The Relationship Between Beatrice And Benedick In Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing is, at it’s core, a show about deception. Is all deception a bad thing and can it sometimes be justified? This is the question Shakespeare poses in this play. Even though Beatrice and Benedick are deceived into believing they are in love with each other, they end up in love anyway; this deceit is excused. However, Don Pedro tricks Claudio into believing his betrothed is unfaithful, leading to her public humiliation; this deceit was harmful and could not be excused. This performance carries the original themes well and contributes some interesting additions, such as having the film take place in a 1980’s Gibraltar.

The acting the performance was delightful. As a fan of both Catherine Tate and David Tennant, I believe you could not have a better match to play Beatrice and Benedick. Tennant’s scottish portrayal of Benedick is wonderful and absolutely hilarious. He perfectly captures the character in both the most comical and most serious moments. Tennant managed to take a character whom I had previously been less than fond of and make him both very enjoyable and surprisingly likable. Tate plays a wonderful Beatrice, her comedic moments are priceless and her serious moments were wonderfully acted.. However, she misses the mark somewhat in Beatrice’s characterization as a woman who covers her sadness with humor. Probably the best element of the performance was the chemistry between Tate and Tennant. The constant banter and bickering flows and seems incredibly natural.
However, the costumes were much calmer than to be expected. One wonderful decision was to have Beatrice dress as a man during the party scene to contrast Benedick’s miniskirt and tube top. This only went to further the notion that they are in every way