Much Ado About Nothing

My feet are about to mutiny.

After a day of running all about, I found myself at the Globe Theater to see a performance of "Much Ado About Nothing" for my Shakespeare course. The Globe sits right on the riverbank, directly across from St. Paul’s and the Millennium Bridge and very close to its original location. Aside from its amazing view, the theater itself is quite remarkable. It’s built as historically accurate as possible with hand carved wood fixtures and replicas of the original decorations. To keep the experience authentic (and cheap) we had groundlings tickets, the standing room only area around the stage. While this seemed like a cool idea at first, it became more painful than interesting as the three and a half hour play progressed.

Inside the Globe Theater.

On a happier note, the play was wonderful. "Much Ado" is perhaps my favorite of Shakespeare’s works (certainly my favorite of the comedies) and I thought it was brilliantly executed by the lead actors. Beatrice and Benedick’s exchanges crackled with wit and chemistry, carrying the complex Elizabethan language with ease. As a hesitant Shakespeare fan, I was not expecting to enjoy the performance as much as I did. It was certainly a great way to kick off the class. Though I don’t think I’ll be kicking anything anytime soon. My feet would probably fall off with any more movement.

cheers,
kate.