Even Shakespeare had his bad days

[snowgrouse]

Rereading Much Ado About Nothing like a mofo. And it's brilliant, just like I remembered... except for one thing. PLEASE tell me I'm not the only person in the world who can't stand Dogberry or the bits with the bumbly watchmen. At least in the original text. I know it depends a lot on the performances but god *damn

Comments

[severa]

That's what happens when you try to appeal to everyone, including Baldrick and the turnip he brought as his date.

[snowgrouse]

This is so very true. It's bizarre to see highly intelligent, brain-twisting, quick-witted comedy next to "hurf durf, dim dude uses words wrong and drags the play down for pointless sequences of faffing around" material. I hope the audience hurled rotten tomatoes at Dogberry and yelled GIROFFF at him back when this was first on. Hey nonny nonny!

[capriuni]

LOL!

'sTruth!

Dogberry is also a reminder that Shakespeare was a working-stiff playwright who was contractually required, probably, to write parts for each of the specific actors in his company, even when those actors were best at playing characters that had no place in the overall story he was creating -- and also, this was the very start of the whole concept of "stars" in the theater, when audiences would come to a play to see a specific actor play a specific sort of role.

But I agree with you that -- on the whole -- Much Ado about Nothing is a thing of joy. IMNSHO, it's ten times as romantic as Romeo and Juliet ever was. For one thing, it's about grownups who know themselves and each other, rather than hormone-mad kids. And for another, it actually ends in love and happiness, rather than a murder and suicide.

Just sayin'.

[therru]

But is he Mr Collins when he thinks you want to marry him?