#much ado about nothing – @heliophile-oxon on Tumblr

so many things try to emulate the Beatrice/Benedick relationship and so few of them get it right bc they’re like ‘oh it’s about the banter’ and YES, obviously, but if you make it JUST about the banter you’re going to fail! it’s about the RESPECT!!! it’s about the scene after Hero’s shaming where Benedick drops the banter entirely and sits there with Beatrice as she rages and weeps and then chooses to side with HER instead of the boy’s club that he’s been hanging out with for the entire play, both because he loves her and because she’s RIGHT!

like, it’s not some impulsive thing to make her like him, and it’s not just talk; he asks her if she’s sure and then he agrees and then he remains cold and determined when he meets Claudio and Don Pedro and they try to get him to joke around with them like old times. i think that’s one of the things that gets me the most; that there’s a scene that you half-expect to fall into that same sort of joking, where Claudio and Don Pedro are specifically like, “Huh, we inexplicably feel kind of sad after ruining this woman’s life and reputation, I bet Benedick will cheer us up!” and he just. utterly refuses to engage. and it’s so powerful and it’s such a tonal shift and such a strong indication of just how much he loves and values Beatrice and!! anything that gets the banter but doesn’t get that completely fails to understand their relationship! THB!!

#much ado about nothing

heliophile-oxon reblogged

elodieunderglass

crowleybrekkers

Much Ado About Nothing - 2011, David Tennant and Catherine Tate : William Shakespeare : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Arch

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, recorded live at the Wyndham's Theater in London,

Internet Archive

MAAN 2011 FOR MY FELLOW PEOPLE WHO ARE DEPRESSED ABOUT IT GETTING PRIVATED ON YOUTUBE

#Much Ado About Nothing

heliophile-oxon reblogged

datsderbunnyblog

sonseulsoleil

anyways the version of much ado about nothing starring catherine tate and david tennant as beatrice and benedick is a Classic. david tennant’s benedick is FULL chaotic dumbass, and catherine tate’s beatrice is past being full of rage and is completely done with everyone from the very beginning. plus, they just work off each other so well.

not to mention the costumes and props. benedick in drag? BENEDICK IN JORTS AND A SUPERMAN SHIRT? beatrice wearing a suit? beatrice swaggering around with a beer in her hand, while benedick sips on pink, fruity cocktails? benedick writing his love song to beatrice on one of those stupid little electric keyboards? unparalleled artistry.

carbonmonoxidepoisoning

nothing makes me happier than this moment

sonseulsoleil

oh absolutely ICONIC. and the fact that he gives his whole monologue after whilst covered in paint. “love me? [beat, looks down at his paint covered self] why?” truly how shakespeare intended it

I also love this. what a way to kick things off.

[Image Descriptions: Three images of David Tennant as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. Two gifs of him wearing cut-off jean shorts and a superman shirt, smearing paint all over his chest and face. One still image of him sitting in a golf cart covered in union jacks with his feet up on the steering wheel, sort of hanging off the thing. He’s wearing a military uniform. This is Benedick’s entrance in the play. End description.]

thewollfgang

#anyone got a link?

Part One

Part Two

Enjoy!

Links broken here’s another

https://youtu.be/Cwy2a6ScZ-c

#Much Ado About Nothing #Much Ado About Nothing with Catherine Tate and David Tennant

heliophile-oxon reblogged

solalasoforth

goosewithajob

If anyone tries to tell you that Shakespeare is stuffy or boring or highbrow, just remember that the word “nothing” was used in Elizabethan era slang as a euphemism for “vagina”.

Shakespeare has a play called “Much Ado About Nothing”, which you could basically read in modern slang as “Freaking Out Over Pussy”. And that’s pretty much exactly what happens in the play.

kiralamouse

It’s also a pun with a third meaning. There’s the sex sense of much ado about “nothing”, there’s the obvious sense that people today see, and then there’s the fact that in Shakespeare’s day, “nothing” was pronounced pretty much the same as “noting”, which was a term used for gossip. So, “Flamewar Over Rumors” works as a title interpretation, too.

The reason we call Shakespeare a genius is that he can make a pussy joke in the same exact words he uses to make biting social commentary about letting unverified gossip take over the discourse.

ms-demeanor

Hey, hey, hey, you’re forgetting the fourth thing, that noting (again, pronounced note-ing) was a pun on music NOTES and that’s why there’s a shitload of singing and dancing and puns about singing and dancing because Much Ado About Noting is basically Freaking Out Over Pussy The Musical: Gossip Making a Mountain out of a Molehill.