Much Ado About Nothing
Amanda Frederick
Starring...
Maia Mitchell as Hero
Maia Mitchell will be playing the role of Hero. Her young, innocent appearance fits the character Hero well. She also has short, dark brown, curly hair that will allow her to look just like Hero. Maia hasn't had any previously violent roles so she will fit nicely playing gentle Hero.
Zac Efron as Claudio
Zac Efron will be playing the role of Claudio due to his similar physical and personality traits. Zac is young, masculine, and handsome, making him fitting for the role of Claudio. In addition, he has brown hair which is cut similar to Claudio's. Lastly, Zac has experience playing the role of the charming young lover in past films.
Cameron Diaz as Beatrice
Cameron Diaz will be playing the role of Beatrice as she has similar physical features to that of the character Beatrice. She posses similar hair in length and color, body size, and laugh lines. Cameron is also a fitting actress as she appears to be close in age to Beatrice. Lastly, Cameron's personality is ideal for the role as she has played spunky, witty, and sharp roles in the past.
Plot
The Engagement
Hero and Claudio's engagement was crucial to the story because all the following events revolved around their plans to get married. Once Claudio was able to win Hero over, they planned to get married in a week. Rumors of the wedding got around, causing the villains of the story to plan how to ruin the wedding. This moved along the plot because it formulated the main conflict of the play and was the basis of the rest of the plot. This event reveals the love and innocence shared between young Claudio and Hero.
The Breakup Plan
Don John's villainous plan to destroy Hero and Claudio's wedding was extremely important to the plot because it acted as the main conflict in the play. Without this conflict, there would have been no plot and the play would have been boring. The plan also added to the tragedy of the play as it ultimately destroys Hero. This event moves along the plot as it adds major conflict and tragedy to the previously happy story. This event reveals a lot about Don John and how evil he is. The audience is able to see how Don John is motivated by his evilness and jealous as he plots to break up this young couple.
The Wedding
Lastly, once the truth is found out about Hero and Don John's plan, the Friar formulates a plan to get Hero and Claudio back together and a second wedding is planned. At this wedding, Claudio believes he is marrying Hero's cousin, only to find that it is Hero, who has been faithful all along. The wedding is a very important part of the play as it resolves the conflict and wraps everything up. The event moves along the plot as it allows the play to wrap up and end happily as the young lovers end up together. This event reveals Hero's innocence and purity as the truth is found out about her. It also reveals the love between Beatrice and Benedick as their friends set them up. All in all, this scene shows how love motivates all the characters and brings them together.
Theme
The Central Theme of Love
The song "Ours" by Taylor Swift illustrates the theme of love in Much Ado About Nothing. The song is about a couple's relationship and how other people judge and disapprove of it even though it's not theirs. This is similar to the theme of love in the play as the plot highlights that love often comes with complication, such as a jealous villain in the play. The song says "seems like there's always someone who disapproves" which illustrates Don John's displeasure of Hero and Claudio's marriage plans. It then goes on to say "they'll judge it like they know about me and you" just as Don John judged the young couple's marriage, when he barely knew them. Taylor also sings later in the song "people throw rocks at things that shine". This goes along with the plot as the villain set out to ruin a perfectly good and valid marriage. Then she sings "life makes love look hard" which goes along with the them that love is complicated. In the chorus, the lyrics state "the stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours." These lyrics illustrate the plot perfectly as Hero and Claudio's love was not easy, and almost ended very tragically, but in the end they still have their love together.
Ours -Taylor Swift lyrics