Film director Sir Peter Hall once said in an interview that “...Shakespeare's text is essentially theatrical and it's dependent on an imaginative make-believe between the audience and the actor” (Shakespeare in the Cinema). Shakespeare’s work has been adapted to film countless times in the last century, as they have been reproduced on the stage since the sixteenth century. The argument over which was better has been present since his work transitioned from stage to screen. Much Ado about Nothing is an excellent example of this, specifically in comparison of the 1993 film edition and the 2011 stage play at the Wydham Theatre in London. Both Kenneth Branagh and Josie Rourke did an excellent job with their directing choices in both, yet neither …show more content…
The film treats the party as a masquerade type of dance - with each person wearing their own (in this case identical) clothing and a mask of their choice to conceal who they are. This take works wonderfully as it leads the audience to believe that they have actually fooled each other. The same goes for the trick between Hero and the Prince - unless she could detect by his voice that he was not Claudio, it was a perfect disguise. The live version takes on the party as they would within their setting - as a costume party. While this is amusing for the audience it does nothing to hide who the characters themselves are - this takes away from the illusion within the play. Benedick is the only one hard to recognize, in “Miss Piggy” drag, with his large sunglasses and pig nose. The conversation Beatrice shares with him hints that she is fully aware who she’s speaking to, while the foolish Benedick believes he has tricked her. This applies to the scenes in Leonato’s garden as well - Benedick’s eavesdropping is arguably the best scene in the live action version. Tennant proves himself a god of comedy with his exaggerated blocking, expressions, and liberal use of white paint, which he proceeds to cover himself with in his own incredulity. The use of the revolve in this scene does well to suggest that he …show more content…
Simply put, the gap between comedy and drama for this cast is too large. The more serious scenes in the show are awkward, more specifically the wedding scene and confession scene that follows it. The wedding is done wonderfully in the film; each person on screen showcases the appropriate reaction to what’s happening in the moment. Claudio’s aggressive tone and movements are matched by the others in the scene, creating a intense, high energy scene. The live version, however, seems to struggle with this scene. Instead of an emotional, intense scene it appears to be Claudio having a tantrum. While the outburst is consistent with his character thus far, the other characters are almost non-responsive to his accusation. Those sitting in the church pews are more solemn than shocked and upset, almost as if they were previously aware of Hero’s infedility. All the energy seen in the previous scenes in lost, as though the cast, having perfected the comedic scenes, are not sure how to handle something more serious. The same goes for the following scene, in which Beatrice and Benedick confess their love to each other. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson do a phenomenal job with this scene. In the aftermath of such heavy events the audience is given a sweet, endearing confession of love followed immediately by the grievous request that Claudio be killed. Thompson
In order to get Beatrice and Benedick together, their friends and Beatrice’s family scheme to get them together and afterwards, Benedick changes into a completely different man just for Beatrice, especially when she is in terrible grief. Leonato, Beatrice 's uncle, Claudio, and The Prince lie about Beatrice loving Benedick and after he hears this, he says to himself, “It seems [Beatrice’s] affections have their full bent. Love me? Why, it must be requited!” (2.3.77). Benedick is thrilled by the thought that Beatrice has affections for him, even though he hasn 't fully thought this claim through.
When Claudio accuses Hero of cheating at the wedding she reacts by saying, “Is my lord well, that he doth speak so wide?” (Shakespeare 61). This reaction show Hero trying to prove him wrong so she can get married. She wants to please people by being innocent. Beatrice’s reactions were very different.
In Much Ado About Nothing, the author William Shakespeare utilizes main themes such as deception, humor, and romance to create dramatic and thrilling scenes throughout the plot. I will be quoting lines from the novel that have more to do with how deception is used in this story and how they eventually lead to other topics such as love and romance. Around the beginning of the play subjects of deception and trickery are clearly present. For Example, Don John tells Claudio, “I pray you dissuade him from her. She is no equal for his birth.
He is foolish for putting up a town notice to challenge a love god, and he is selfish for taking advantage of a jester. Through lines like these, Beatrice is quickly revealing her hate for Benedick, but staying true to her character, she only does so whilst speaking in a tongue of
The audience may understand the concept of love and romance flowing within the characters because it was to portrayed that way but the critics would argue the fact that some of the characters like Beatrice and Benedick were made to fall in love with each other through deception. As simple as the characters were, the situations arousing in the play became more complexed as scenes passed by. What led to the trouble and chaos in the play also led to the solution in the end, when Claudio and Don Pedro were deceived into thinking by Don John that Hero was unfaithful. That very same idea also solved the problem in the end when Leonato, Hero’s father, deceived Claudio by making him believe that she is dead and that it is his duty to clear Hero’s name by reading out on her tomb and marrying the said niece who looks just like Hero. Again the plotting against own is present where the said niece turns out to be Hero and she comes back to life again.
Claudio, Hero and Don Pedro all realize how perfect Beatrice and Benedick are together and so they set up a plan to deceive the two of them into falling in love. Don Pedro comes up with the plan to be having Benedick eavesdropping on Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio chatting about how much Beatrice is secretly in love with Benedick. Just as they expected , their plan goes off without a hitch. After the group is done talking and they all leave, Benedick comes out of hiding and start talking about what he just heard and realizes that he is in love with Beatrice. “I will be horribly in love wit her.”
The stage design gives the impression of the characters being in two separate rooms, the positioning of blocks and pillars helps again to demonstrate this. This intricate attention to detail enables the performance to be compared so similarly to the movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, although the ‘big screen’ enables more room for a fast change in setting and shots, Rourke does a phenomenal job trying to create this illusion which works so brilliantly. The night before the wedding or you could refer to it as the ‘stag and hen do’ was an unexpected twist that the audience definitely did not see coming. Again, the revolving stage was used to represent the divide between the women and the men and to compensate for the lack of space that the stage could carry.
The movie version wasn’t all that long. They took a bunch of lines out of the play so they play would be shorter and not as long and it wouldn’t make people not want to watch the anymore. They tried to put the most important lines that were written on their script into the movie. So as time went on I think people got tired of the same old movie version of Much Ado About Nothing.
Differences the audience may feel towards the live performance and the film, The live performance is scripted in the actors head and this can create more of a real happening scenario making a big impact on the audience,
A media skills weakness in the Globe Theatre version is that there is not much of scene and lighting change, and there is also no special effects which did not make it look realistic. A weakness in the Hollywood version is that the scenes were mainly dark with little light, and it was hard to see what was happening in the scene. Since Carroll’s and Nunn’s version of Twelfth Night had a lot of weaknesses when it comes to media skills, She’s The Man is
This juxtaposes Claudio and Hero’s relationship is based on purely on physical looks, which are not always truthful. In an opposing manner, Benedick and Beatrice’s relationship was not started from a completely dishonest place. Over years they had built a relationship through passive aggressive remarks rather than physicality, thus ensuring that they would know each other at their core. Therefore in order to move the relationship along it only took light coaxing of the small truths to progress their love. For instance, in Act One Beatrice and Benedick’s “merry war” of arguments is viewed as a type of flirting instead of actual anger or annoyance towards each other (1.1.50-54).
When Beatrice asks Benedick to duel Claudio for her, he agrees and plans to duel him. Benedick and Claudio are best friends who had fought in battle together, but the love of a woman completely changes Benedick’s allegiance from his fellow soldiers to his new love. Before falling in love with Beatrice, Benedick would have done everything possible to protect his brothers in battle. Now, love has emboldened him to make a choice that he would not have previously made. Benedick’s sacrifice of a meaningful friendship proves that he is now completely devoted to his relationship with Beatrice and is willing to do whatever necessary to preserve that relationship.
The movie shows Romeo coming into Juliet’s tomb. When he is there, Juliet starts to wake up. Romeo drinks the poison. She touches his faces and watches her true love die in her arms. She then takes his gun and shoots herself.
Before Benedick and Beatrice decided to marry each other or start a relationship at all, they took a period of time to ponder their feelings and realize the best solution, something Claudio and Hero completely ignored. Once they decided to finally start a relationship, their joking nature didn 't change, displaying their friendship and love for each other as a main component that has not wavered. Even when announcing their relationship, a serious matter, Benedick joked, “But by this light, I take thee/ for pity”(5.4.92-93). It is obvious that Benedick does not actually think Beatrice is ugly, but their relationship is so strong that he can jokingly insult her. In contrast, Hero and Claudio had to remain respectful towards each other in order to not risk the marriage.
It was a set up marriage and she would just try to make the male proud. Relationships, in the modern day, are more egalitarian than they use to be. This allows Benedick and Beatrice to represent more of a modern time ideal couple, than Claudio and Hero. A great quote about relationships is “ Respect is as important as love in a relationships”