Much ado about nothing

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

 

By Olga Goncharova, 10 A

"Much Ado About Nothing" - a play by English writer William Shakespeare, one of the most famous comedies of the author. The first part of this piece was born in 1600 and the play made its debut in the autumn or winter of 1598–1599. Title of the play comes from a famous saying that "a lot of fuss about nothing."

Genre:

 

The play is one of the few in the Shakespeare career where the majority of the text is written in prose. The plot has two classic Shakespearean tip offs that this play is probably a comedy: nobody dies, and there are some marriages. Also a good sign that we’re dealing with a comedy: the play is funny. There’s probably a temptation to call the play a romance, because the play is technically centered on love, but really, the love is more funny than romantic.

  
Scene

 

Much Ado About Nothing is set in Messina, a port on the island of Sicily, which is next to the toe of Italy. The action of the play takes place mainly at the home and on the grounds of Leonato's Estate.

Characters

 

• Don Pedro - Prince of Aragon  
  

A kind, good Prince who helps Claudio win Hero. It was very common for the superiors of that time to find suitable wives for their men. He later helps Claudio disgrace Hero when he believes that she is unfaithful and he also tricks Benedick and Beatrice to fall in love.

• Don Juan - his brother 
  

• Leonato - governor of Messina

Leonato, governor of Messina: Is Hero's father. He is ready to kill her himself when he believes she has dishonored him, but when he starts to believe her innocence, is ready to turn and kill Claudio instead.

• Benedict

Benedict, of Padua; companion of Don Pedro: A sarcastic, witty bachelor who swears he will never marry, he later falls in love with Beatrice when he is tricked into believing that she loves him. He is said to be very good in battle and there is hinting at a past relationship with Beatrice, though they do nothing but fight when the story opens.

• Claudio - a young nobleman of Florence 
  

• Beatrice - the niece of Leonato  
  

• Hero - Leonato's daughter 
  

•    Antonio - Leonato's brother 
  

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero.

 

Benedick and Beatrice are engaged in a very "merry war"; they are both very glib and proclaim their scorn for love, marriage, and each other. In contrast, Claudio and Hero are sweet young people who are rendered practically speechless by their love for one another. By means of "noting" (which sounds the same as "nothing," and which is gossip, rumour, and overhearing), Benedick and Beatrice are tricked into confessing their love for each other, and Claudio is tricked into rejecting Hero at the altar. However, Dogberry, a Constable who is a master of malapropisms, discovers the evil trickery of the villain, Don John. In the end, Don John runs away and everyone else joins in a dance celebrating the marriages of the two couples.

On stage

    1765 David Garrick played Benedict.

    1930 John Gielgud played Benedict for the first time at the Old Vic Theatre and it stayed in his repertory until 1959.

    1960 Tony Award Nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Margaret Leighton

    1973 Tony Award Nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play: Barnard Hughes as Dogberry in the New York Shakespeare Festival production

    1983 Evening Standard Award: Best Actor: Derek Jacobi

    1985 Tony Award Nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play: Sinéad Cusack

    1985 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play: Derek Jacobi as Benedict

    1989 Evening Standard Award: Best Actress: Felicity Kendal as Beatrice in Elijah Moshinsky's production at the Strand Theatre

    1994 Laurence Olivier Award: Best Actor: Mark Rylance as Benedict in Matthew Warchus' production at the Queen's Theatre

    2006 Laurence Olivier Award: Best Actress: Tamsin Greig as Beatrice in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, directed by Marianne Elliott

    2007 Zoë  Wanamaker as Beatrice and Simon Russell Beale as Benedict in a National Theatre production directed by Nicholas Hytner

  2011 Eve Best as Beatrice and Charles Edwards as Benedict at Shakespeare's Globe, directed by Jeremy Herrin

 

Television

 

There have been several screen adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing, and almost all of them have been made for television. In 2005 the BBC adapted the story by setting it in the modern-day studios of Wessex Tonight, a fictional regional news programme.

Film

The first cinematic version in English may have been the 1913 silent film directed by Phillips Smalley.

 

The 1984 BBC Television version

 

The first sound version in English released to cinemas was the highly acclaimed 1993 film by Kenneth Branagh.

The 2001 Hindi film Dil Chahta Hai is a loose adaptation of the play.

In October 2011, Joss Whedon announced a film called Much Ado About