Week 4 - Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

Constructive Criticism

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.