New Love and New Hate

 
   New Love and New Hate

     In one scene Shakespeare treats his audience to both the confessions of love and the confessions of hate in the end of act 4 scene 1 lines 269-350 of his play Much Ado About Nothing. This play, and by extension this scene, has been performed and adapted many times over. Two of these adaptations that stand out are Shakespeare in the parks 2019 performance directed by Kenny Leon, and The Globe Theater's 2011 performance directed by Jeremy Herrin. Even though there are little to no changes from the original text both performances have their own take on the scene resulting in two different viewing experiences.

Herin 2011 stage and costumes from opening

    Starting from the broader visuals of the performances we can see a clear difference from the two. Leon chose for his Much Ado About Nothing to be set in modern Georgia with an all-black cast and costumes that reflect both of those aspects. The stage is reminiscent of a backyard which offers more of an environment to interact with. For example, in this scene starts with Beatrice sitting on a wall to lament her sorrows over her cousin's ruined reputation. In contrast, Herrin's performance is much more faithful as The Globe Theater prides itself on being as close to Shakespeare's original as they can get. Between the thrust stage and the period costumes the only thing they are missing is that women weren't allowed on stage in Shakespeare's time, which Herrin thankfully doesn't follow. At nothing but a glance you may think these are completely different plays despite both follow the original text quite closely. This flexibility to change time and place follows the universality of Shakespeare's plays, a large part of the reason these plays are still relevant today as they speak to universal human experiences.

    The words of the play are almost completely unchanged from the original Shakespeare in both performances. Herrin follows the lines with no change in this scene. Leon cuts lines 329-331 from Beatrice for the purpose of modernizing the play just a bit further as modern audiences may not grasp the meaning behind "Princes and counties! Surely a princely tes- / timony, a goodly count, Count Comfect, a sweet / gallant surely!" These lines are mostly puns off of the words count, account, good, and confectionaries which would not land with modern audiences without an explanation handy. Because of the emotionality of the scene the decision to cut these lines makes sense to avoid confusing the audience and drawing them out of the experience. 

Leon 2019 "Kill Claudio"

    A point of difference between Shakespeare, Leon, and Herrin is the delivery of the lines. In Shakespeare's written text it is very easy to let the characters engage in a very simple back and forth. There are plenty of punctuation to show pauses and breaks within the lines, but tone and mood can vary from reader to reader. Meanwhile performances can take this even further with exaggerated emotions and changing the timing of the delivery. This difference can be seen in Beatrice's line "Kill Claudio" (4.1.303). When reading the text, it can be read as a direct response to Benedick's question as a straight statement, this is just a fact of what Beatrice wants. In Leon's performance this line is delivered after a long pause in a whisper. Beatrice isn't just saying the line she is realizing that killing Claudio would restore Hero and honestly asking Benedick to do this for her. In Herrin's performance Beatrice fires back with the line immediately after Benedick asks what he can do followed by a pause filled with the audience's laughter. Beatrice says the line while her voice is tight with crying in a whine. She sounds like the request she is making truly is the extreme option which she only says to say the obvious but ridiculous answer even though she won't get it, which only strengthens Benedick's calm but confused refusal. It is comparable to when someone complains about poor work ethic and when asking for advice gets told to pay the employees better. These changes in delivery can change the way, not just the story, but the characters, are seen by the audience.

Herrin 2011 Benedick reacts to Beatrice's threats

    Beatrice and Benedick become three different people when these versions are placed side by side. Shakespeare's Beatrice and Benedick are witty with a flat almost sarcastic affect to them. This is caused by the reader being able to understand the underlying emotions, the jokes, and the ridiculousness of what is written but the dialogue coming across as two people speaking to each other in a normal tone of voice from the reader's inner voice. Leon's Beatrice is bold speaking out directly about who has wronged her and what he deserves. Her emotions go through a range of quiet sadness and love to the righteous anger shown best in the lines "O God, that I were a man! I would eat his / heart in the marketplace" (4.1.320-321). Benedick is much calmer than Beatrice with his lines being delivered in a sincere and soft voice. He is speaking as if no one else in the world matters other than Beatrice. In Herrin's performance Beatrice takes on an almost manic energy with fear and anger mixing as the intensity of her lines increases as they go from about to cry, to shouting and ranting as she paces around the stage. At the line quoted above Beatrice scares Benedick as she threatens Claudio. Benedick meanwhile is trying to be the voice of reason but failing and falling into the same energy as Beatrice as he shouts back at her to get her to calm down.

Leon 2019 Physical Expression of Love

    Shakespeare notoriously uses stage directions only when absolutely necessary. Because of this the majority of the blocking falls to the directors and actors to create on their own. The only real stage direction in this scene is Beatrice starting to leave before then continuing with her lines. Within the lines of the text there are some built in stage directions like Beatrice weeping at line 269 and Benedick kissing Beatrice's hand at line 347. This freedom of movement is another way to see how each performance interprets the characters. In Leon's performance Benedick comes into Beatrice's space to comfort her when she cries and to confess his love to her letting Benedick show the love he feels. When Beatrice attempts to leave Benedick follows her, and while he does reach for her arm, he doesn't physically stop her. This shows a gentleness as he doesn't want to hurt her as well as a kind of trust and care as he wants to continue the conversation to hear what she has to say and not dismiss her feelings. In Herrin's performance Benedick doesn't come into Beatrice's space until she tries to leave where he physically grabs her to stop her almost like he is trying to restrain her. Benedick forces Beatrice to continue the conversation with him as she grows even more manic pacing around the stage until he does finally calm her down before the end of the scene. This Benedick is more controlling of Beatrice while also not afraid to match her energy to do so. In both productions Beatrice paces as emotions rise which attracts the audience's attention to the emphasized emotions. In Leon this shows the righteous anger, while in Herrin this shows the manic fear and anger.
    When put together these elements create truly masterful performances. Leon brings forth an emotional range from his actors resulting in sincere confessions of love, pain and sorrow toward Hero's circumstance, and an all-consuming rage toward the offending Claudio from Beatrice all while Benedick tries listens to his Beatrice to see her pain and doing what he can for her. Herrin allows his Beatrice to express the fear and anger in a fast-paced rant as though the emotion has taken hold which Benedick tries to calm his love as the voice of reason, and eventually only does so when he matches her energy and shouts at her in response. Leon leans into the audiences drive for justice while Herrin leans into the comedic nature of the play. Both adaptations are loyal to Shakespeare's written text while adding to it to create new and rich experiences. Many adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing have been made and many more will be made. They all deserve to be viewed in their own right as they don't take away from the original, they add.