Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
i think this may be my all time favorite Shakespeare text... it's definitely at least my favorite comedy. reread this for the first time in nearly four years and was just absolutely blown away. work of brilliance, utilizing manipulation of the audience and characters in the most strategic and well plotted way. this text truly is the blueprint for a lot of our contemporary themes and tropes and it's super awesome to reread the older i get. lots of love for this one.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
5/5 stars!
I really loved this charming play. Beautiful writing and witty one liners. Very enjoyable but with Shakespeare’s writing not a lot can really go wrong!
“There was a star danced, and under that was I born.”
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
“Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?”
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
I really loved this charming play. Beautiful writing and witty one liners. Very enjoyable but with Shakespeare’s writing not a lot can really go wrong!
“There was a star danced, and under that was I born.”
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
“Why, what's the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?”
William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
BEATRICE Princes and counties! Surely a princely testimony,
a goodly count, Count Comfect, a sweet gallant, surely!
O, that I were a man for his sake! Or
that I had any friend would be a man for my
sake!
But manhood is melted into curtsies, valor into
compliment, and men are only turned into
tongue,
and trim ones, too. He is now as valiant as
Hercules
that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a man
with wishing; therefore I will die a woman with
grieving.
Okay, this was pretty funny indeed. Although I still prefer his tragedies, Shakespeare's comedies have a certain bitchiness to them that I can't help but adore. Beatrice and Benedick especially are just so snarky, and so entertaining, my favorite part was definitely their enemies-to-lovers act which they refuses to let up even to the last second. Truly the blueprint, no notes. The rest was also nice though it reminded me more of a mismash of Othello and The Taming of the Shrew (just a smidge) so I'm not sure how I feel about that. The humor is on the other hand is on point, dry and brittle, with that classic British play on words. Nevertheless, I would probably watch the movie next time since humor requires delivery to really make it land. Oh and because it has Robert Sean Leonard of course.
a goodly count, Count Comfect, a sweet gallant, surely!
O, that I were a man for his sake! Or
that I had any friend would be a man for my
sake!
But manhood is melted into curtsies, valor into
compliment, and men are only turned into
tongue,
and trim ones, too. He is now as valiant as
Hercules
that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot be a man
with wishing; therefore I will die a woman with
grieving.
Okay, this was pretty funny indeed. Although I still prefer his tragedies, Shakespeare's comedies have a certain bitchiness to them that I can't help but adore. Beatrice and Benedick especially are just so snarky, and so entertaining, my favorite part was definitely their enemies-to-lovers act which they refuses to let up even to the last second. Truly the blueprint, no notes. The rest was also nice though it reminded me more of a mismash of Othello and The Taming of the Shrew (just a smidge) so I'm not sure how I feel about that. The humor is on the other hand is on point, dry and brittle, with that classic British play on words. Nevertheless, I would probably watch the movie next time since humor requires delivery to really make it land. Oh and because it has Robert Sean Leonard of course.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I listened to the BBC radio production of this, starring David Tennant as Benedick and Samantha Spiro as Beatrice.
Soooo. The one thing that kinda sucks about Much Ado is that I absorbed Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film version so completely - it is so baked into my cells now - that I cannot NOT hear Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, Denzel Washington, and even KEANU in these roles. I realize, also, now, that the reason the 1993 movie version is so baked into my DNA is that that movie is like the Platonic ideal of a Shakespearean adaptation: it's peak Branagh, peak Emma Thompson, peak Tuscany, PEAK ALL OF THEM. They are perfect. And so every other version feels like they're just doing sad/not-so-good impressions of Them. Even David Tennant and his adorable Scottish accent is still like, "ya well Ken is so good tho" OH IDEA HOW ABOUT A SLASH FIC VERSION OF TWO BENEDICKS: KENNETH AND DAVID - WE CAN CALL IT "MUCH ADO ABOUT NOSLASH" Oooh that'd be good.
Anyway, compare:
- David Tennant and Catherine Tate - such a great duo, both of them so good too, in this scene: "Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while?"
- Now compare the 1993 version of the same scene
I mean, it's like, David Tennant and Catherine Tate are good - great, even - but Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are PERFECT. They are the Platonic ideal of PERFECT SHAKESPEARE. And this BBC radio version, alas, does not have Catherine Tate. So it's just - okay-to-good.
Anyway, this all reminded me of Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom, which I read in high school and deeply informed my understanding of this play, namely:
- That Benedick and Beatrice are actually old flames: Marry, once before he won it of me with false dice... etc etc
- That "nothing" was pronounced "no" "thing" and was slang for vagina!?
- That this play is about marital realism and how Benedick and Beatrice won't live "happily ever after", but that's fine.
Soooo. The one thing that kinda sucks about Much Ado is that I absorbed Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film version so completely - it is so baked into my cells now - that I cannot NOT hear Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard, Denzel Washington, and even KEANU in these roles. I realize, also, now, that the reason the 1993 movie version is so baked into my DNA is that that movie is like the Platonic ideal of a Shakespearean adaptation: it's peak Branagh, peak Emma Thompson, peak Tuscany, PEAK ALL OF THEM. They are perfect. And so every other version feels like they're just doing sad/not-so-good impressions of Them. Even David Tennant and his adorable Scottish accent is still like, "ya well Ken is so good tho" OH IDEA HOW ABOUT A SLASH FIC VERSION OF TWO BENEDICKS: KENNETH AND DAVID - WE CAN CALL IT "MUCH ADO ABOUT NOSLASH" Oooh that'd be good.
Anyway, compare:
- David Tennant and Catherine Tate - such a great duo, both of them so good too, in this scene: "Lady Beatrice, have you wept all this while?"
- Now compare the 1993 version of the same scene
I mean, it's like, David Tennant and Catherine Tate are good - great, even - but Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson are PERFECT. They are the Platonic ideal of PERFECT SHAKESPEARE. And this BBC radio version, alas, does not have Catherine Tate. So it's just - okay-to-good.
Anyway, this all reminded me of Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom, which I read in high school and deeply informed my understanding of this play, namely:
- That Benedick and Beatrice are actually old flames: Marry, once before he won it of me with false dice... etc etc
- That "nothing" was pronounced "no" "thing" and was slang for vagina!?
- That this play is about marital realism and how Benedick and Beatrice won't live "happily ever after", but that's fine.
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My second time in prison read, knocking around the first night centre table. Beggars can’t be and all that.
I think the comedies have to be seen staged rather than read to get the full value. It is quite funny, especially the opening asperity of Beatrice (slay). Didn’t shower in the 72 hour period around reading this.
I think the comedies have to be seen staged rather than read to get the full value. It is quite funny, especially the opening asperity of Beatrice (slay). Didn’t shower in the 72 hour period around reading this.