Much Ado About Nothing
By: Katie Challoner
Casting the Characters
Allison Janney Beatrice
She is a very witty and sarcastic actress. She has taken many roles as a happy-to-be-single woman. In the movie Beatrice always looks like she's ready to dis anyone and Allison can do the exact same pretty easily.
Ricky Gervais Benedick
Someone who plays Benedick has to look very accomplished yet also caring and satirical at times; Ricky has shown throughout his long career that he can handle all of those aspects. Also, his British accent definitely helps make him sound more daring and entertaining. He has a very cheeky look just like Benedick.
Young Leonardo DiCaprio Claudio
Young Leo is very handsome like Claudio. He also can play roles where he's deeply in love (Titanic). On the other side of the spectrum we can foreshadow that young Leo will be able to play roles where he is angry and punishing (Revenant). He looks very pure and happy just like Claudio.
Plot
Don Pedro and his men go into Messina and meet Leonato, his daughter, and niece. This displays what relationships will form in the play because Claudio spots and instantly likes Hero, and Benedick and Beatrice begin to bicker with each other. Another important part of the plot is Don Jon's plan to stop Claudio and Hero's marriage. The plan sets up the major conflict and shows that Don Jon will be the antagonist of the play. A third crucial plot point is at the wedding when Claudio won't marry Hero because she was unfaithful. This was when the play unraveled and different ideas were discussed to get the couple back together. It proved that Beatrice would do anything for her cousin and that there were very defined gender roles between men and women since Leonato didn't even ask Hero if she had done anything wrong.
THEME
Even if it's hard, love will eventually find a way. The song I chose to represent this theme is Good People from the Fox series Empire (song ft. Jussie Smollett and Yazz). One of the lines, "I know it's hard to be patient." represents the struggle of Hero after she had to be hidden away because Claudio thought she was unfaithful. Although she didn't know if Claudio would find out the truth, she waited for him anyway. Another line, "We'll get by... in the morning, it's gunna be alright." represents what happens at the end of the play when Claudio marries Hero's cousin which turns out to be Hero. The day after Claudio believed that he had killed his chance at true love, he ends up reuniting with it. A final lyric, "One day its gunna turn into another season, you gunna see that all your tragedy you had was for another reason." fully captures the theme that love will find a way after all the fighting and hardship which occurred in the play. The theme in Much Ado About Nothing fits the mood of Good People like a glove.
Good People
Empire Cast - Good People (Audio) ft. Jussie Smollett, Yazz