Much Ado About Nothing

Hello everyone!

Today was our first official day with our study abroad program. After a nice Welcome dinner last night, we all got up quite early this morning for our first class. Professor Collins also recruited another Shakespeare professor from UC Berkeley to join us on the trip. Between the two, we have two immensely knowledgeable and dedicated Shakespeare geniuses. In class, we talked about the structure of comedy in a way that I had never really thought about it before. The main idea is that all comedies are structured the same! Everyone realizes it but never really thinks about it.
The main components of comedy are:
1. Boy meets girl
2. Boy loses girl
3. Boy gets girl back

Professor Collins alluded this idea to Notting Hill and Pretty Woman as examples of stories that are structurally written the same. Each of the stories end with the two couples coming together, yet they deliver the ending in a hilarious and witty fashion.

Tonight, we saw Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndam Theatre near Covent Garden. The performance was quite enjoyable as the actors delivered a hilarious performance that left the audience guessing throughout the majority of the play. While the acting was first class, I had a couple issues with the delivery. First off, the play was far too sexual for my taste. The scene where Claudio sees what he believes to be Hero's infidelity, was quite awkward to watch on stage and I felt it unnecessary. Additionally, while I bought David Tennant's performance as Benedick, Catherine Tate misses her portrayal of Beatrice, even if ever so slightly. Their witty banter is supposed to bring them together at the end, which it does. However, instead of being funny, she sounded downright rude at times. I had a hard time buying that she falls desperately in love with Benedick. However, her acting remains consistent with the pace of the play. Overall, an enjoyable experience that I will remember. Tomorrow, we tour the Globe!!!!

AL