Gentlemen of Verona

This article argues that the theatrical impact of The Two Gentlemen of Verona is fundamentally constructed through the convergence of various media – primarily musical and pictorial. One of Shakespeare's earliest comedies, the play reflects on the theatre's multimodal nature and identifies changefulness as its central quality. Boy actors emerge especially responsive to such bodily changes, with their physical traits, individual talents, and possible alterations suggesting the inherent precariousness of material reality. Boy actors ultimately reaffirm their privilege as skilled performers when their bodies’ technologies – voices and cosmeticised bodies – offer a revealing window into the stage's transformative power.