Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” U2’s “Beautiful Day” and “With or Without You,” and club music – not something you would usually expect to hear at a Shakespeare play, right? That was just the scene during the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s performance of Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Lansburgh Theatre in DC. Filled with scandal, obsession, and raunchiness, the play could be considered a bit ‘racy’ for those under 12. What else do I need to say to get all you Langley students to attend? This is your scene people, trust me. But if that isn’t enough: ladies, the two leading gentlemen, Valentine (Andrew Veenstra) and Proteus (Nick Dillenburg) are extremely attractive (think Damien from Gossip Girl and a younger Matthew Morrison from Glee) and pretty suave at smooth talking (I could have sworn I saw an old woman swoon when they first stepped on stage – her husband didn’t look too excited…) And men, how could you pass up the opportunity to see some fine ladies performing dance numbers at the club? That’s right – I said club (that place where young adults hang out to…I won’t elaborate). The play was set in modern day, with characters doing high-schoolish things like eating McDonald’s, texting, and typing on Macbooks.

The Two Gents director, PJ Papparelli, truly went all-out to transform Shakespeare’s original Verona/Milan setting into one that would really appeal to us modern-day folk. For example, in the first scene, the audience is bombarded by a group of immature, loud, teenage boys running around and doing stupid things while drinking…questionable beverages. Sound familiar? You can’t pass up this opportunity; if anything, this play will provide you much needed life-lessons such as: ‘How-to properly diss a bro,’ ‘How-to make a situation awkward,’ and the much-needed, ‘How-to use karaoke to impress a woman.’ So do yourself a favor, and go see a play that will literally blow your mind (did I mention there were gunshots involved?) – you won’t regret it.