Characters in Romeo and Juliet he is given a direct connection to his brother. Although he has a very small role in Shakespeare's play, earlier versions of the story gave him no role or mention at all. In fact, they gave even Mercutio a very minor role. Shakespeare was the first English dramatist to use the name "Valentine" on stage, in his earlier plays, "Titus Andronicus" and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona". In "Titus", Valentine plays a minor role, but in "Two Gentlemen", he is one of the title characters. Incidentally, the Valentine of "Two Gentlemen" borrows heavily from Arthur Brooke's Romeus in "The Tragical
Metaverse Shakespeare Company play, "One’s a Pawn of Time" by Mike Dedrian. The company then returned to "Twelfth Night" and staged the first act of the play starting in November, 2008. No full-length Shakespearean play has been produced due to funding issues. In December 2008 the company developed Shakespeare on Ice as part of the Second Life: On Winter Solstice 2008. Shakespeare on Ice was a 24-hour ongoing festival which revived characters and plots from previous SL Shakespeare Company productions, with the aim to entertain and educate. In February 2009 the company started work on "Twelfth Night", Act 1: The Open Ended Run,