Much Ado About Nothing REVIEW
This afternoon I streamed Josie Rourke's "Much Ado About Nothing" (link below) because of its cast and energetic 2011 interpretation - and because I was totally procrastinating doing my laundry. Well, this is a luxury a quarantine affords an artist.
Josie Rourke's direction is inspired and inventive, provided you are open to modernized settings for Shakespeare and are willing to fan away the wafts of Mama Mia's Greek olive-oil drenched feta cheese. Oh...and by "modernization" I mean the puffy-shouldered 1980's alternating with 80's mod-revival: beat-boxes, fog machines, sunglasses, and so forth. I think she won me over by the end of the first act. Certainly our two headliners did. Benedict has always been a showy role that risks camping it up to the audience vs. monologuing to the gods. Both are called for in Much Ado, and both require a panache that relies as much on the actor's magnetism as the lines themselves. David Tennant, no one should be surprised, gets that balance right. As Beatrice, Catherine Tate is so monumentally talented that it's easy to drift into some alternate reality in which Shakespeare created the role of Beatrice specifically for Catherine. She's that good. After watching this I YouTubed the hell out of Catherine Tate and concluded she is inordinately excellent at every role she steps her feet into. Some actresses, like Judy Dench, like Catherine Tate, are just smiled on by heaven.
And that's the good stuff. Now let's switch to the fun stuff...
As always, during any and every Shakespeare production, my brain inevitably starts to segregate the actors who bring their own truth and instincts to their roles (at least a little). You know...the ones on stage who seem to be discovering moments in front of our eyes, absent of anticipation and telescoping. And then, way down at a more prominent lower level, wade those actors who seem to retreat to the safety of rather cartoonish recitations: the way-too exaggerated sarcasm, the unconvincing coyness, the all-too-deliberate look of interest that would be employed equally to news of the Holocaust and hearing a new recipe for lemon merengue pie. I think we all recognize that familiar feeling of impatience when actors of lesser competence open their mouths, for we're always miles ahead of their words - which are infused with no surprises. We secretly assume the exact same delivery was presented at very the first table read, right? And surprises, above all else, to me, keep Shakespeare percolating. This production of "Much Ado About Nothing" has its share of these lesser actors. Fortunately, this production disguises them with...um...sexiness - which is a marvelously appealing smoke screen. And, fortunately, the good in this production far outweighs the things that made me impatient.
The singular scene that riveted me the most was the one in which Beatrice and Benedick confess their love for each other and then plot to avenge. Watch Catherine Tate bounce like a pinball off the impacts of changing circumstances, words, and stakes. After all, this is the scene that travels from "I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest," to "Kill Claudio," all the while peppered with witty one-liners, a dash of slapstick, and, thanks to Catherine's instincts, a well-timed clearing of the throat that seemed to synthesize every ounce of Beatrice's conflict. Catherine's emotions seem so entirely spontaneous and fresh. I rewatched it four times in a row just for the pleasure of watching how, to me, Shakespeare should always be performed.
How do you feel about this production? How do you feel about the choice to bring it to the 1980's? How do you feel about acting in Shakespeare plays?
Daniel Tobias
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwy2a6ScZ-c&fbclid=IwAR1YWym9nPmvfmMH7idOn7GdrotBFtYKfE6bRPQ85xEtX8bbf-UBMlWY88w