"When I said I'd die a bachelor, I just didn't realize I'd live this long."
I just recently enjoyed Shakespeare Retold's rendition of "Much Ado About Nothing," and not just because Billie Piper played Hero.
I only first saw Much Ado this summer, and had never read it. Which is kind of sad, because it very much hits my favorite kind of romance: the kind where the two main characters hate each other and bicker constantly only to realize that they're feeling an alternative strong emotion towards each other. (And I'm now wondering if some of that stems from Han & Leia being my favorite romantic relationship in my formative years.)
Anyway, the modern retelling of this play is set around a news station. The setting isn't actually all that important to the plot (since the plot is still Much Ado, for the most part), but it does make for some amusing moments between co-anchors Beatrice and Benedict moments. It also allows for some of the "overheard" bits to make more sense than they might otherwise.
But for me what makes or breaks a show is its characters/actors. And here, the whole cast was very strong, not just Billie Piper being her awesome self (and making me actually making me care about the character Hero). Sarah Parish and Damian Lewis are excellent bickering partners Beatrice and Benedick. Leonard, Hero's father and the head of the broadcast station, is played by Martin Jarvis, who reads the audiobook version of Good Omen's I'm currently in the middle of reading/listening, so that was sort of amusing to me. I also loved Nina Sosanya's character of Margaret. I guess the one main character I didn't feel anything strongly about was Claudio--I just never cared for his character, and while I'm sure Tom Ellis did a fine job, the retelling did not do anything significant to make him any more likable to me. (Though I do like his and Hero's ending here better than the play, I'm not going to spoil it by saying what it was.)
As for Don, though: in this version, he actually had a reason to plot against Hero and Claudio's marriage, in that he was in love with her. He was still a total ass, but played by Derek Riddell, he kept reminding me of a strange combination of David Hewlett and Paul McGillion, and just looking like Sad!RodneyMcKay all the time, that I couldn't help feeling just a little sorry for him anyway.
To sum up: It was a lovely and enjoyable version of Much Ado About Nothing, and I would definitely recommend it. Not quite on the level of OMG DAVID TENNANT HAMLET WAS AMAZING, but most certainly worth a watch.
I only first saw Much Ado this summer, and had never read it. Which is kind of sad, because it very much hits my favorite kind of romance: the kind where the two main characters hate each other and bicker constantly only to realize that they're feeling an alternative strong emotion towards each other. (And I'm now wondering if some of that stems from Han & Leia being my favorite romantic relationship in my formative years.)
Anyway, the modern retelling of this play is set around a news station. The setting isn't actually all that important to the plot (since the plot is still Much Ado, for the most part), but it does make for some amusing moments between co-anchors Beatrice and Benedict moments. It also allows for some of the "overheard" bits to make more sense than they might otherwise.
But for me what makes or breaks a show is its characters/actors. And here, the whole cast was very strong, not just Billie Piper being her awesome self (and making me actually making me care about the character Hero). Sarah Parish and Damian Lewis are excellent bickering partners Beatrice and Benedick. Leonard, Hero's father and the head of the broadcast station, is played by Martin Jarvis, who reads the audiobook version of Good Omen's I'm currently in the middle of reading/listening, so that was sort of amusing to me. I also loved Nina Sosanya's character of Margaret. I guess the one main character I didn't feel anything strongly about was Claudio--I just never cared for his character, and while I'm sure Tom Ellis did a fine job, the retelling did not do anything significant to make him any more likable to me. (Though I do like his and Hero's ending here better than the play, I'm not going to spoil it by saying what it was.)
As for Don, though: in this version, he actually had a reason to plot against Hero and Claudio's marriage, in that he was in love with her. He was still a total ass, but played by Derek Riddell, he kept reminding me of a strange combination of David Hewlett and Paul McGillion, and just looking like Sad!RodneyMcKay all the time, that I couldn't help feeling just a little sorry for him anyway.
To sum up: It was a lovely and enjoyable version of Much Ado About Nothing, and I would definitely recommend it. Not quite on the level of OMG DAVID TENNANT HAMLET WAS AMAZING, but most certainly worth a watch.