HISTORICAL CONTEXT- Research your own play 'Much Ado About Nothing.'

When performing any play you must have an understanding of the writer, your character, the plot and how it can be interpreted. With Shakespeare, you have the task of understanding how he himself wrote it and how it was performed to an audience in his lifetime and how that performance style differs now.

Then
'Much Ado About Nothing' was written at the very end of the 16th century first published in 1600 and then again in 1623. The first recorded performance was in 1613 for Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I, for her marriage to Fredrick V. Shakespeare had many inspirations for his play one of them being from the poet Lodovico Ariosto with this section creating a basis for the marriage of Claudio and Hero and Don Johns plot to ruin it:

Credited as one of Shakespeare's best comedies, a perfect mix of comedy and tragedy with a heart warming resolution to end. The plot is as follows: after the war Don Pedro arrives to Messina and comes to Leonato's house, bringing with him Signor Benedick, Count Claudio, his traitor brother Don John and Dogberry and his watchmen.  Greeting the returning soldiers are Hero Leonato's daughter and Beatrice Leonato's niece. Beatrice and Benedick are in a long feud, the cause of which is hinted to be a love gone sour. Contrasting their spite is Hero and Claudio are have fallen deeply in love. In a bid to win Hero for Claudio, Don Pedro disguises himself at a masked dance and woos Hero in Claudio's name. Their marriage is announced soon after. In the meantime Don Pedro is determined to match Beatrice and Benedick and all the characters come together to help him carry out this plan. Whilst Beatrice and Benedick are being brought together, 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.

Even writing this proves to me how complicated the play is and therefore would have made a great story for an audience to watch- indeed it still does. Full of twists and turns, trickery and tragedy it makes for a very entertaining play.

Now
There have been many contemporary productions of 'Much Ado About Nothing' and yet one the I believe is good to look at, especially looked at it alongside our own production is that of Josie Rourke staring David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Set in the 1980s in Gibraltar after the Falklands war it mirrors our setting- the 1990s in Kuwait after the Gulf war. This play gives a new contemporary setting, but still allows itself to play within this. This allowed the play to discover new potential in the text like Hero's hen party before her wedding. There was a new humour created from the old.

Setting the stage with beer cans and cigarettes, navy uniforms for the men and baggy jeans and tops for the women, the play seemed all too familiar. By the choice of setting and prop, the piece was already breaking the mould of the classical text.

Focussing particularly on Tate's portrayal of Beatrice gave me food for thought when trying to make Beatrice my own. Tate to me already had comedic timing and presence as a women on stage, so for me it was about seeing how she used her unique personality to break the confines I sometimes feel within a classical piece. How she did this- she didn't act Beatrice well, she was Beatrice well. She was so natural and spontaneous I couldn't tell whether what I was seeing on stage was rehearsed or improvised. The nature of Beatrice's sharp comebacks have to seem like they are naturally rolling off the tongue and Tate did that perfectly. A better suited actress to Beatrice may be hard to find now.

I think you can learn things from both the original portrayal of the play and the contemporary versions. I think many people revere Shakespeare too much, considering the text a sacred artefact that can not be changed. There is no problem with respecting the language, but when you start loosing creativity because of it, you start having a problem. Watching Rourke's production has really shown me what it is to find that balance and fun within such an old text.