Much Ado About Nothing with CT & DT
OK. I promised anna_sg1 a long, squee-filled post after I saw Much Ado About Nothing with Catherine Tate and David Tennant.
OMG! OMG! OMG! IT WAS COMPLETELY BRILLIANT! IF I DIED RIGHT NOW I WOULD DIE HAPPY. MY LIFE IS NOW COMPLETE.
*ahem*
Catherine Tate and David Tennant were amazing as Beatrice and Benedick - but then would anyone expect them to be otherwise? Come to that, can you imagine a better combination to fill those two roles? Hysterical from start to finish, but still able to pull off the (admittedly few) dramatic scenes required of their characters as well. I cannot gush about them enough and I could go through the entire play and point out every part of their performance, but it woud just amount to me going. That part was brilliant, I loved it, constantly. However there were a couple of stand out parts:
I am still laughing at the memory of the scenes where they 'overhear' their family and friends discussing how much the other is 'in love' with them. It ended with Benedick covered in paint and Beatrice stuck floating above the stage trying to get back down to the ground in their determination not to be caught eavesdropping.
And then there was the scene where the Prince proposed to Beatrice and she laughed at him, offending him, and then had to work to try and smooth over the ruffled feathers she caused. CT really is a very talented comedian.
Tom Bateman (Claudio) and Sarah Macrae (Hero) did a marvellous job. As did the rest of the cast, though I did particularly enjoy those two roles.
The production was set in 1980s, which worked very well, right down to Hero's Diana-esque wedding dress.
One thing I found very interesting was the choice to eliminate Antonio in favour of Innogen (Leonato's wife). However, it worked really well in the scenes with Claudio denouncing Hero and the confrontation between Leonato&AntonioInnogen and Claudio&Don Pedro afterwards. In the former, even without lines, Anna Farnworth (Innogen) showed the full horror of that scene while all the others involved were shouting and ranting and jumping about the stage, she was frozen unable to act. In the latter, she was furious, drunk and confrontational - every bit as angry and serious as Leonato or Benedick.
A couple of very minor downsides:
*Some members of the audience laughed at the 'Kill Claudio' line, and maybe its just me, but I've always found that line to be serious - not to mention one of the heaviest in the play. It just irriated me.
*The Dogberry scenes fell a little flat. Next to the rest of the play, they just weren't as funny as they were meant to be. Except for the repeated line of 'I am an Ass!'
But that was all. I could keep seeing the whole thing again. And again. And again.
And again.
Apparently I woke up this morning, completely unable to spell. Hopefully I managed to catch most of it.
OMG! OMG! OMG! IT WAS COMPLETELY BRILLIANT! IF I DIED RIGHT NOW I WOULD DIE HAPPY. MY LIFE IS NOW COMPLETE.
*ahem*
Catherine Tate and David Tennant were amazing as Beatrice and Benedick - but then would anyone expect them to be otherwise? Come to that, can you imagine a better combination to fill those two roles? Hysterical from start to finish, but still able to pull off the (admittedly few) dramatic scenes required of their characters as well. I cannot gush about them enough and I could go through the entire play and point out every part of their performance, but it woud just amount to me going. That part was brilliant, I loved it, constantly. However there were a couple of stand out parts:
I am still laughing at the memory of the scenes where they 'overhear' their family and friends discussing how much the other is 'in love' with them. It ended with Benedick covered in paint and Beatrice stuck floating above the stage trying to get back down to the ground in their determination not to be caught eavesdropping.
And then there was the scene where the Prince proposed to Beatrice and she laughed at him, offending him, and then had to work to try and smooth over the ruffled feathers she caused. CT really is a very talented comedian.
Tom Bateman (Claudio) and Sarah Macrae (Hero) did a marvellous job. As did the rest of the cast, though I did particularly enjoy those two roles.
The production was set in 1980s, which worked very well, right down to Hero's Diana-esque wedding dress.
One thing I found very interesting was the choice to eliminate Antonio in favour of Innogen (Leonato's wife). However, it worked really well in the scenes with Claudio denouncing Hero and the confrontation between Leonato&AntonioInnogen and Claudio&Don Pedro afterwards. In the former, even without lines, Anna Farnworth (Innogen) showed the full horror of that scene while all the others involved were shouting and ranting and jumping about the stage, she was frozen unable to act. In the latter, she was furious, drunk and confrontational - every bit as angry and serious as Leonato or Benedick.
A couple of very minor downsides:
*Some members of the audience laughed at the 'Kill Claudio' line, and maybe its just me, but I've always found that line to be serious - not to mention one of the heaviest in the play. It just irriated me.
*The Dogberry scenes fell a little flat. Next to the rest of the play, they just weren't as funny as they were meant to be. Except for the repeated line of 'I am an Ass!'
But that was all. I could keep seeing the whole thing again. And again. And again.
And again.
Apparently I woke up this morning, completely unable to spell. Hopefully I managed to catch most of it.