WEEK 6 – YOUR PRODUCTION

Then

'Much Ado About Nothing' was written at the very end of the 16th century. The first performance was in 1613 for Princess Elizabeth. There were many aspects which inspired Shakespeare to write this play. For example, the poet Lodovico Ariostoinspired him to write about for the marriage of Claudio and Hero and Don Johns plot to ruin it. The plot is as follows: after the war Don Pedro arrives to Messina and comes to Leonato's house, bringing with him Benedick, Claudio,  Don John and Dogberry and his watchmen.  Greeting the returning soldiers are Hero and Beatrice. Beatrice and Benedick are in an ongoing argument, the cause of which is implied that they had been in an unsuccesful relationship in the past. This contrasts to Hero and Claudio who are deeply in love. In a bid to win Hero for Claudio, Don Pedro disguises himself at a masked dance and flirts with Hero on Claudio's behalf. Their marriage is announced soon after. In addition to this marriage, Don Pedro is determined to ship Beatrice and Benedick and get everyone else to help him carry out this plan. Don John has plans of his own; to disgrace Hero at the alter and split her and Claudio up. He does so by getting his right hand man Borachio to trick Hero's lady in waiting Margaret into meeting him at Hero's chamber window the night before the intended marriage. Upon seeing this, Claudio believes it to be Hero and vows to disgrace her at the alter. When she is jilted at the alter Hero's family decide to pretend she is dead so as to cover her shame and bring to light the true going ons of this whole family drama. It is soon discovered that Don John authored the whole plan and he flees. He is bought back to face trial but not before Claudio and Hero are reunited and married and Benedick proposes to Beatrice. All trickery is brought to light and justice and peace is restored.

Now

A few years ago, I watched a contemporary production of Much Ado about Nothing staring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. It was set in the 1980s in Gibraltar after the Falklands war.This is similar our setting- the 1990s in Kuwait after the Gulf war. They find interesting ways to incpoporate their setting and circumstances into the perfoemance. This was clever and very entrertaining as they took part in scenes such asHero's hen party before her wedding. This creates new comedy from old material. The stage was covered in beer cans and ciggarettes, navy uniforms for the men and baggy jeans and tops for the women. By the choice of setting and prop, the piece was already breaking the mould of the classical text. Their modern costumes reated a clear tone for the play and a party like atmosphere. David Tennant was excellent and really made the chracter come to life by making bold and comedic choices which paid off. His cofnident stag presence demonstarted his unique personality to break the confines I sometimes feel within a classical piece. He was so natural and spontaneous that it was difficult to tell if it was rehearsed or improvised. The nature of Benedick's sharp comebacks have to seem like they are naturally rolling off the tongue and he did that perfectly. I think you can learn things from both the original portrayal of the play and the contemporary versions. It is important to respect the language, while maintaining creativity. Watching this production has really shown me what it is to find that balance and fun within such an old text