Much Ado About Everything!

I’m not one to truly understand Williams Shakespeare’s work, but if given the task to try to understand it, I will try. That’s why I turned to spark’s notes section called, “No Fear Shakespeare” to try to understand Much Ado About Nothing, which gives the reader a modern-day translation to what a Shakespearean audience would have understood. This helped me greatly to understanding the jokes that were in the play and prepare me to be an audience that can appreciate why the actors were performing they were. I did not want to be what Peter Brook describes as a “deadly audience,” an audience that’s at a play because they feel obligated to go because significant others made them or even professors.

            So I went to see the play. I could not go to the play when all my peers went, as I was sick and did not want to risk my health further standing in the rain and cold weather. I bought a ticket for the matinee showing the following day, and thankfully the Globe had a few sitting tickets available. Sitting was worth it. I was able to enjoy the performance especially that of the Benedick and Beatrice. I saw the standing audience having to crane their necks to see if they were as short as me and to stand for a good three hours would have surely made me leave early, no matter how good this play was.

            In fact, this play was very good. The theatre space was circular and no matter what part of the globe I would have been sitting, I would have gotten a great, unobstructed view of the action. What helped me especially to liking this play was that it was a comedy. This allowed the actors greater freedom to be funny and to interact with the audience, the actor playing Benedick being the main perpetrator. If he heard a strange noise coming from an audience member, he would acknowledge it and make a remark that would leave the audience rolling with laughter. Although this play is a comedy, the dramatic moments were not dull in the slightest. The actors were able to put their comedic masks to rest and let the audience be involved in the crises that was happening in the world of Much Ado.

            What was also a great treat in this play was Joseph Marcell in the role of Leonato the father of Hero.  He is most famous in the United States for his portrayal as Geoffrey the Butler in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Any child growing up in the 1990s will have at least remembered him for his no non-sense attitude when having to tend to the Banks family and their cousin from West Philadelphia.  Although a relatively minor character, my mind shot towards him, because I recognized him, but he seemed to also be in his element in this type of production. As I later found out, he is on the board for the Globe, so he knows a little bit about this genre.

            The actors, the set, and the comedic use of pulleys are just some of the reasons to enjoy this classic.

Eve Best as Beatrice and Charles Edward as Benedick. Eve Best was not the Beatrice I saw as she was portrayed by Naomi Frederick.

By Agnes Russell