To start off this week I really wanted to develop my monologues, and so I started using a technique called Actioning which was created by Max Stafford-Clark. The technique is based around thoughts and what the character wants. This link to the actors objective which was first introduced by Constantin Stanislavski. An Actors objective is what the character wants by the end of the scene, for example Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing wants to confront his feelings for Beatrice and show his love, I feel his obstacles in this scene is mostly himself. An obstacle is what is stopping the character from getting to his objective, and so Benedick is stopping himself from getting to his objective as hes scared he'll be scrutinized for saying how he feels for Beatrice. Both monologues that Benedick has are juxtaposed, in the first monologue he preaches how he is against live but I believe he is in love at this time with Beatrice but won't show it because he is scared that Beatrice won't feel the same. In the second monologue he professes how he loves Beatrice as he has found out she loves him to and so Benedick is not scared to show his love.
To give a more descriptive and detailed performance, I'm going to incorporate Actioning. This technique will help me portray what Shakespeare wanted and how this character feels. Actioning is what your character does to someone else, you find out what your character wants by looking at each thought and thinking of the adjective that best suits the thought. For example if I was to say to my friend 'Lets go to the shops?', I would most likely be trying to persuade them, so before I would deliver this line I would say in my head, 'I persuade you' then deliver the line and it would help me to say the line in a persuasive way. The way the line is said could change though, if I fancied my friend then I could use the Actioning of 'Charm'. So the line would be said in a charming way I would say 'I charm you' in my head then say the line 'Lets go to the shops?' I did this for Benedick as I believe this is the best way for me to get a descriptive emotional portrayal.
I actioned my lines and I will show a part of my first monologue as an example, 'One woman is fair, yet I'm well, another is virtuous, yet I'm well, another wise, yet I am well, but till all graces come in one women, one woman shall not come into my grace'. For this I put the action of assure, so 'I assure you'. In this I am assuring the audience that I will never fall in love, I am also trying to assure myself as it is easier to push this love away then be the hypocrite and fall in love.
I enjoyed actioning this week, next week we are performing and I will get all my feedback together and go over notes before the show.
We all started to think about what costumes we would wear considering we have decided to go forward with the festival vibe. We thought about what band we could try to look the same as, to try to get the festival vibe, we thought about Mumford and Sons as they have the sort of vibe we are going for. The tie, waistcoat and shirt look I think is very folk which is what we are also trying to achieve as the song 'Sigh No More' has been covered by Mumford and Sons which is in Much Ado About Nothing. The idea of a hat is also a good idea as it shows the festival sort of look. As shown on the left, I don't think however that the band will wear hats as it seems to be more of something festival goers would wear. I was also thinking about sunglasses but I don't think I will as it will cover my eyes which is a key asset of my facial expressions. I will also chat to Matt and Lewis who also play Benedick to see what ideas they have for the character. A lot of people have also suggested Wellington boots however I don't think that the band would wear wellies as they wouldn't be getting too muddy and they aren't very stylish.
Notes and Run Through
After this we observed each others and made notes for feedback. I observed Sophie and made notes that she could look back on to improve. I said how I wanted to see more of a relationship between her and Donna, as Beatrice who she is playing is best friends with Donna's character Hero, I also felt like Sophie was rushing her lines a bit and was losing the meaning behind them, one of the reasons is because she is yet to know her lines. In the scene there is a part where Sophie is turned around while Benedick enters, she has her back to the audience and is reacting over her shoulder. I felt that it would be more effective if Sophie was towards the audience as we could see more of her when reacting to what Benedick had been saying. I feel like that having her back turned isn't the right blocking, I also said how she could be tightening the bunting or playing with a prop so she doesn't look frozen on stage. I also looked out for some rhetorical devices that as her character she could play on in the scene, for example Beatrice uses a metaphor when talking about Benedick being Claudios friend 'he will hang upon him like a disease', this metaphor is also a place where others in the scene can laugh and subtly mock Benedick. I think Sophie has a good presence in this scene but I feel she has a way to go before its good.
After this I watched Act 1 Scene 2, I observed Nathan, in this scene Nathan doesn't have a massive part but I believe plays it well when reacting to Beatrice as he is Leonato. When watching people that aren't the main part in the scene I always think of a quote, that if you're character isn't talking 'you're thinking of what to say, but you choose not to say it'. I think this is a brilliant quote as it keeps the other characters active and listening to what the main character is saying as well as reacting. I felt at point that this scene was quite flat but I think this will be helped if Frankie can keep the pace of the scene going as she is the focal point. There are some points where the lines said by Frankie can be quite breathy and makes it hard to understand, I like the act that Frankie plays as Beatrice when she imitates different people, as it brings more energy to the scene however her voice needs support when reading in different voices and making big gestures in the scene.
I then got notes on my scene as Sophie was observing me, she said that I lacked focus in the scene, this is true as I felt we all broke character as people were trying to find there lines, however I am annoyed at myself that I broke character and lacked focus throughout the scene as I prided myself on giving my all on stage and staying in character. Sophie felt that I was still putting on a projected voice, I didn't feel that I did this as much but apparently there was still a different voice, I felt that I practised enough to find my own voice but I see that I still need to work on it. As Sophie gave me good constructive criticism I was also given points where I performed well, Sophie said how she could see the thought process when I am thinking about my dream lady's hair. I think this is because when I was thinking about my dream girl I had a picture of a girl that I felt was perfect. I felt it was good I did this because I got more of a genuine reaction. Sophie said that I also had a good reaction when the lid of the box fell on my head. This bit of slapstick in this scene is brilliant because it mocks Benedick and I feel I can give a good reaction as it doesn't hurt too much but I pretend that the pain is times by 10. Sophie felt that I had a brilliant reaction when Beatrice enters, I felt that this was good as well, I played it partly over the top so I could get a funny reaction and this big reaction would of been quite real to Benedick as he is excited and would act over the top or hyper as Beatrice enters.
This week was brilliant for me as I got closer to what I need to achieve with Benedick, I also enjoyed giving feedback on scenes as I like to see the progression of our work as a class as its satisfying to see the final product.
To start off, we were given the challenge by Sally to devise a short physical theatre piece, we were told what we needed to create it round and what we were trying to portray. We were told that we needed to show that there is a swap between the characters of Hero and Margret and how Borachio sleeps with Margret thinking it is Hero and shouts her name while Claudio hears him. Claudio then shames Hero at the wedding.
In this scene we tried implementing a box step where the two girls could get mixed up there. The box step is simple choreography which I learned from my Youth Theatre group, the way in which I wanted it to be done was that there were two lines where one line would step backwards and the other forwards so they would cross over each other, the line going backwards would step backwards with their left foot, step to the left with their left foot, step forward with the left foot and step right with their right foot and the other line would do the opposite. The second line would step forwards with the right foot, to the right with the right foot, back with the right foot and to the left with the left foot. This would of allowed the two to swap and for the audience to see this swap with it being realistic, this took quite a long time to figure out as I think as a class we find devising difficult as we are not open to other peoples ideas and this is a shame as a lot more could have come out of this rehearsal. After Sally came back, she liked our ideas of having quite a claustrophobic setting while the swap happens, she envisioned the idea that three guys would carry Hero and three guys would carry Margret on their shoulders. We still haven't figured out how the swap will happen, I have an idea with a blackout that could work and I said it to Sally but she didn't want a black out, I said that a black out could happen and then the girls could change sides and people who's shoulders were carried on. After this scene it will go into Matt and Phoebe's scene which is a perfect transition because this scene is about Hero being disowned by Claudio and Beatrice asking Benedick to kill his best friend.
Emphasis
I was told today about how emphasis is so important and I knew this to be true. I looked at my scenes and noticed how I was putting the emphasis on the wrong words. I started to look at the script and looked at the words I should be putting emphasis on, most words that are meant to have emphasis are verbs, so ' I ....', walk or the words for Bendick I think more personal pronouns are used as he is very arrogant and believes everything is about him, for most contemporary pieces its a rule of thumb that not many personal pronouns are used as it starts to sound un-naturalistic but for this script I think this is the right words to emphasis.
Overall I think this week went well as we got a lot done and we got closer as a grou thrugh a devising exercise.
This week we did a full run through and filmed it. I was excited to perform but also a bit nervous which doesn't happen to me often. I think I was nervous because I feel this character is the biggest challenge I've had. I think this is due to the fact that its a completely new language to me and it doesn't feel like I would say these words, as I would say it in a much more modern way. This I will get to grips with and I will look at the translation and understand where Benedick is coming from.
I did my scene and I was nervous, I felt I started to overact a bit and tried to project my voice so I could be heard, at the time where I was reacting to what Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio was saying I felt I could have been more over the top, however I think that these reactions would come more naturally if the dialogue was quicker and the cues were natural, this will come from rehearsing this scene a lot and doing independent learning of lines. After the scene had finished I and the rest of the boys in the scene got feedback. I got feedback how I was playing it very over the top and my voice was very loud and didn't suit the character. I have noticed how I put on a voice for when I am on stage as I feel like I wouldn't project with my natural voice. After doing this the feedback I got was that I was saying the word 'love' as 'lav' which is out of character for Benedick. I hadn't noticed I said love like that, but I had noticed that I was over projecting. Sally said how I should tone down the character as the voice wasn't right for the part. I worked on this criticism and started to work with Matt on my voice, we tried many different things to get the right voice for the character. Firstly I wanted my own voice for the part so I suggested that I'd talk to Matt in a normal conversation and then go into the monologue. This helped a lot as I started saying the monologue in my own voice and the word love sounded right and the thought process came along more easily. Ever since then I have been practising the monologues in my natural voice and this has helped a lot. I thought I wouldn't of been heard in my normal voice but I projected well. I am happy that I got constructive criticism as it helps me to grow as an actor and continue to work hard to get the best performance I can, I believe that there is always room for improvement for any actor.
There was also feedback for the others in my scene, they were told how they needed to make more of an act of how they were talking about me but knew I was eavesdropping. They were told to laugh more and look for the lines where they are emphasising different words to show to the audience that they are tricking Benedick. I think this will come easier when the lines are learnt and also the cues. I also feel that if my first monologue has a lot of energy there scene will be more up beat as well as they can feed off my energy. I feel that there are a few bits that are excellent in our scene for example when Joe mimicks Beatrices character and when Milo is performing his song and the boys are dancing apart from that I feel that this scene can deliver so more and so we will rehearse this to reach the potential we know it has.
On Thursday I performed again, this time I was a lot better however I was told to look at the emphasis and find the words that should be emphasised. I also tried messing around in the scene more where I was reacting to finding out about Beatrices love, I did many different things like big facial reactions and even rehearsed with Nathan that the lid of a box would fall on my head, luckily the lid didn't hurt too much so I was able to use this as slapstick comedy and show the audience how much of a fool Benedick is.
Context
This week I decided to research the context of this play and the main plot and story before its set. Much Ado About Nothing is set in Messina which is in Sicilly near Italy, Don Pedro and his men are arriving home from war as a messenger tells Leonato, who is the governor of Messina. Benedick and Claudio are best friends and were companions to Don Pedro in war. Don Jon who plays the Antagonist in the comedy is the brother to Don Pedro and is jealous of Don Pedro and then goes on to plot that the wedding between Hero and Claudio is ruined which will embarrass Don Pedro.
I also looked into some facts about Much Ado About Nothing as it interested me about the histroy and who had portrayed characters in it. I found out that it was written in 1598-1599 by William Shakespeare, it amazes me and is a massive testimony to Shakespeare that his comedy is still contemporary due to its themes today over 400 years after it first came out.
I really enjoyed researching Shakespeare this week and getting constructive criticism.
This week I found that Phoebe would be playing the part of Beatrice, as Kennedy had left and that role needed to be filled. I was excited that Phoebe was Beatrice as I haven't had the chance to work with her much before and I think she is a wonderful Actress. To start off I hadn't learnt my lines for the part where I am with Beatrice (Phoebe) as I was focusing on my lines. I quickly started to learn my lines with Phoebe. We would run through the short duologue and every time I got a bit wrong she would tell me to do it again, this approach to line learning helped me learn the lines as I would be reading them over and eventually it would stick.
After finally learning the lines, me and Phoebe went through the scene, at first I found it difficult to be confident when addressing Beatrice in a flirtatious manner as it was awkward, I quickly got past this and started to play the scene more and more confidently. As this started to happen, me and Phoebe gained a bond and the scene started to become more fluent and started to experiment with the scene and deliver the lines in different ways. For example at the end of the scene, where I am confident Beatrice is in love with me, 'If I do not take pity on her, I am a villain, if I do not love her, I am a Jew, I will go get her picture.' In this I tried many different ways of delivering it to see which worked best for the character and for where it is placed in the scene. To start off with I said the lines very naturalistically as if I was thinking over what I was going to do about this love that I perceive. I then tried saying the lines as if I was really excited and that I was going to rush and show her love as soon as the line ended. This delivery I felt was much better and much more fitting to the character and where it was placed in the scene. I feel like Benedick firstly acts cool in front of Beatrice but then gets really excited when she is gone because it all comes out at once. I think that it would give my scene a greater impact if I played it excited because it is the end of the scene and so I want it to end with a big impact of emotion.
After doing this scene I got feedback from Nathan and Frank, Nathan said that he enjoyed the way I delivered it, he said I needed to slow down in areas and gather the thought process, overall he said it was about a 6 out of 10, which I'm happy to get considering its Week 3. Frank also gave me some feedback, he said that I should make Benedick more of a lad, and also bring him down to earth and make the lad elements more naturalistic but still keeping it funny, he also gave me some great advice to say the double meaning line 'there's a double meaning in that', really excited as if Benedick is completely blinded by love and is getting excited. He also showed how its the first time that Benedick believes this love has been proven by Beatrice so he needs to be very animated.
Much Ado About Nothing Adaptation
We watched David Tennant and Catherine Tate take the stage to adapt Much Ado About Nothing, Tennant played Benedick and Catherine Tate played Beatrice. I enjoyed the modern adaptation it was set in Gibraltar and Benedick and Claudio have just got back from the Falklands War. This adaptation of Beatrice and Benedick was much more over the top and this may have been because it was an on stage adaptation. Compared to Kenneth Branagh's version and adaptation seemed slightly more naturalistic and memorable. I preferred Branaghs adaptation as I found it more believable. When watching the David Tennant version I didn't enjoy how Beatrice was portrayed by Catherine Tate, I feel that she didn't really give a brilliant adaptation as she was playing herself. After looking back at Branaghs version I enjoyed the chemistry Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh had. I hope to achieve this same chemistry when portraying Benedick as it is a massive part about this character. This is probably due to the fact that at the time Branagh and Thompson were married.
I enjoyed looking through my monologues this week and getting feedback that I can act on.
To start off Week 2 we started to think about what setting we wanted to put our contemporary play in. Sally first said how she'd enjoy setting it in a festival type setting. We all liked this idea and we started to talk as a group about what we could do. We thought about how we could have a band and different sorts of acts. For example there would be a band with Benedick, Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio. Balthasar would also be an act as he sings a song later on in the scene I am in. For the character of Benedick I am playing I think he would be a guitarist, this is because I think he is someone who tries to look cool in front of his friends so he would play guitar to boost his reputation. I'm enjoying the festival sort of vibe because its something completely new and unique to me and I think it will make it easier to me to perform Shakespeare as its in a modern setting and it'll be easier for me to get to grips with.
Analysing Monologues
As I have recently said, I have been casted as Benedick in Act 2 Scene 3, in this scene I have two monologues both of which are Juxtaposed, this is great as it I will be able to show my emotional range as an Actor, as in the first monologue I am completely against the idea of love and almost despise my best friend Claudio for falling in love, when I have known what a strong independent man he is. In the second monologue my thoughts on love completely change as I find out that Beatrice loves me, I enjoy playing a loved up character as I can use one of my favourite and in my opinion most effective methods, 'emotional memory', a device created by Constantin Stanislavski in which the actor uses memories from his own life to give a more genuine and descriptive portrayal. For example if I am in love with Beatrice, I would think back to a time where I felt I was in love with someone else and would pretend to talk about them.
First Monologue
In my first monologue I talk about how Claudio is a fool for falling in love, "I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviours to love...' he then goes on to say 'and such a man is Claudio.' Straight away we know that Benedick is not happy with Claudio, as he calls him out by mentioning his name and talks about him as a 'fool'. Throughout this scene Benedicks objective is to vent his anger towards Claudio. Benedick is in a tricky situation and is always first to speak his mind, however in this situation Benedick doesn't confront Claudio about his love because Claudio is his best friend and I think that secretly Benedick has feelings for Beatrice but doesn't show these feelings in the earlier acts and scenes. This is somewhat showed in this monologue but only briefly, "May I be so converted to see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not." that is translated to 'will I be changed like that, and see the world through a lover’s eyes? I'm not sure, but I don’t think so.' This I believe has been placed here by Shakespeare to foreshadow what Benedick would feel towards Beatrice in the later monologue. It also shows how Benedick feels love but quickly dismisses it as he would be a hypocrite and because he is unsure whether Beatrice feels the same way.
Second Monologue
For the second monologue the message is completely different, Benedick who once despised love is now in love with someone he once despised Beatrice. In this monologue, Benedick has just heard Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro talk about how much Beatrice loves Benedick loads, and how Hero has told them. 'They have the truth of this from Hero.' I believe this line shows how happy he is, considering that the love that comes from Beatrice must be real as Hero knows of it. I think I will deliver this line with complete excitement, I could also deliver it as if I was playing it cool but I don't think I shall as the line is at the beginning of the monologue and I believe Benedick goes through a journey in this monologue where he is excited at first but calms himself down and plays it cool for when Beatrice meets him at the end to bid him to dinner. This monologue I will approach in a way where I can use emotional memory. This will allow me to give a more genuine delivery. For example, when I am talking about Beatrices qualities 'They say the lady is fair, tis a truth, I can bear them witness, and virtuous, I cannot reprove it, and wise..' I will think about the perfect woman or a celebrity I like to get a descriptive emotional delivery.
Globe Trip
This week we got to go the Globe, take part in a workshop and look at the Globes museum. I was very excited for this outing as Shakespeare interests me loads as he is so renowned as the best playwright from England. I was also excited to look at stage at the Globe to see where greats have stood who have once performed Shakespeares fine work like Laurence Olivier and Benedict Cumberbatch. This actors like myself had an ambition to study Shakespeare and perform his work. After going to the Globe I found out how Much Ado About Nothing would have been staged. The scene which I am, would have been staged very different to how a modern interpretation may be staged, this was due to the lac of resources they had back in the Elizabethan times. In the original Benedick would have probably hid behind the pillars at the globe to eavesdrop on the conversation between Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio. This would of been very funny to the Elizabethan audience as they would of found the trick funny that Don Pedro and the others were playing along with the melodramatic reactions of Benedick. I'm sure there would of been many 'aside' directions in the original. An aside is when a character talks to the audience that the other actors on stage can't hear, this would of been used a lot for the dialogue from Benedick as he doesn't want anyone to hear except the audience, breaking the 4th wall which was also a big technique in Shakespearian times.
I really enjoyed the Globe trip, next week I will be talking about feedback after performing my monologues to my friends in class.
Phoebe is now beatrice, doing bits to monolugue thinking about festival vibe Globe trip watching shakespeare with Tennant and dother adpatation with damien lewis
Social Status as a child: Benedick was a popular kid and always craved attention.
Economic Status as a child: Rich and spoiled.
Social Status as an adult: He has some close friends always a clown, seen as immature.
Economic Status: Rich and spoiled.
Occupation: A soldier under Don Pedro.
Other Actors who have played Benedick
Many other characters have played Benedick and I will look at how they approached the character before I approach the character in order to get a better knowledge of this character.
Kenneth Branagh played the character in Much Ado About Nothing (1992):
I felt Branagh played the character in a very cowardly way when approaching Benedick and also in a pompous way, this may have been due to the well spoken English accent of Branagh. I feel that Branagh plays this character well, I enjoyed his delivery of Benedick's monologue when professing his love towards Beatrice, which I in fact will be playing when adapting this Shakespearian play. Branagh would change the tone of different lines to give a whole new meaning to the character. In the video below I think its brilliant at 4:57, after Benedick has said 'I will horribly be in love with her, I may by chance have some odd quips and remnants of wit broken on me', in this short space of time the mood of the place dynamically changes to show how Benedick is so excited to hear Beatrice's love to him, to questioning himself.
Damien Lewis played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (2005):
I felt Lewis played the Benedick in a much more flirtatious manner, when confronted with Beatrice. I feel throughout this adpatation Bendick is shown to have a love towards Beatrice but only reveals so when finding out about Beatrice's love. This Modern adaptation shows Benedick as a cocky news anchor who believes in himself to have a winning personality. This is much like the cockiness shown in the Branagh adaptation. I enjoyed this modern interpretation as it helped me to bring this character that was born in the Elizabethan era to a present time. Along with the modern language I also got a better understand for Benedick's view on Beatrice relaying his thoughts on her.
David Tennant played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (2011):
Another modern adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing is a staged version that I recently saw on Digital Theatre, it contained David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I love the comedic way Tennant plays this character and I thoroughly enjoyed the difference between when we first see Benedick to when we find out later on that he is in love.
I think I will mostly model my character after Branagh's version but as its the funniest in my opinion while still staying faithful to the meaning of the script. I will however only look at things Branagh has done as I want to bring a fresh interpretation to Benedick.
Scenes
Throughout Much Ado About Nothing, Benedick appears in many scenes, I will be splitting the part of Benedick with Lewis who is in the Act 1 Scene 1. I appear in Act 2 Scene 3 and Matt appears in Act 4 Scene 1. Within these scenes we first see how Benedick is completely against Beatrice in Act 1 Scene 1 as he is insulting her 'what my dear lady disdain! are you yet living?' This translates to 'look its my dear lady disdain! aren't you dead yet?' This shows how Benedick is so sick of Beatrice that he tells her that she is irrelevant. There is then a argument between Benedick and Beatrice where they continue to throw insults at each other.
After this is my scene where at the start I am against the idea of Beatrice and then by the end I profess my love for her. In my first monologue I am against Claudio even though he is my best friend as he is in love and I profess against it. I think the reason Benedick is so against love at the start is because he was bullied as a kid as being spoilt. I think Benedick also has had bad relationships from the past that he views woman as all the same.
I'm going to go into depth into my monologues to understand what my character wants and the meaning behind each thought:
'I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicated his behaviours to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the arguments of his own scorn by falling in love; and such a man is Claudio'.
In this line Benedick mocks Claudio and says how he is wrong that he has fallen in love and that he is a fool for doing the thing he once despised. This is funny as this is what Benedick does later on in the scene.
'I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife, and know he had rather hear the tabor and the pipe'.
For this thought Benedick misses his old friend and is saying how he has changed. I think I will deliver this line as if I believe the tabor and pipe are terrible by saying them in a higher and fairy type voice which isn't seen as manly.
'I have known when he would of walked ten miles afoot to see a good armour, and know he lies ten nights awake carving the fashion of a new doublet'.
Much like the line before, Benedick still is annoyed that Claudio isn't a man like he is and is staying up to play with clothes instead of wear armour into war.
'He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier, and now is he turned orthography; his words are a fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes'.
Benedick at this point keeps harping on about how Claudio is now a completely different man, and saying how he is dishonest, this also shows how being in love is this strange thing and fantastical thing that is a mystery.
'May I be so converted to see with these eyes?'
At this point Benedick wonders if he will ever fall in love foreshadowing his second monologue.
'I cannot tell; I think not'.
He is being very one minded at this time and is not thinking towards the future, he truly believes that he will never fall in love.
'I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster; but I'll take my oath on it till he hath made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool'.
Benedick swears how he will never be made a fool and will never fall in love, as he has seen Claudio fall for that trap.
'One woman is fair, yet I am well, another is wise, yet I am well, another is virtuous, but till all graces come into one woman, one woman shall not come into my grace'.
I will only ever love a woman if she is perfect otherwise I do not want her near me is what Benedick is going along the lines of. This is the first bit of hypocrisy in this scene that we see from Benedick as he just said how he would never love any woman. For the delivery of this I will say 'yet I am well', in a different way each time to give a comedic element to the scene which Shakespeare most likely envisioned.
'Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what colour it pleases God'.
In this thought Benedick is describing his perfect woman, for this part of the scene I will use emotional memory to really capture the love that Benedick has towards a special woman that Shakespeare would have wanted. I will picture someone who I fancy myself and who I believe near to be perfect to think about while delivering this line.
'Ha!'
At this point Benedick can hear that Claudio, Don Pedro and Leonato are approaching.
'The Prince and Monsieur Love!'
Benedick mocks Claudio by calling him 'Monsieur Love', I will deliver this in a way where I will elongate the word 'love' to humiliate him.
'I will hid me in the arbour'
The final line of the monologue points to how I will hide away from the men coming.
In the second monologue, Benedicks view of Love completely changes. We can see at the end of the first monologue that Benedicks view on love starts to change as he says he will fall for a woman that is perfect which I think is out of the ordinary for Benedick and he starts to think him and Beatrice may have love. The thought for the first monologue is that Claudio is a fool for falling in love. His view of love however completely changes and he hears from Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio that Beatrice loves him. Thus turning into a hypocrite and a fool himself. In the second monologue he triess to comprehend his actions for being a hypocrite, 'doth not the appetite alter?' 'When I said I'd die a bachelor, I never thought I'd live till I where married'
Relationships
Claudio
Claudio is Benedicks best friend. They have been friends for a long time and both were under Don Pedro in war. Benedick and Claudios friendship is proven when in the first scene Claudio goes straight to Benedick before anyone else to talk about how he has a love for Hero. Their friendship is also proven as Benedick is so annoyed when he hears that Claudio loves Hero that he calls him a fool however he still sticks by him. Benedick is also the best man when its Claudios wedding which shows there friendship, however Bendick is willing to kill Claudio when Beatrice asks Benedick to in a later scene, 'Kill Claudio'.
Beatrice
Benedick and Beatrice have a very juxtaposed relationship throughout the play. At the start of Much Ado, Benedick and Beatrice fight and say how they hate each other 'Well you are a rare parrot teacher'. These type of arguing between the two is funny as later on in the play they are in love. Later on Benedicks thoughts on Beatrice start to change as Benedick is led to believe that Beatrice likes him, as Leonato, Don Pedro and Claudio play a trick on Benedick, 'I should think this a gull, but Leonato speaks it'. Benedick has a feeling that he might be getting tricked but he hears Leonato speak so and is shocked as Leonato is a much more mature character.
Throughout this play Benedicks feelings towards love changes throughout, I'm looking forward to playing this character as I feel like a detective tryin to work out how Benedick is feeling at given moments.
I was really excited to get the Shakespeare unit started, as I knew little about him and wanted to know more about one of the World's best playwrights. From doing a course at GSA I already knew a brief bit about Shakespeare, I learned a little about Iambic Pentameter and difference between verse and prose, but I was ready to learn more. We first started off by all writing two things on a post it note that we know about Shakespeare or something that relates to him. I put down about how I knew about Iambic Pentameter and simply put a couple of Shakespeares plays that I knew, like Hamlet and Macbeth. I really enjoyed this task as it enlightened me about Shakespeare and I got to view the brilliant playwright in a different way that I ever had before.
Practical
Our first practical lesson was a brilliant one as Sally showed us different elements in Shakespeares language as well as we got to shout Shakespearian insults at each other which was a lot of fun. It would come apparent to us later on that these insults meant a lot as we would be studying Shakespeares play Much Ado About Nothing which would often show arguments between Benedick and Beatrice the two main protagonists which despise each other at the start of the comedy. We were given different sheets which showed us loads of different insults and what they mean. I never knew how much language Shakespeare created and was used in his time and how different it is to todays language yet most of his plays are very contemporary. We also we're given a sheet that had other day to day words on it that were translated into Shakespearean, I enjoyed looking through this words to see how different it was in the Elizabethan times. What also interested me was how words that were used in the Elizabethan era are still used now like minx and cousin which still carry the same meaning. From two of the handouts we were given there were common words that were used on one sheet and less common words. The uncommon words were still very descriptive. For example one word that wasn't used much but would of been great for Much Ado About Nothing was the word fancy-monger which meant a lovesick man. I could see Benedick using this against Claudio after he finds out he has fallen in love.
For the next bit we got into lines and started to shout various insults at each other across the lines, I enjoyed this exercise because it showed me how Shakespeare isn't all about posh speaking and rhetorical devices which I foolishly first thought.
Inflexions and Thou/Thee
From the lesson and my own research I found the origins of why Thou was used and how it was used. Thou used to be singular and you was plural. You was then used as a singular term this was most likely due to the fact that they copied the French language. As vous means you. You would mostly be used when a servant addresses a master and thou would mostly be used when a master would address a servant. After looking at the script I saw how this would be used in Much Ado About Nothing, in the scene where Benedick and Beatrice talk about killing Claudio, Benedick would change between Thou and you this may show how Benedick changes his thoughts on Beatrice throughout the scene, not looking at the script too in depth I should think that Benedick starts to refer to Beatrice as Thou after Beatrice has asked for him to kill Claudio as Benedick is disgusted by such a question. Beatrice always refers to Benedick as you this may show how Beatrice looks up to Benedick or how she wants to have a more casual conversation.
Research
I have recently found out that next week we would be visiting the Globe and doing a workshop, I can't wait to go and learn about Shakespeare and the illustrious Globe Theatre so I thought I'd do some research before I went, to give myself a taster on what was to come. I think this is a good idea because it helps me get a better understanding of this great playwright and to learn about how Much Ado About Nothing would have been performed in Elizabethan times. This is an important issue as we have to respect what Shakespeare would of wanted as it is his material. I believe that once you start to respect the playwright then you respect his work and you get a greater meaning for what he wanted to accomplish writing it. I learned how The Globe was built in 1599 and how it burned down but was rebuilt some years later in 1614.
Casting
Today I found out that I would be portraying Benedick in Act 2 Scene 3 in which Benedick has 2 monologues and some odd lines while hiding away from Leonato, Don Pedro and Claudio. I'm glad I got this part because the two monologues show a lot of variety and both have very contrasting objectives and features.
I'm looking forward to next week as I'm going to the Globe theatre, this will be shown in blog post 'Week 2 - Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing'
