Oh damn you, David Tennant. Just when I was growing old gracefully and getting over you, I had to go and see Much Ado and fall in love with you all over again!
Damn the man. Just when I thought I was over him, too.
I thought it was just me. Double-damn him.
I agree with your review, especially CT's portrayal. It was a bit too stand-up for me as well. I had always imagined Beatrice as a bit more vulnerable and less - I don't know the word - nasty? Mean?
I basically started my London trip with MAAN and finished it off the night before I left with a second go 'round with MAAN. It was like having the cherry on top, eating the cake in between, and getting a bonus cherry on top!
Oh, lucky lucky you! I would love to see it again. Still, I can't complain. I also saw Faustus (with Arthur Darvill) at the Globe and Kaven Spacey as Richard III at the Vic. Not bad for a long weekend!
I saw AD in Faustus while I was there too! The Shakespeare Globe is an amazing performance space. I enjoyed it immensely. Well, really there's wasn't anything I didn't enjoy about London. Well, except maybe the jostling around on the Tube, but that's just a living-in-the-city thing you find everywhere.
I always stay in the LSE building just behind the Globe on Bankside, and cross the river by barge. Much more restful, and convenient, since it docks at th Embankment, and it gives me a lovely feeling of travelling as Shakespeare did.
I thought Arthur D had lost weight...I suppose he did have quite an athletic role, riding dragons and all that.
Now that I have a little sense of the layout of London, I think for my next visit I would be more open to a different (less central) hotel location. I was right off of Russell Square this time around. Very noisy at night, but I'm not sure if that was location or just being in a city.
I hear dragon riding burns a lot of calories, but I understand living in Hell can also sweat the weight right off too.
I don't think CT was quite in the same league as Tennant
I thought the same thing - but as you say, it's hard to outshine him and she does a pretty good job of holding her own in the circumstances.
Overall though, the pair of them together are almost more than the sum of their parts, if you see what I mean; and I'm impressed that they're both clearly aware of the ways in which they complement each other by choosing to do this particular play together.
And WORD to the last paragraph. Although I don't plan on getting over him just yet :-)
Oh ho, so not just you. Agreed on much of this - in particular, that CT just doesn't quite have the stage chops (or recent theatre experience, perhaps) to pull off the lightning changes of mood that Much Ado demands - "Kill Claudio" being a case in point (she accidentally got a laugh for that the night we went) and that DT's ability to transform the atmosphere in an instant rescued her several times.
(See my review here if you're interested now you've seen it ;-) )
He was fabulous in the paint scene :-)
And yes, the fact that he was splitting his face for grinning during his curtain calls was completely endearing. Bless the man. (More theatre, David! You know you want to!)
That's assuming, of course, that it was accidental. If not, then I'd argue that's a serious piece of misdirection - the mood ought to freeze in a moment at that point. DT certainly played it so.
Beatrice is quite a tricky role. Uniquely in the great Shakespearian trio of comedies, she doesn't get the opportunity to disguise herself as a male. It's important that she remains ladylike and doesn't sink into hoydenish sulking - we need to be able to see the vulnerability beneath the wit. And I felt CT lacked that subtlety.
Subtlety wasn't a keynote of her performance, unfortunately, no. A lot of the comedy was great, but there weren't enough other layers to her Beatrice, and the character does need them.
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I thought it was just me. Double-damn him.
I agree with your review, especially CT's portrayal. It was a bit too stand-up for me as well. I had always imagined Beatrice as a bit more vulnerable and less - I don't know the word - nasty? Mean?
I basically started my London trip with MAAN and finished it off the night before I left with a second go 'round with MAAN. It was like having the cherry on top, eating the cake in between, and getting a bonus cherry on top!
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I thought Arthur D had lost weight...I suppose he did have quite an athletic role, riding dragons and all that.
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I hear dragon riding burns a lot of calories, but I understand living in Hell can also sweat the weight right off too.
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I thought the same thing - but as you say, it's hard to outshine him and she does a pretty good job of holding her own in the circumstances.
Overall though, the pair of them together are almost more than the sum of their parts, if you see what I mean; and I'm impressed that they're both clearly aware of the ways in which they complement each other by choosing to do this particular play together.
And WORD to the last paragraph. Although I don't plan on getting over him just yet :-)
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(See my review here if you're interested now you've seen it ;-) )
He was fabulous in the paint scene :-)
And yes, the fact that he was splitting his face for grinning during his curtain calls was completely endearing. Bless the man. (More theatre, David! You know you want to!)
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