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Much Ado About Nothing (2012)'s comments

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Siskoid

This was to be my trial of this range of plays performed at the actual Globe before a real audience. I must say the format works admirably. The shots aren't static nor the sound variable as you might expect from a live performance, and playing to the audience, especially in a comedy, creates a very different feel. This Much Ado has lots of audience participation, and actors have a great deal of fun with its reactions. Characters not usually funny on film - the wicked Don John and young lover Claudio - are very funny when allowed to play bigger and less naturalistic. The play's Claudio (Philip Cumbus) is especially fun, an awkward lout who really does need the Prince to woo for him à la Cyrano. Eve Best and Charles Edwards make a fine Beatrice and Benedick, characters who play a great deal with the audience, though they might sometimes let themselves break out of character over it, while Paul Hunter's Dogberry is perhaps unforgivably broad, and Ewan Stewart is sadly stiff and boring as Don Pedro. The one face American audiences will recognize is Joseph Marcell as Leonato; he was the butler on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He's quite good. Overall, a fun experience that's making me consider buying more DVDs from the range.

8 years 10 months ago