Much Ado About Nothing Film Analysis

In Western Kentucky University’s 2016 production of Much Ado About Nothing, director David Young made interpretive decisions including the setting of the play and generally maintained William Shakespeare’s original setting of an Italian port city in the 1500s (“Key Facts”). In a Shakespearian play, actors might not use modernized speech, but setting still affects the set and costumes. When the play was first performed in the early1600s, elaborate sets as one might imagine today were not used; time, place, and scene changes were understood from context and dialogue. WKU’s set was a cream wall with arches that looked like both the inside and outside of a building. The wall fit the time period since it was similar to the Fondaco dei Tedeschi,

Although each adaptation is its own, a modern setting makes a performance more unique and memorable. The Seattle Shakespeare Company performed Much Ado in 2013, and director George Mount set the play in 1953, which modified the set, costumes, and music (Shurgot “Seattle” 489, 490). Whereas WKU simply had palm trees behind the wall, Messina’s coast was emphasized through a canal with sailboats and footbridge. Hero and Beatrice swam in the canal, and in the deception scenes, the boats and sails were utilized. Benedick walked in the canal and stood in a boat while listening, until he fell into the water, which Michael Shurgot said, “‘cleansed’ [him] of his disdain for Beatrice” (492). Hero “dumped garbage” on Beatrice to “punish her for her disdain of love” (Shurgot 492). In WKU’s performance, Beatrice hid by wrapping herself in a bed sheet, similar to the sail used in

Don Pedro’s brother was changed to Don Joanna, his sister who is bound to a wheelchair due to a recent war. This change solidified the present time and the presence of warfare and veterans, and changed the meaning. Previously, Don John was a bastard and therefore the villain, trying to thwart his half-brother’s plans, whereas Joanna’s motivation is jealousy of Claudio, who was unharmed in the war and “hatred . . . of the happiness of marriage” (Shurgot 309).
Before Benedick’s deception scene, he lifted weights and used a ball and chain which “brilliantly symbolized his being tied to the ridiculous pride and ego he lugged around” (Shurgot 310). Similar to the Seattle Shakespeare Company, the characters were “cleansed” during their deception scenes. Don Pedro dumped a pitcher of water on Benedick to wash away his vanity, and Beatrice was “cleansed of her maidenly pride” by Hero (Shurgot