i was looking forward to reading "much ado" because the flavorpill team, well maybe just the writer of that post, cited it as their favorite shakespeare play. but then it turned out to be much ado about nothing.
so the plot is quite simple but also pointless and sadly the result of a bitter man, don john, who hates his brother, don pedro and is jealous of claudio. actually i found this amazing reviewer on goodreads that does abridged version of shakespeare plays. i will link it here. hilarious, right? but seriously that is all there is to the play. a bunch of pointless deceit and lies and in the end, everyone is in love and there is a double wedding! and seriously the whole mask wearing at the wedding? i know it makes everything come full circle but it was so silly.
i think the issue i had was that there was too much dialogue and so many character, it was difficult to keep everything straight. plus everyone was way too witty, i consider myself quick-witted, but given that the play is over 400 year old, most of that wit went over my head. i mean i didn't even bother with the banter between the watch, it just didn't seem worth the effort to read sparknotes to understand jokes that probably would not make me laugh.
i did enjoy the exchanges between beatrice and benedick. i even had a crush in my early twenties that started off like theirs. a co-worker and i used to always tease each other in a non-flirty way, and our other co-workers started to question if we liked each other. i actually hadn't thought of him in that manner until everyone started to say things and then oddly enough a crush did develop. and no we did not end up married.
and i know as a girl, i should have been a huge fan of beatrice but i didn't fall in love with her. i loved how sharp-tongued she was and gave it to benedick. but after a while i got tired of her oh-i-don't-want-to-be-married-but-secretly-do. maybe her bemoaning of never bemoaning about marriage, just hit too close to home for me. i mean she said something that i would totally say esp after attending my friend mona's wedding:
"this goes everyone to the world [of marriage] but i, and i am sunburnt. i may sit in a corner as cry "heigh-ho for a husband."
spot on me, down to the idea thinking tanned me is ugly. lol. i know she is this great shakespeare female character but she didn't wow me. i think if i saw her in action aka in play and not on paper, i would have adored her. i think an actress needed to add the sass needed her to be read. my mind just read and didn't act.
i don't want to have much more to ado with this play so will wrap up with some random final thoughts:
-wow! way to go friar! for seeing the truth in hero's soul! and coming up with that plan! so clever.
-how was margaret not fired for getting it on in hero's bedroom?!?!
-seriously were identities that well hidden at the party?
-why was everyone willing to trust don john? and what was his problem?!?!
-did anyone find it awkward how willing claudio was so quick to marry hero's lookalike cousin?!?
-also does the phrase "catch my drift" have shakespearen origins? don pedro said "go in with me, and i will tell you my drift." (his drift is the plan to get beatrice and benedick together)
maybe i am have been too harsh, i think "much ado about nothing" needs to be experience as it was intended as a play versus a book. so i will see it before i make a final judgement. also there is a movie version coming out or maybe it out so will try to see it. and one last random fact, keanu reeves played in don john in a 90's film version. imagine that!
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