Love & Mend: Much Ado About Nothing

[@evenif7431]

Benedict believing Beatrice against his male friends and turning against them is the most romantic thing ever

[@90charmedndangerous]

That is what really made me fall for the character (i mean the humour too but..) its partly why ben and bea are one of if not the best couples of all time.

[@themisheika]

Isn't it so deliciously ironic that the most outwardly misogynistic man proves himself the most feminist and the supposedly gallant, gentlemanly bridegroom the one who internalized his misogyny?

[@singingstar999]

this fact is probably why it's my favourite Shakespeare play. Benedict is a hero I can wholeheartedly root for.

[@cynda6116]

my theatre company did a production of much ado where the watch were adapted to be very capable girl scouts rather than bumbling old men. instead of the arrest being funny because the watch are idiots, it was funny because a group of small children absolutely clobbered a couple of grown men. it was a hit and definitely made those scenes much less frustrating.

[@LuckyLiegeLady246]

That sounds amazing! Wish I could have seen it

[@elenafriese891]

I know one my cousin was in largely just had fun with the physical comedy? (Err, said cousin is a beanpole with a talent for physical comedy surrounded by normal sized people) But yeah, that does sound _much_ more fun

[@grainneocruhuir6383]

This is the best thing I’ve ever heard

[@mayas3422]

that sounds so cute and also like it agrees thematically with the theme of not listening to women!

[@mystery1317]

Wait, I actually love this take 😂

[@JacobTCannon]

can’t get over how all the crossdressing in Shakespeare are essentially meta jokes that lost their context: all actors were men at the time, so the women dressing as men were, plainly to the audience, men dressing as women dressing as men

[@C19520]

My college put on a production of Twelfth Night with a cast of only women, which made the crossdressing jokes land for a similar reason but in a sort of reversed way from how they would've originally been meant. It was absolutely fascinating to watch and I think about it frequently

[@kgallchobhair]

all of which is now illegal in several states :/

[@emmawalter5433]

So they were actually femboys dressed as twinks instead of studs acting like twink.

[@beckycegg9767]

My favourite theory is that the Friar from Romeo and Juliet is the same one from Much Ado About Nothing: either he'd seen how well the plan worked with Hero and Claudio and decided to do it again OR if you put Romeo and Juliet first he was so determined that the plan of pretending a woman was dead would work that he did it again even though it ended in tragedy last time.

[@joslyntheneutralbard1878]

What if instead, it was Shakespeare trying to make a statement on how the church profits from death and marriage alike and so capitalizes on both of them. "Hey you know what would be great?! If You pretended she died, had a funeral I could minister at, then when he's learned his lesson come back here and marry them both again. 😅

[@pearlearplugs]

THE DAVID AND CATHERINE STAGE VERSION IS SO GOOD I CAN NOT SCREAM ABOUT IT ENOUGH

[@batfurs3001]

They have SUCH GOOD stage/screen chemistry it's actually insane. I'm still foaming at the mouth that Donna only got one season of Who. I hope they do more stuff together in the future!!

[@devinlockhart9263]

What play is it, I'm gonna have to find it and watch it

[@CortexNewsService]

@@GiddyLillies IT'S ON KZbin?!?!?!

[@SpiderTNT.]

@@GiddyLillies ur a saviour

[@courtneym75]

Have you listened to the BBC audio production with Tennant? It's one of my favorites! Catherine Tate isn't in that one, but I honestly like it better than the version you're talking about (by like.. a TEEEENY tiny margin). I think because they cannot rely on the visuals and body language, they have to REALLY get it across to the audience verbally. There's nothing like hearing Tennant utterly *sneer* "What, my dear lady disdain? Are *you* yet living?"

[@EthalaRide]

27:31 I love love LOVE how they make the spit-take Benedict accidentally sprays into the PRINCE'S FACE _" huuuuh, Was that raiiiiiiin??"_ The stupider and more outrageously obvious Benedict's reactions are, the more clever the trio has to be to willfully excuse them. BRILLIANT.

[@jessicamarshall1975]

Another thing about Act 4, Scene 1 (aka the wedding scene) is that Benedict is the only male character (beside the Friar) to not jump straight to believing the accusations levelled against Hero. That was the part where I actively started liking Benedict. Edit: Yeah I never got why Claudio was forgiven so easily forgiven. Or why he believed Don John when he’d just been at war with him.

[@calicojacque]

Beatrice's 'Were I a man?' speech was very formative for me. I think that was when I resolved to eat the hearts of anyone who treated my loved ones wrong in the marketplace. Never looked back!

[@michaelawiseman7320]

I actually decided to rewatch this vid today because I honestly had that feeling today.

[@GingerPiper81]

shout-out to the editing of this, the switching between adaptations for any of the dialogue bits was absolutely chef-kiss perfect, 10/10 no notes, your effort is seen and appreciated (and obvi I love the whole video, I love this play, I appreciated seeing someone nerd out about the thing I like to nerd about, but like, that editing though

[@evelynstarshine8561]

There was a comment on twitter, years ago, about the harm done in indigenous students by teaching them in school that Shakespeare is the greatest author to have ever been and no writings can compare to his, english plays by an english writer. Upholding the supremacy as english as a better language. I don't even remember who said it or the context, but it's been in my head ever since.

[@gota7738]

Am Welsh so not usually classed as indigenous but still with minority language, and I've felt odd about Shakespeare worship ever since I got into an argument with an English person over the Welsh language who amongst other things, pointed to Shakespeare and his fame as a sign of English's superiority and Welsh's inferiority. It was only the English language who could produce Shakespeare while no other culture came close in a writer so globally beloved. When I bought up Dafydd Ap Gwilym they dismissed it since no one knew about him, as if it's just by pure quality alone that Shakespeare's works have spread so far and everyone picked up English because it was just such a good language. He's certainly fantastic but his recognition didn't spread in a vacuum.

[@malcolmohair5565]

I mean to be fair, that far from the worst action taken by indigenous schools.

[@HBoyle]

Damn that's good

[@etherealtb6021]

But then so many cultures and languages who make Shakespeare their own!

[@ButIamAStick]

​@@gota7738Its so funny for that person to say that knowing that Don Quixote is literally the one of (if not the first) best selling novel in the world and Cervantes and Shakespeare were contemporary. Or the extraordinary work of native poets and writers in less expanded languages as you well said, that are as important if not more for scientists to exist, and for the local construction of an identity and culture.

[@queerslandaustralia7880]

I greatly appreciate your Shylock tangent. As an Ashkanazi Jew who is decended from converts to christianity it has been well documented in my family that we only largely escaped the worst anti semitism due to that conversion and continued faith. So much so that so few parts of my culture remained time I was born and effectively have been colonised by the nations we lived in since. To see what it was like back then hurts and what was sacrificed to survive is shocking.

[@KosherCookery]

You want to draw colonial parallels, they've been their the whole time. Compare the theft of native children by american social workers to the orphans decree that allowed Yemen to kidnap Jewish children away from their families.

[@RetnabBanter]

My favourite "if you don't get a Shakespeare line it's either a crotch or fart joke" line is "hoist with his own pitards", which apparently actually refers to farting so powerfully that it actually pushes you into the air lmao

[@Helgatwb]

No, a petard was a homemade bomb, basically an IED. "Hoist with his own petard" means "unintentionally blown up by his own bomb," literally. It is linguistically very close to "backfired" as a way of saying something went wrong. Figuratively, it means "he had a plan to hurt someone else, but because of poor execution, he has hurt himself, instead."

[@maddiedoesntkno]

@@Helgatwbdon’t you see how that could be….a fart joke?

[@Helgatwb]

@@maddiedoesntkno yes, it could be a fart joke, but my point is that it is more than a fart joke. It did not start out as a fart joke.

[@maddiedoesntkno]

@@Helgatwb this is like if, in five hundred years of the language advancing someone finds a reference to a Dutch oven re:farts and insists it’s not a fart joke because Dutch ovens are real things for cooking, look look, they used to put them in the coals of fires and in real ovens and cooked inside them to get even distribution of heat, and why ruin the purity of the joke when it was obviously something else, clearly this line _began_ as a line about a cooking tool in the 2000s and it was perverted over the years somehow. Like double meanings are _why we find these things funny_ most of the time. That’s how they became a joke in the first place.

[@Helgatwb]

@@maddiedoesntkno yeah, I'm that annoying one at the party going, well, actually...

[@MrPiccoloku]

"If you don't understand a line in Shakespeare there's a 50% chance that it's a dick joke" I'm just keeping this one for later

[@gemmapaterson53]

finished this and literally straight away started watching the Tate/Tennant version ❤️

[@rochellerodriguez6431]

"I love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?" is one of my favorite lines ever and I think of it often. Thank you for blessing us with this treat ^_^

[@Blaed13]

'Life is short and regret is long.' a great quote capping off another stellar video. i particularly enjoyed your reading of the shylock monologue. one of the most empathizing things the bard ever wrote. also, your seamless blending of the different versions of this play was so fun.

[@humzter452]

I starred as Benedick in our schools production and I loved playing him so much. He is such a great character to play, so sharp and yet so dull.

[@gabebe4900]

This video is such a visual treat with all the different imaginings of the plays highlighting how fun and versatile the show can/has been. I particularly love the editing of the different iterations of characters speaking to one another. Something something art as immortality, the characters loving one another across time and people and place something it's an old song but we're going to sing it again something something.

[@Kay-kg6ny]

Yes! The cutting between the different adaptations is so fun and tasty (and probably a TON of work, holy heck)

[@Oli.V]

Damn pulling Hadestown into this as well? Was it not incredible enough?

[@MyUnoriginalLife]

we did much ado as a western when i was in high school and it was glorious (Don Jon was a shady sheriff dressed in all black with the boots and hat and everything)

[@AnnTheAnonymous]

As another ashkenazi jew who loves shakespeare and especially much ado about nothing, I loved this whole video and the discussions surrounding antisemitism. I get really tired when people say "don't read this author because they're antisemitic" because like if I genuinely didn't read anything from anyone antisemitic I would have like three books to read maybe. I think discussion is so important, to delve into why these harmful ideas exist, how they were spread and made popular in the first place, to face that history head on instead of just sweeping it under the rug because it makes us uncomfortable.

[@rachelpalm7403]

Bravo to you! That is a wonderful stance to take. :)

[@pitchlag1502]

I have heard that Shakespere performances are a lot livelier and humorous than just the text, but these collages of scenes from different adaptations? Gold, I fully understand the appeal now and might need to go digging for some of those recordings

[@batfurs3001]

Look up the Catherine Tate/David Tennant one! They have fantastic chemistry and are hilarious together. It should be on youtube somewhere

[@hjeand]

I probably can’t count how many productions of Much Ado on film or stage I’ve seen in my life, I love it so much, but it always gets my hackles up when the audience reacts to Beatrice’s “kill Claudio” line by laughing. I want so badly for her to be taken seriously and for her pain to be recognized, that laughing seems so dismissive and belittling to her in that moment. But they way you highlight how much the scene does swing back and forth between the emotional highs and lows has helped my understanding a lot, and actually puts into context why an audience might have that reaction out of confusion. Up to that point Beatrice has mostly been glib and comic, so maybe it is natural after all that, like Benedick we go “lol, good one, Bea! …wait are you serious?”, in that moment. Fantastic essay as always! I’ll add my voice to praising the truly delightful way you edited each production to flow into each other. And the pathos you brought to Shylock’s monologue was breathtaking. Thank you!

[@habersmashery]

In the Tennant/Tate version Beatrice’s line ‘Kill Claudio’ is read and recorded very seriously. It’s funny up to that point, but the actors bring the tone down before she says the line, and you can FEEL the ripple of shock go through the audience.

[@constantchanger]

In live theater, never under-appreciate an audience's capacity for laughter as a coping strategy

[@rizahawkeyepierce1380]

Yeah, I've been in a few audiences where the audience laughs, but it's more out of discomfort or confusion than anything. It's a really strange experience.

[@stephysteph8558]

Now I'm wondering if the scene was supposed to be partly comic? Because her speech turns out to be a massive overreaction later. No one has to die here, and that's not even what Hero wants.

[@themisheika]

@@stephysteph8558 What the fuck? There was NO overreaction. Claudio was perfectly happy to kill Hero's reputation based on a well-known villain's say so (and in those days, it meant that Hero would never be able to marry, would probably be forced into a nunnery if she wasn't outright honor killed by her father). His misogyny was so internalized he believed a male villain over his virtuous, obedient intended wife. He did not try to sort out the situation with Hero before the wedding, or talk to her father on the side, he just straight up publicly accused her knowing full well what the consequences would be for Hero. Beatrice was right before and right after. FUCK CLAUDIO, and only the era the play was written in would make Hero marrying Claudio anyway a "happy" ending.

[@robotbirb7321]

My high school tried so hard to do MacBeth justice. They had us read aloud some scenes, and assigned groups in the class to act out pivotal scenes with costumes and sets. I was Lady MacBeth in the "out damned spot" scene lol. That was a teacher who tried her best.

[@sylviesuccubus8503]

My teacher had us all move our desks into a circle and then we’d vote on who’d get ‘cast’ to read each character for an act. Everyone got really into it. The best part is that said teacher had a well-known fear of spiders, and right before the scene with Banquo’s ghost, she SCREAMED, threw her book across the room, and apparently apparated out of the hook-around desk she was in (given that she was all of four feet and roughly circular), and burst into tears because ‘there was a spider in it!’ We all spent about fifteen minutes trying to find the damn thing before she started laughing and then said ‘So that’s how everyone except Macbeth feels in this scene, since they can’t see the ghost! Carry on!’ Woman COMMITTED

[@ajmalaika1287]

In my school we did it simltaneously in English and drama class so that helped. Also got to see it at the globe cause we're in London IT WAS FIRE!!

[@blacktigers98]

The David tenant Catherine Tate version was my first intro to this play, but after all ur clips, I can’t wait to eventually dive into a couple of the others! It’s such a fun play and you’ve given me a lot to think on as I watch each one again

[@thaisferreira9958]

In Brazil people who were cheated on are said to have grown horns, it's a whole thing, so maybe these jokes would land here! Great video as always!

[@gonzalo4722]

In spanish people that were cheated on are el cachudo, la cachuda. Or we say le pusieron los cachos. There are several songs like that.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Not just Brazil. That’s a common trope of European archetypal theater, such as in the Comedia dellarte.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Not just Brazil. That’s a common trope of European archetypal theater, such as in the Comedia dellarte.

[@tangally]

my first encounter with this play was a web series (not unlike the Lizzie Bennett Diaries) called Nothing Much to Do. It was pretty fun, plus it was made in New Zealand so they all have great accents

[@sarahgent2674]

I was already a fan of the play when I watched it but having a friend go in blind was really fun. They were like "is hero gonna be OK?" But yeah that show inspired my most used Internet screen name (apart from on KZbin unfortunately)

[@victoriaacrage6342]

Man I love Nothing Much to Do!

[@TheGirlWhoExists]

While not my first encounter, as a Kiwi who was in highschool at the time, NMTD was fairly formative. The songs are still some of my favourites.

[@kasperiankittredge7781]

Yes! I loved Nothing Much to Do- I especially loved the fact that Hero had some of the most lines in that version (compared to having some of the least in the Shakespeare plays), and the fact that (spoilers) Hero and Claudio don't get back together at the end; there is forgiveness, but in a much more realistic sorta way.

[@SwingingonSunshine]

"Macbeth does slap" YES! My class read Hamlet then Macbeth and my biggest issue with Hamlet is that he doesn't do anything so when we get to MacBeth and he kills the king in the first act I was like, Aha! See, Hamlet? This is how you make things happen!

[@MadameChristie]

I always found Hamley an irritating emo kid XD

[@bryonyon4452]

Istg it’s such a common experience to do the tragedies in school, be bored, and then experience one of the comedies in your own time and fall in love

[@ctuero]

i like the reading of Claudio and Benedick as foils; Claudio so eager to love and woo and marry but completely ignorant of what that truly means to dedicate onself to a woman and uphold her honor and fight for her and always be on her side, vs. Benedick who rails against marriage and holds up bachelorhood seemly because he DOES truly understand that it will mean "dying to oneself" and actually take work to honor and protect his loved ones, and once he admits to himself he is in love, and declares to Beatrice he is in love, he is ALL IN and willing to duel for the honor and defense of her (who will be his) family. Claudio was naive to what love and marriage would be, whereas perhaps Benedick always knew and so ran from it; but once they are both all in it seems Claudio looks for any excuse from men to run from his engangement whereas Benedick will break from his "sworn brothers" for his future wife instead. anyway. I LOVE HIM

[@elizabethdevido2081]

One of my favorite video essayists talking about my favorite Shakespeare comedy?? Featuring my favorite Shakespearean couple?? I’ve never clicked on a video faster.

[@Pratchettgaiman]

My understanding of Shylock's speech was somewhat changed by the chapter of Dara Horn's "People Love Dead Jews" wherein she tries to explain to her 10 year old son how the speech humanizes Shylock, only for her son to respond that it's just the kind of speech that a villain in a Marvel movie gives to explain how they've had a hard life too, and you're not supposed to fall for those. I like your interpretation better (and I suspect most post-Holocaust productions of Merchant try to lean into it to make the character more morally ambiguous and less of an antisemitic stereotype), but I suspect that Horn's son's interpretation might be closer to Shakespeare's original intent. Also, while many people focus on Shylock's lack of Christian mercy and/or greediness as examples of the play's antisemitism, as a Jewish person I find myself more disturbed that his forcible conversion to Christianity is portrayed as his being redeemed. If I ever wrote a sequel play, it would have Shylock (and maybe Jessica) having skipped town to Istanbul and becoming proudly and openly Jewish again (and maybe having gotten some vengeance on the rest of the cast, particularly Antonio and Portia, just sayin')

[@sylviesuccubus8503]

I don’t know about that, honestly. Marvel movies in particular that doesn’t ring true for-people try to justify the movies’ poor handling of the idea of a ‘sympathetic’ villain by saying you’re not supposed to believe the speeches, but then you watch interviews before any backlash or making of stuff and it’s very obvious that the writers fully buy in to, like, Thanos actually loving Gamora or some shit like that. The false sympathetic speech is fairly rare throughout all of fiction and given that Shylock is ‘redeemed’ via conversion at the end, I’d say odds are it was intended to be sincerely humanizing.

[@Wednesdaywoe1975]

Have you seen the version with Jeremy Irons and AL Pacino? Without changing the words, they give you a very different take on the play.

[@rizahawkeyepierce1380]

I don't know - Marvel movies may give the villain a sympathetic speech, but they don't usually go out of their way to show the heroes being cruel to the villain in the same way. Like Killmonger in Black Panther has some understandable beef, but the movie doesn't pit him against a racist white guy.

[@RLukeHaueter]

I actually played Claudio in a production of Much Ado, and I completely agree that his redemption within the show makes NO SENSE. He doesn't deserve the second chance he's given. Love the video!!!

[@miss_elaineous_]

This is tied with Midsummer for my favorite Shakespeare play just because of the sheer shenanigans in both, but both have their problems with one of the final couples being questionable. Claudio deserves loneliness, Demetrius ends up with a woman he was not originally in love with through fairy love nectar means. But I didn't fall in love with either completely until I saw productions in my early teens. Before that, I was an edgy monster who loved Titus Andronicus, which is genuinely the most disturbing thing William Shakespeare ever wrote and I'd like to find out what he was going through at that point. But seeing all of the examples of adaptations just brings me so much joy, because this play brings me joy. Every woman who plays Beatrice in this is so much funnier than they have any right to be. Thank you for doing this video. I'm also happy you spoke about the anti-Semitism in Shakespeare's works, because most versions of these plays erase it entirely or, in the case of Merchant, are all too happy to play it up.

[@PlanetBobstar]

I like to think that Willy meant to parody the revenge flicky gorefests at the time with Titus by just making the most extreme thing

[@miss_elaineous_]

@@PlanetBobstar I agree, it's so over the top that it's always bordered on that kind of ridiculous level of violence you get in some movies that makes you laugh instead? But it's like "Is it parody or is it emulation? Is it both?" I haven't read it in full since high school, so I need to revisit that. I had also watched the Julie Taymor adaptation when I was 14 and smoked Fantasia cigarettes for like 6 months after, so I don't think I took enough away from that experience either.

[@meraoddnish2206]

I don’t know if more Scandinavian countries do this but here in Iceland we didn’t learn anything about Shakespeare and when someone asked my teacher the answer was something along the lines “we don’t need to there is nothing for us to learn from him, we have our own poets and writers that are more important to us” so even when I got further into my English studies it wasn’t until my last mandatory class in college that we learned about him.

[@drawingsticks5333]

Same in Italy unless they are specifically teaching you English literature in high school. We got dozens of our own people that we can barely cover...

[@Pazliacci]

seeing "Merchant of Venice" in the spoiler section I knew which road we were going down and I am happy we went down this road cause I remember our English teacher completely overlooking that aspect of that play, which... how can you completely overlook THAT aspect of Merchant of Venice??

[@alisaurus4224]

Yes, like when she says her high school English teacher didn’t touch the race issue in Othello. HOW?

[@kseniav586]

lol so what did you discuss in class?? i can't imagine not talking about this unless the teacher was very intentionally avoiding it

[@Pazliacci]

@@kseniav586 IAMBIC PENTAMETER and PROSE and other stuff whatnot I can't remember-

[@kseniav586]

@@Pazliacci amazingly boring. i'm kind of glad we didn't study shakespeare at all because i probably would have hated his guts if taught this way))

[@wolfpackjew]

I saw Much Ado at the Globe in 2017. They set the play in Mexico, and the soldiers were returning from the Mexican-American War. All the characters were Mexican except for the watch, who were American, and instead of being a security unit were a documentary film crew. This of course made Americans the butt of the silliest jokes.

[@WindWalker666]

“No thoughts, heady empty” was just such a beautiful touch.

[@C19520]

Literally on the edge of tears that I can't drop everything and watch this immediately 😭😭 Much Ado is my FAVORITE play of all time, not just of Shakespeare's work, and with the way you handled the video essays about Sense8 and M*A*S*H I just know this will be exceptional too

[@TMWriting]

this is a genuinely strange reaction to have.

[@C19520]

@@TMWriting Ok and? I'm clinging to whatever small pleasures I can find just to survive life right now. Bite me ✌💚

[@Asummersdaydreamer14]

There is something so satisfying about seeing different productions of the same play edited together; reminds me of elementary/middle grade English when one does “popcorn” reading of the text handing it off like a race baton. Thank you for that extra effort on top of all your research. Also, though I have mostly read only his greatest hits plays, I would definitely give his more obscure or even the dreaded histories a go if they advertised their goofiness & dick jokes more. Immature humor can be timeless if done right lol

[@greeplurch]

I really do appreciate when you address antisemitism in videos. I grew up in a christian religion that often talks about having the birthright of Judaism and frequently tries to co-opt their suffering and pass it off as their own. (They even got in a world of legal trouble for trying to preform posthumous baptisms on holocaust victims but that's another story). Growing up I heard sanitized accounts of the suffering of Jews. It was flattened into "the world hated them because they were true believers" and completely ignored christianity's direct hand in atrocity. Your videos are not my only source of learning about antisemitism and trying to deconstruct how I was culturally taught to think about Jews, but I do appreciate the nuance and humanity you continually bring in educating audiences that will forever be 20 steps behind you in understanding. Great work as usual.

[@lillymsf5946]

My intro to Shakespeare was when i was about 9 or 10 i walked in the living room and saw my dad watching the BBC version of David Tennant's portrayal of Hamlet. It was the scene where he had realised Ophelia committed suicide, yelling and screaming in the graveyard after that famous skull monologue, and i asked him what he was watching and it was down the rabbit hole from there. Like you, upon first hearing iambic pentameter I watched it the whole time like "whaaaaa???" but my dad and i spent hours on end, watching and rewatching scenes with him teaching me all the common phrases and words they used - "I cannot give you a wholesome answer, my wit's diseased" aka "i can't answer properly, i'm crazy" - I've watched almost every portrayal i can think of from Kenneth Brannagh's to Laurence Olivier to even Ethan Hawke's modernised version and i'm always fascinated with how vastly different they are from one another. David Tennant is the best Hamlet in my opinion and i still watch the DVD with great nostalgia 😊 and now that i know it inside and out i can tell all my classmates that the Lion King is really Shakespeare in disguise lol

[@Serai3]

The little scene between Beatrice and Pedro in Branagh's film version is, to my ears, the most beautiful rendition of Shakespeare I've ever heard (and seen). Emma and Denzel play it so gently, so tenderly and quietly, that the soul of the words shines forth. Her little start and eyes widening when he proposes - it's such a real moment, and then she takes it as a joke, gently, so as not to wound him too much. And he gently falls in line and smiles a sad smile, knowing she would never have him because he is not the man she still loves. It's just so gorgeously done, with none of the bombast and overdone quality of so much of Branagh's work.

[@rebexquest]

This video is everything I could've hoped for- and I'm so, SO glad that of all the lines, of all the fantastic performances of this play, you edited in the tiny clip of Emma Thompson's "Kill Claudio." That film is the one our sophomore english teacher showed us, and her eyes in that moment have haunted me ever since. On top of everything else, every nuance you bring to essays (as always), this one might just be one of my favorites

[@asjacc4557]

Finally life doesn’t prevent me from catching a new video when it premiers

[@ctuero]

having finally watched 2011 Much Ado About Nothing because of David Tennant, ive fallen deep into a Shakespeare hyperfixation and your essay is FEEDING ME

[@LadyBravefalcon]

*chef's kiss* Perfection. The play AND the analysis. Shout-out to my 9th grade English teacher, who let us read MAAN instead of R+J and really did approach the text as a fun, comedic experience instead of a serious analytical one. (He called Beatrice "Beet rice" and thought greased-up, leather pants Don Keanu was the funniest thing ever.) Edit: I just adore the transitions between versions. The continuity of the lines across performers and formats... *Second chef's kiss*

[@maristiller4033]

Thank you SO MUCH for talking about how Shakespeare is meant to bee seen first and not read, as an English major and Shakespeare fan. This was something that was NEVER taught to me in high school when we studied Shakespeare, though we did watch some scenes from Romeo and Juliet. My brother is in high school now about to read Romeo and Juliet, and I'm prepared to tell him that no matter what his teachers say he should watch it first. Hopefully he'll take my advice lol

[@stephanieclark8327]

I full heartedly agree on this point. I'm a die hard Shakespeare fan and everyone who says it's too hard and they couldn't understand it when forced to read it in school, I tell them it's because Shakespeare is meant to be watched not read.

[@maristiller4033]

@@stephanieclark8327 Yeah I think all plays are like that. It's really weird how some teachers view as "cheating" though

[@stephanieclark8327]

@@maristiller4033 I think there's a worry of that director's interpretation influencing your own interpretation. We had to do an essay on how a certain scene in Romeo and Juliet is the most pivotal scene in the play and our teachers refused to show any adaptation until after we submitted our essays in fear we'll start referring to actions we've seen in the movie or recording of play we watched.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

@@stephanieclark8327 In a class about textual analysis, it’s often important to analyze the text, wouldn’t you say? Staged or not, the works of Shakespeare are poetry. And poetry can be read just as well as it is seen. Had it not been meant to be read, it would not have been written down.

[@stephanieclark8327]

@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick That's the thing though, they weren't properly written down to be read originally. They were written to be performed and then AFTER Shakespeare died the folios started to be published by Shakespeare's peers.

[@AnnisENB]

The first production of Much Ado I saw changed the ending for Hero and Claudio and it remains my absolute favourite take. The director’s intent was to comment on gender based violence and marriage equality, both Big problems in Peru where it was mounted. Obviously alterations to the text can be controversial, but they did it in such a wonderful way, it was a delight and the audience went nuts for it every time (the actors “break character” and have a funny shouting match over the merits of keeping versus changing the text after the actor for Hero refuses to marry Claudio the second time around). I only wish more Shakespeare scholars/fans spoke Spanish so the production could be shared further.

[@lastflunky]

In Ireland we only study Shakespeare's tragedies (Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet) but only if you were doing higher level English. If you were in pass level you studied more modern plays, mostly Irish tragedies. As someone who started secondary school on a higher level and then went down to pass, my Shakespeare starts with Romeo and Juliet and ends with teen movies loosely based off of his work. This video has inspired me to check out his comedies. All the adaptions you used look great.

[@courtneym75]

Oh I wish you the best and most joyous journey in your discovery of Billy Shakes' comedies! They are so delightful; I suggest perhaps watching each one twice (perhaps different productions, but ymmv) - once to take it in and process, and a second to appreciate the jokes. ^.^

[@KelciaMarie1]

CIVIL AS AN ORANGE. ~SEVILLE~ AS AN ORGANGE. I have worked on this play TWICE. ONCE PROFESSIONALLY. And I only JUST GOT THAT. I'm so mad. God bless Catherine Tate.

[@spookyhood]

the way you braid the dialogues and monologues together by using snippets from all those adaptations is wonderful!

[@stitchedwithcolor]

My mother told me about a production of merchant of venice that ends with the lights dropping on an iconic tableau: shylock kneeling between his abusers, reaching for the cross he must touch to save his life, and as he reaches up, they keep lifting it higher...and higher... Thanks for the tangent, and also for the delightful exploration of one of shakespeare's better plays. :)

[@georgiawilksch5708]

So going to spend the next couple weeks watching all these versions.

[@adgreenfield]

Holy crap, I need to find this Catherine Tate version! Lovely essay, as always. My first serious girlfriend turned me onto Shakespeare via Branagh's HENRY V and I was immediately addicted. When MUCH ADO came out, I think we saw it eight times at this little arthouse theater and left quoting lines at each other in our terrible Received English accents. Ah, theatre kid love.

[@thirdandhappy]

The level of editing prowess just casually used to line up all the different adaptations and quotes from the same scenes across different versions of the play are just amazing.

[@annikakandoll7890]

I went and looked up the David Tennant and Catherine Tate version because of this movie. I'd been meaning to for a long time. It's so good! Anytime you make a video, I either go start watching the thing (how I discovered Jono Rabbit) or I do a happy dance because it's about something I already love. ❤❤❤❤❤ and also if someone is giving you grief over your family and culture's trauma and the fact that you're exploring and talking about it, screw them.

[@pepiola]

It’s very interesting: in Italian it’s still used colloquially the term “cornuto” (horned) to indicate someone who has been cheated on, not necessarily mentioning kids but the link to cheating/cuckoldry still remains and those metaphors about having horns that you do not see are still understandable nowadays

[@alexc1060]

The same in spanish Poner el cuerno (to put horns) is used to describe someone cheating, ex: "esta persona le puso el cuerno a su pareja" = this person placed horns(cheated) on their partner

[@chechema1010]

i found this video after watching the Tennant-Tate version. The edits of the different productions is so smooth and nice :) And Today I learned that Pedro Pascual was once played the plain-dealing villain. I am not of many words but, I thank you. for this video, i thank you.

[@kittytrill]

I've always assumed the dogberry and watch scenes were necessary to allow the lead actors to get changed and have a quick comfort break!

[@thedarkangel613]

hey Lady Knight, no idea if you will read this but I live in Canada where we have the Stratford theatre festival every year (yes we have a city called Stratford). Because of this video i decided to check out the Much Ado About Nothing production! They ADDED a new Scene at the end where Hero literally calls Claudio out on his sh*t and ask him squarely IF she had a relationship well before they were wed would he want her. really forces Claudio to re-examen himself. The show happened in Canada but they do film these shows and sometimes publish them so if ever does come out check it out! I thoroughly enjoyed this production

[@KristineMaitland]

Personally I think that Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington do the best version of the marriage proposal scene. Denzel does not joke and Emma realizes that he is not joking and that it would be politic to let him down easy.

[@LizardLaw974]

“I don’t know why so many schools insist on only teaching the tragedies” someone said it, THANK YOU! The comedies are wonderful and can be so interesting. The tragedies are great too but in my experience, you often know of them already through pop culture or just general knowledge rather than the comedies, which can be dull if you’re a high school kid. I remember I worked on a production in middle school of Midsummer Night’s Dream and loving it, and seeing a production of Much Ado and 12th Night from my upperclassmen, only to be disappointed when we learned nothing but the tragedies (and one of the histories) in high school. Excellent video as always!!

[@mydigitallog2652]

I fell in love with this play in college! There's this webseries called Nothing Much To Do produced by some college kids in New Zealand called the Candle Wasters that I loved! If you have not watched it I'd check it out. They used a few different channels so look for a playlist.

[@Peter-oh3hc]

This was wonderful. Thank you for the information on shylok. I had no idea. I recently noticed that the messenger in the first scene says Benedict a kids a quarrel, but is fully committed if he is in one. His scene with Beatrice to kill Claudio is exactly that

[@ccutehoney]

I remember senior year we learned Macbeth but our teacher was amazing so he made us watch different international adaptations of Macbeth while we read the play. We saw a BBC production, the Mel Gibson version and then Rashomon.

[@colonelweird]

I'm so looking forward to watching this! I played Don John in a college production many years ago - it was my first positive encounter with Shakespeare, and made me realize that there's nothing like full immersion and memorization to make reading Shakespeare pleasurable.

[@Slyvester27]

Nothing like a good break down of Much Ado and/or Pride and Prejudice to remind me that my first two proper ships (Lizzy/Darcy and Benedict/Beatrice in their respective KZbin adaptations) really influenced how I think about romantic relationships lol

[@twistysunshine]

Man you really are right about the performance carrying it tho. Never seen any of it, read some of it, never connected to it but you show these random clips and I'm here guffawing like I've been watching the whole thing

[@justlola417]

One thing I love about plays is that most productions use the same lines, so you can cut them together when talking about a character

[@luvsthespotlight]

I was asked to collaborate on a production of Merchant and as a Shakespeare enthusiast and Jewish person, it was really important for me to find something salvageable in the story. We set it in a high school, played up how awful Antonio and Portia are, and cut Jessica’s story arc. So we end the play after the courtroom scene and Shylock defiantly tears up the conversion document. It was definitely An Adaptation, but it made the good parts (“Hath not a Jew eyes”) shine all the more

[@BellamyJay]

This was fun, even with the usual suspects making an appearance. It was a joy listening to you nerd out about a play you love! I'm going to have to watch again to make sure I absorb everything but this is a very welcome video.

[@BellamyJay]

I've never been much into Shakespeare (beyond what we've chatted about) but this might be worth a watch in its modern renditions. It's nice to have something that just ends pleasantly.

[@Ladyknightthebrave]

I'm so glad you liked it!!

[@chloe1-2-3-4-5]

49:01 don't mind me, just time stamping this for a list of authors to add to my reading list. Great video as always ❤️

[@SantaCoppelia]

Last year I saw a version of this play where Hero rejects Claudio at the end... And loved it. And clapped wildly at the soliloquy where Hero explains her reasons to do so. Really cathartic.

[@mmagalhaesg]

this could not have come at a better time. i watched much ado for the first time a month-ish ago (both the 90s movie and the catherine tate/david tennant version in the same week) and became obsessed with it, so an hour long analysis of it is exactly what i need

[@skippythewonderchicken7511]

Because I disliked singing, playing an instrument, and art with a deadline, I ended up taking every English class I could get my hands on. I was lucky enough to get to do a Shakespeare class. I don't think I ever had more fun in public school. That was just about the highlight of my school career. Othello, Taming of the Shrew (to which we seemed to all agree that the face turn into a "good wife" makes way more sense if she's being coy and sarcastic) and a Midsummer Nights Dream were kinda the highlights. We did see the film adaptations for a few we didn't cover though. Like the Denzel and Keanu version of Much ado. But separate from the class, our teachers organized a yearly trip to Stratford, Ontario to see one of the shakespeare plays they'd put on there every year. It was Much Ado About Nothing. Absolutely the best production I've ever seen. They decided to go for Casablanca. Moroccan sets. Gorgeous costumes. Actors playing it to the hilt. One of the best days I've ever had.

[@xedra]

When I was in high school we read out the play first and the teacher would explain any terms or phrases that we didn't understand (the big one being "jade's trick) and then we watched the Kenneth Brannagh movie. Everyone absolutely adored the movie, laughing at the performance of the text we already understood. The character of Beatrice is definitely my favorite, her wit and fierce loyalty really spoke to me at a young age, especially watching Emma Thompson's performance. Her and Catherine Tate are my favorites, I love the way they deliver their "Were I a Man" speeches.

[@arifike]

I just saw this live at a free outdoor production and came away having enjoyed the wedding scene and a few moments throughout. But overall feeling like Shakespeare just isn’t for me. But, alas, you have swayed me into wanting to give the plays another shot. I don’t know how to describe it but your videos are just the fucking best thing, end of sentence. You’re so funny and clever and poignant and I swear you could persuade people of so many things other than just that the art you’re speaking about is beautiful and worth loving. But I love that the thing you do spend your time on is that. Books, theater, films and tv are the only thing keeping many of us sane and having people like you to remind us why they’re so amazing is one of the best things you can do in the world. We don’t really pay people, and nobody can really be a starving artist anymore, to spend their lives painting like Da Vinci and the like. But luckily we do have Patreon and such for people to make videos, at least. Time to go watch the Atlantis video again!!

[@AlicenRowdy]

Oh, you're gonna destroy me with this one, I just know it. Much Ado has a GRIP on me. Update, post watch: YUP, loved it. Very glad you chose to cover this in your signature thoughtful and lovely style. I was a huge Shakespeare nerd as a youngin and played Beatrice in a highschool production. Highschool was ROUGH and playing that character made me feel so strong and smart and funny. I think of that experience often. (Ours was set after the Korean War, and I learned how to swing dance for the party scenes.)

[@julianjamaica9891]

ohhhh. okay idk if someone has already pointed this out, but the cuckolding - horn symbolism actually could be very much appreciated by a modern audience, just not in English. in Spanish, and specially in Latin american dialects, (or at least here in Colombia) , there is a very popular expression; "poner los cachos" that translates literally to "to put on the horns on someone" and refers to cheating behind your partner's back. we also call the person getting cheated on "cachudo" or horned (horny???). point is, that is a wiiiild case of two languages evolving differently from similar cultural context, and i am definitely going to pick up a translation to see how they take advantage of that! Amazing video as always!!!!!!!!!

[@rutherford5025]

This is my favorite Shakespeare play, something my 12 grade English teacher was baffled with since as he said "nothing happens in it! It's in the name!" but the reason why I love it so much is because I was able to watch it in a setting where I could fully relate and understand the content. If you haven't checked out Nothing Much to Do by The Candle Wasters on KZbin, I fully recommend it! It's a bit of it's time (2014 scripted vlogs) but it's so much fun. Because of that I was intrigued by Shakespeare and explored the original source material and I really got a love for it! Thank you for making this video!

[@danjlp9155]

I did see the 2022 Globe production and the Claudio’s arch works really well. They allow him to be appropriately cruel in the wedding scene so you totally side with Beatrice in the eat your heart scene. The redemption, from what I recall, works too. The pacing allows us time to forgive him. It is an excellent production, btw. Absolutely hysterical and the gulling scenes and the Dogberry scenes were so well done and so hilarious.

[@gemmamoon5998]

Okay but it caught me so off guard seeing the Progressive sign-holding guy at 47:43

[@cherrytree2165]

it really does speak to the failings of how literature is taught that histories greatest comic is seen as "boring" and "unrelatable"

[@SallySueSaywhatagain]

Thank you for sharing me to a stage production of my favorite Shakespeare play with David Tennant as Benedict!!!

[@hergnomieness]

I got to see the 2022 Globe production and I can confirm that Claudio's dark night of the soul was really well done.

[@MrHagen25]

Thank you very much! For non-native speakers, approaching Shakespeare is often quite daunting, and this kind of lovingly passionate presentation goes a long way in making it more enticing!

[@constantchanger]

This is great. Loved the inter-cutting between performances, and the deep dive into some of the antisemitic aspects of the canon. One of the best hours-plus I've spent on KZbin.

[@Para2normal]

Just two comments to add, I consider myself very lucky in that my English Teacher all the way through High School (11-16 here in the UK) was a Shakespeare Scholar and we all read through many of the plays including "Merchant of Venice" and she was good enough to teach us to humanise Shylock (Thank you so much Mrs Murray, you were truly amazing). Secondly thanks for showing clips, allbeit silent, from the Shakespeare Retold BBC Series, it was brilliant fun and I really enjoyed it, sadly I haven't been able to find it on You Tube or anywhere else.

[@montagnarde1794]

Ok, just started the video, but can I just say how glad I am that they filmed the Shakespeare in the Park production from 2019? I was lucky enough to see it in person and it was fantastic!

[@kseniav586]

I think Claudio's redemption makes sense for Shakespeare even though I don't agree with it. As you pointed out, he's portayed as young and dumb/gullible, but he's not a villain and this is not a tragedy, so he will not be punished for his actions. A comedy was supposed to end on "haha, no serious harm done, all well", so as much as I'm for eating his heart in a marketplace, a double wedding was the expected outcome.

[@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose]

How fitting, I finished watching your Sense8 video yesterday and totally managed to fall in love with a show I'd heard of but never seen through your eyes, and then suddenly today, I manage to make it for the premiere of your new video, which *also* happens to be about a story I've been checking out lately! *In my best Shakespeare voice* "I speak once more: how fitting." 🥰✨🎭 This also takes me back to high school English, when in freshman year I played Lord Capulet during an assigned skit of him & Tybalt discovering Romeo at the ball, and then in senior year during class readings of Macbeth I voiced Lady Macbeth the whole way through. And I was happily invested in, and aimed to entertain in, every role. 👏😉

[@Haleyessie]

Thank you for your beautiful, nuanced, sympathetic reading of Shylock. Merchant of Venice has always been such a sticky, tricky play for me. I think your reading is so truthful and understandable… thank you for putting that complexity into words.

[@wadewilson6509]

F*ck me she did it again. I personally discovered and loved Shakespeare thanks to a year of english course in college. I'm still not "fully" into it, but I have a tendency to fall in love with a play from time to time (even if the fact that's it's not in my native language can make it harder). So thank you for doing my job for me, and thank you for your amazing work. I'm already waiting for your next one !

[@CarefulWithThatAx]

Amazing editing and as always spectacular narration. I loved hearing your thoughts on Merchant and your performance of Shylock's speech was beautiful.

[@KatBaumgarten]

I've watched this full thing three times already - Ladyknight's reading of shylock's monologue gives me goosebumps 🙏🙏🙏 iconic

[@friend_trilobot]

I watched the Kenneth Branaugh version as a middle schooler with my sisters and actually really liked it and understood it through the visuals. But i really fell in love with shakespeare after reading the notes in the margins of a textbook and realizing that half of these confusing old timey lines are toilet humor Of course the danger of not understanding the nuances of Elizabethan English isnt the unusual lines, but the lines that seem like modern English but held a different meaning. For example, ive heard from a linguist that "be true to thyself and to thine own self be true" doesnt mean "be honest and authentic" it means "you should prioritize your own self interests above the interests of others" - i don't know whether it was considered good advice by the author or not, by that's what's tricky

[@rizahawkeyepierce1380]

The thing about that line is that Polonius, the character who says it, is an old fool who speaks in platitudes but doesn't follow his own advice, but everyone quotes his lines as though they're spoken by someone who's wise.

[@bloopityboop8434]

Much Ado is my absolute favorite Shakespeare work, and I'm so happy to see it get your love and thoughtful analysis. ❤️🌹

[@michaelawiseman7320]

I recently watched a version of Much Ado where Beatrice being "sick" is because she fell into a fountain before her soliloquy. Amd it was fantastic!

[@peterDcontact]

I oove the fact that you put all those plays together, given how many productions of his plays we have is fun to see the little difference, thank you for putting the time to do this

[@jinxleah]

Thank you so much for this! You've given me several versions of Much Ado I want to see. And thank you for your reading of The Merchant of Venice. I cried.