Our first play is a exciting contemporary version of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' which is translates to modern text as overhearing gossip which is true to the context of the play such as Beatrice and Signor Benedick relationship.I am looking forward to working with this play as it has potential on trying out new things and giving risks to add more comedy to the exacts.
To be honest I wasn't familiar of the context of the play which it harder to understand what happening during the film that I was watching. The play itself was a comedy was is one of the difficult parts of acting in the performing arts. I thought that I would struggle with this because of the language behind as well.
The Language
In this play the language is very particular style. It is written in Old English which is different to our way of speaking in modern day such as in Shakespeare he uses words such as 'thee' and 'thou' which we use as 'you'. For example if you stress a different word such as 'A dear happiness to women' emphasizes the word women it feels unnatural and confusing to saying what you mean. However emphasizing the word dear it brings the sentence to a natural feel. My scene is written in prose which I think it fits with this scene because when I act it I feel free with words and that is what I think Shakespeare felt that Beatrice and Benedick can express the language without sticking to verse (iambic pentameter). The conversation that they have relates to what the other person said previous. For example 'so some gentleman or other shall' scape a predestinate scratched face'. This is a very bold statement by Benedick. Scratching means a quite violent thing to say in a piece of dialogue.In a modern translation Benedick said
'Well I hope you stay in that frame of mind or some poor man will end up with his face scratched up' which makes me understand what Benedick is saying in the scene so then as Beatrice I can react and say ' Scratching could not make it worse twere such a face as yours were'. At first I found the word twere hard to pronounce as I wasn't use to the word as it is old English. To solve this problem I broke this word into to section and thought of the word 'were' but with at the beginning of the word. I have a general idea about what I am saying but I researched the sentence and it said ' If he had a face like yours, a good scratching couldn't make it look worse' which relates to Benedicks sentence before this line was saying.
The opening lines are played in a rhetorical form (asking a question). For example 'I pray you is signor mountato returned or no?'. In modern interpretation that means is mountato back yet?. Examples like this makes it easier to translate.
Ideas
Our main idea to modernise the play is to set it to a festival. I thought that this is a brilliant idea because it fits with the scenario of the play. There are some many features of the festival. I suggested a silent disco. Silent disco would maybe fit into a scene with Beatrice and Benedick so they could block each other out and make it funny. Another idea was a to a scene in a portaloo scenario when Beatrice is overhearing the plan that going on between Ursula and Hero. The portaloo would be a great scene. We recently saw the play of the 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' which was very physical but simple with props and technology. One of the scenes had a loo in a box which was a clever prop to use so we thought we would take that idea that make it stand up in our adaptation of Much Ado. The final idea was to piece a band theme together and make Don John the brother that has quit the band which would been by the audience that he is a solo artist. Leonato would be the event organiser which would make him more in charge of the whole situation.
What have I have watched and noticed in my character?
I have the version of Much Ado About Nothing with Beatrice played by Catherine Tate. Catherine plays Beatrice as a overly confident person. There is advantage playing Beatrice like this. Some of the lines can be funny by slowing them down such as 'loves me' which fits with Benedicks reaction. I tried my version of this interpretation in rehearsal by playing a little over the top and being bold with arm gestures. However it wasn't me playing Beatrice's because some comments were that I was too similar to Catherine Tate. When I playing her I felt like I should tone down the voice because I felt like I wasn't being myself when playing Beatrice.
Another version was Emma Thompson's version of Beatrice. This version a more naturalistic approach which made it more meaningful with the lines and the crowds around her would either support her or disagree.
I thought that both versions were good examples of Beatrice and how play Beatrice in completely different ways that worked well with the Benedicks in the scene.
Having seen other actors playing Beatrice I have been trying out different interpretations of Beatrice and also to get people to laugh because after all it is a comedy.
Acting in scenes
My feedback in general at the moment is to break the lines in to units of thoughts. I thought that this would help me to help me learn my lines because I am struggling with the language. My technique to learn my lines is to colour code the sections of thought and repeat the process with the same colours so I can think visually what lines are under each colour. Once I have learnt my lines I think I will find it easier to become my own Beatrice.
The ideas with the set is coming together now I tried actually sitting on the toilet and open the lid and smelling it which got some laughs in the audience. The feedback that we got from the scene is that I needed to spit much more earlier and that the people on the other side of the toilet needed to make sure that audience know that it is a act for Beatrice. From the first time we did with no props and set I couldn't imagine this scene being funny as I understand what was being said between Ursula and Hero. However after watching the modern version of the Much Ado About Nothing Retold I thought that it made more sense and that it could be funny with the friends having a laugh across from me.
Targets
Become more confident with lines and learn them to add movement such as hands to make the dialogue better especially in Act one scene one.
What interpretations have I seen and how did they help my character to progress?
My targets have been working well because I am more confident with my lines. Knowing my lines helps me to develop Beatrice a lot more. The first few times I played Act one scene one I recently saw Catherine Tate's version. She plays the character slightly over the top to emphasize the humour with Benedick. I interpreted this version and see if it fitted to my character and how I play Beatrice. The feedback that I got was that I was too similar to Catherine Tate because the way I deliver lines didn't make the audition a comedic reaction. I also found that I speak my lines too quick in my scenes. One of my targets are to slow down when speaking because the quicker I speak the more muddled I get with lines as I find Shakespeare very hard to learn.
What could I improve vocally to this performance?
Our voice lessons have focused us on stressing the particular words that makes the sentence more clear. Karen told us to emphasize the verbs in particular as it gives the delivery a lot stronger.The particular line that I struggle with which is 'I wonder why you still be talking Signor Benedick nobody marks you'. I naturally put the emphasis on the 'you' rather than the 'marks' makes more sense as the modern interpretation as basically say 'I wonder why Benedick is speaking as no on listens to him'.
What has my process been for Act 3 scene one?
The festival theme is seen throughout the scenes of the play for the this scene we decided that Beatrice should be in a portaloo symbolizing that the experience of a festival environment.
As you can see a portaloo has a very tight space to imagine being inside of and how horrible the conditions are. At first I found this scene difficult as my constant note is always keep listening or imply that I am listening because that's the whole purpose of the scene. One of our tasks was an exercise to think about your objective of the scene. From the target it says
'You can never know what you are doing until you first know what you are doing it to. For the actor,all doing has to be done to something. The actor can do nothing without the target. The target can be real or imaginary, concentrate or abstract, but the unbreakable first rule is that it all times and without a single exception there must be a target'
I found the target helpful as I thought of a verb that I can act doing which has a worked as my target is to listen to the other ladies across from me. On the other side There target are that they are planning an act for Beatrice.
After having it rehearsed a few times I am now getting the idea about how I should play my character in this scene. I have lots of suggestions.
Suggestion number one
Donna was very kind and helped me out in a more realistic approach in this scene. A portaloo normally is quite disgusting so she suggesting putting loo roll around the sides and making it cleaner that it was originally. in my opinion this was a good way of have a naturalistic and acting for people that think the toilets at festival is gross. The way she explained it helped me and I could may get a laugh because it is horrible. However Sally argued that I would look too busy and not tackling the purpose of this scene which is to hear what Hero and Ursula are saying about how in love Beatrice is.
Suggestion number two
I listened to Phoebe and Lewis's feedback about that I was looking too awkward on the toilet and wasn't any energy on one side of the scene. Phoebe's idea was to sit on the toilet with my elbows on my knees and my legs spread slightly and thinking and responding to the Hero and Ursula's conversation. From Phoebe's idea, I got inspired by thinking of how horrible is and shutting the lid straight away. The feedback in some of the lessons was that I still wasn't quite focused on listening to Hero and Ursula.
Suggestion number three
I needed to think more simple and little things that would make the audience giggle. Sally gave me a suggestion to just open the lid straight away and just accept that it is a horrible toilet and that the audience may laugh from that. That way I had more focus on listening. This way of playing Beatrice makes it more realistic and now I am starting to think of reactions such as 'no truly Ursula she is too disdainful'.
At the moment I am trying suggestion three more than the others however the others have been used with ideas along with the bigger idea such as sitting on the toilet as Phoebe thought of.
The Language in Act three scene one
Although I don't speak in very much in the scene I still need to understand what Hero and Ursula are saying about Beatrice. Here is a modern interpretation
'The best part of fishing is watching the fish cut through the water and greedily take the bait. Now we're for Beatrice, who's hiding right now in the honeysuckle arbour. Don't worry, I will my part'.
When I read this modern language of this scene I thought that this makes so much sense because now I know the meaning. Ursula is basically saying that we caught Beatrice like a fish and that we have caught by bait which is Benedick being madly in love with Beatrice.
I keep hearing Hero say the word 'disdainful'. To be honest I didn't really know the meaning of the word. So I researched the word and it means arrogant, mean and superior. I then related this to the role and try to have emotion memory of this scene. Someone that I can picture as this arrogant, mean and superior person. This way it will make me react more naturally. In context of the sentence Hero says ' No truly Ursula she is too disdainful' which means that I am arrogant.
Act One Scene One progress: feedback and improvement
At home I have worked really hard on this scene basically with the language and the meaning of it. I recently discovered that my first line ' I pray you is Signor Mountato returned or no?'.Originally I though that the words 'Signor Mountato' was a person but 'Mountato' means thrust. This meant that I had to change the tone of the delivery and I thought of having a hand gesture as well to commuicate to the audience that I mean a sword not a person.
To be honest I wasn't familiar of the context of the play which it harder to understand what happening during the film that I was watching. The play itself was a comedy was is one of the difficult parts of acting in the performing arts. I thought that I would struggle with this because of the language behind as well.
The Language
In this play the language is very particular style. It is written in Old English which is different to our way of speaking in modern day such as in Shakespeare he uses words such as 'thee' and 'thou' which we use as 'you'. For example if you stress a different word such as 'A dear happiness to women' emphasizes the word women it feels unnatural and confusing to saying what you mean. However emphasizing the word dear it brings the sentence to a natural feel. My scene is written in prose which I think it fits with this scene because when I act it I feel free with words and that is what I think Shakespeare felt that Beatrice and Benedick can express the language without sticking to verse (iambic pentameter). The conversation that they have relates to what the other person said previous. For example 'so some gentleman or other shall' scape a predestinate scratched face'. This is a very bold statement by Benedick. Scratching means a quite violent thing to say in a piece of dialogue.In a modern translation Benedick said
'Well I hope you stay in that frame of mind or some poor man will end up with his face scratched up' which makes me understand what Benedick is saying in the scene so then as Beatrice I can react and say ' Scratching could not make it worse twere such a face as yours were'. At first I found the word twere hard to pronounce as I wasn't use to the word as it is old English. To solve this problem I broke this word into to section and thought of the word 'were' but with at the beginning of the word. I have a general idea about what I am saying but I researched the sentence and it said ' If he had a face like yours, a good scratching couldn't make it look worse' which relates to Benedicks sentence before this line was saying.
The opening lines are played in a rhetorical form (asking a question). For example 'I pray you is signor mountato returned or no?'. In modern interpretation that means is mountato back yet?. Examples like this makes it easier to translate.
Ideas
Our main idea to modernise the play is to set it to a festival. I thought that this is a brilliant idea because it fits with the scenario of the play. There are some many features of the festival. I suggested a silent disco. Silent disco would maybe fit into a scene with Beatrice and Benedick so they could block each other out and make it funny. Another idea was a to a scene in a portaloo scenario when Beatrice is overhearing the plan that going on between Ursula and Hero. The portaloo would be a great scene. We recently saw the play of the 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time' which was very physical but simple with props and technology. One of the scenes had a loo in a box which was a clever prop to use so we thought we would take that idea that make it stand up in our adaptation of Much Ado. The final idea was to piece a band theme together and make Don John the brother that has quit the band which would been by the audience that he is a solo artist. Leonato would be the event organiser which would make him more in charge of the whole situation.
What have I have watched and noticed in my character?
I have the version of Much Ado About Nothing with Beatrice played by Catherine Tate. Catherine plays Beatrice as a overly confident person. There is advantage playing Beatrice like this. Some of the lines can be funny by slowing them down such as 'loves me' which fits with Benedicks reaction. I tried my version of this interpretation in rehearsal by playing a little over the top and being bold with arm gestures. However it wasn't me playing Beatrice's because some comments were that I was too similar to Catherine Tate. When I playing her I felt like I should tone down the voice because I felt like I wasn't being myself when playing Beatrice.
Another version was Emma Thompson's version of Beatrice. This version a more naturalistic approach which made it more meaningful with the lines and the crowds around her would either support her or disagree.
I thought that both versions were good examples of Beatrice and how play Beatrice in completely different ways that worked well with the Benedicks in the scene.
Having seen other actors playing Beatrice I have been trying out different interpretations of Beatrice and also to get people to laugh because after all it is a comedy.
Acting in scenes

The ideas with the set is coming together now I tried actually sitting on the toilet and open the lid and smelling it which got some laughs in the audience. The feedback that we got from the scene is that I needed to spit much more earlier and that the people on the other side of the toilet needed to make sure that audience know that it is a act for Beatrice. From the first time we did with no props and set I couldn't imagine this scene being funny as I understand what was being said between Ursula and Hero. However after watching the modern version of the Much Ado About Nothing Retold I thought that it made more sense and that it could be funny with the friends having a laugh across from me.
Targets
Become more confident with lines and learn them to add movement such as hands to make the dialogue better especially in Act one scene one.
What interpretations have I seen and how did they help my character to progress?
My targets have been working well because I am more confident with my lines. Knowing my lines helps me to develop Beatrice a lot more. The first few times I played Act one scene one I recently saw Catherine Tate's version. She plays the character slightly over the top to emphasize the humour with Benedick. I interpreted this version and see if it fitted to my character and how I play Beatrice. The feedback that I got was that I was too similar to Catherine Tate because the way I deliver lines didn't make the audition a comedic reaction. I also found that I speak my lines too quick in my scenes. One of my targets are to slow down when speaking because the quicker I speak the more muddled I get with lines as I find Shakespeare very hard to learn.
What could I improve vocally to this performance?
Our voice lessons have focused us on stressing the particular words that makes the sentence more clear. Karen told us to emphasize the verbs in particular as it gives the delivery a lot stronger.The particular line that I struggle with which is 'I wonder why you still be talking Signor Benedick nobody marks you'. I naturally put the emphasis on the 'you' rather than the 'marks' makes more sense as the modern interpretation as basically say 'I wonder why Benedick is speaking as no on listens to him'.
What has my process been for Act 3 scene one?
The festival theme is seen throughout the scenes of the play for the this scene we decided that Beatrice should be in a portaloo symbolizing that the experience of a festival environment.
As you can see a portaloo has a very tight space to imagine being inside of and how horrible the conditions are. At first I found this scene difficult as my constant note is always keep listening or imply that I am listening because that's the whole purpose of the scene. One of our tasks was an exercise to think about your objective of the scene. From the target it says
'You can never know what you are doing until you first know what you are doing it to. For the actor,all doing has to be done to something. The actor can do nothing without the target. The target can be real or imaginary, concentrate or abstract, but the unbreakable first rule is that it all times and without a single exception there must be a target'
I found the target helpful as I thought of a verb that I can act doing which has a worked as my target is to listen to the other ladies across from me. On the other side There target are that they are planning an act for Beatrice.
After having it rehearsed a few times I am now getting the idea about how I should play my character in this scene. I have lots of suggestions.
Suggestion number one
Donna was very kind and helped me out in a more realistic approach in this scene. A portaloo normally is quite disgusting so she suggesting putting loo roll around the sides and making it cleaner that it was originally. in my opinion this was a good way of have a naturalistic and acting for people that think the toilets at festival is gross. The way she explained it helped me and I could may get a laugh because it is horrible. However Sally argued that I would look too busy and not tackling the purpose of this scene which is to hear what Hero and Ursula are saying about how in love Beatrice is.
Suggestion number two
I listened to Phoebe and Lewis's feedback about that I was looking too awkward on the toilet and wasn't any energy on one side of the scene. Phoebe's idea was to sit on the toilet with my elbows on my knees and my legs spread slightly and thinking and responding to the Hero and Ursula's conversation. From Phoebe's idea, I got inspired by thinking of how horrible is and shutting the lid straight away. The feedback in some of the lessons was that I still wasn't quite focused on listening to Hero and Ursula.
Suggestion number three
I needed to think more simple and little things that would make the audience giggle. Sally gave me a suggestion to just open the lid straight away and just accept that it is a horrible toilet and that the audience may laugh from that. That way I had more focus on listening. This way of playing Beatrice makes it more realistic and now I am starting to think of reactions such as 'no truly Ursula she is too disdainful'.
At the moment I am trying suggestion three more than the others however the others have been used with ideas along with the bigger idea such as sitting on the toilet as Phoebe thought of.
The Language in Act three scene one
Although I don't speak in very much in the scene I still need to understand what Hero and Ursula are saying about Beatrice. Here is a modern interpretation
'The best part of fishing is watching the fish cut through the water and greedily take the bait. Now we're for Beatrice, who's hiding right now in the honeysuckle arbour. Don't worry, I will my part'.
When I read this modern language of this scene I thought that this makes so much sense because now I know the meaning. Ursula is basically saying that we caught Beatrice like a fish and that we have caught by bait which is Benedick being madly in love with Beatrice.
I keep hearing Hero say the word 'disdainful'. To be honest I didn't really know the meaning of the word. So I researched the word and it means arrogant, mean and superior. I then related this to the role and try to have emotion memory of this scene. Someone that I can picture as this arrogant, mean and superior person. This way it will make me react more naturally. In context of the sentence Hero says ' No truly Ursula she is too disdainful' which means that I am arrogant.
Act One Scene One progress: feedback and improvement
At home I have worked really hard on this scene basically with the language and the meaning of it. I recently discovered that my first line ' I pray you is Signor Mountato returned or no?'.Originally I though that the words 'Signor Mountato' was a person but 'Mountato' means thrust. This meant that I had to change the tone of the delivery and I thought of having a hand gesture as well to commuicate to the audience that I mean a sword not a person.
What additional pieces to fill the gaps in the play?
As the play is too long for a college performance we are just performinfg certain scenes from the play. However the scenes dont show much of the plot enough so we have created two physical theatre pieces that fill in the gaps. Our first part of the physical section which is everyone is in unison doing different freeze frames. The four freeze frames related to the experience of an festival.
1 Pose- create a still image that ur character would do at a festival.
2 Smoke- lots of smoke around in a festival environment.
3 Drink-Lots of people get drunk at festivals whilst enjoying some great bands that are playing.
4 Selfie- Technology is used all the time now which meant that it was appropriate to apply a selfie in the piece to make it more modern.
The song we picked for this piece was 'Invaders Must Die' by The Prodigy. This song suited the piece well as it is a upbeat music and fitted well to a silent disco scene. In reality songs like the 'The Prodigy' are played either on the main stage or in a separate tent away from the main stage.
The next song was to explain to the audience the context between Hero and Margaret. At first we tried 'smack my bitch up' by The Prodigy which at first made the whole physical theatre process difficult at it is a slow moving song that the beat doesn't kick in until further in the song. So we chose another song because it felt better with the piece because it fitted the theme of the festival as I could imagine seeing this seeing this song live. The song is called 'The Joker and the thief' by Wolf mother. This song works so much better as it kept in time to all of the movements. After the song choice we could feel the music more. Sally had an objective on moving Margaret and Hero from one side to another. For the audiences eye we needed to make it obvious as it is a quick gap and a important of the storyline. Inspired by The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time we thought that putting Margaret and Hero in the air will make this piece unique such as the things that The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time was about using physical theatre.
4 Selfie- Technology is used all the time now which meant that it was appropriate to apply a selfie in the piece to make it more modern.
The song we picked for this piece was 'Invaders Must Die' by The Prodigy. This song suited the piece well as it is a upbeat music and fitted well to a silent disco scene. In reality songs like the 'The Prodigy' are played either on the main stage or in a separate tent away from the main stage.
The next song was to explain to the audience the context between Hero and Margaret. At first we tried 'smack my bitch up' by The Prodigy which at first made the whole physical theatre process difficult at it is a slow moving song that the beat doesn't kick in until further in the song. So we chose another song because it felt better with the piece because it fitted the theme of the festival as I could imagine seeing this seeing this song live. The song is called 'The Joker and the thief' by Wolf mother. This song works so much better as it kept in time to all of the movements. After the song choice we could feel the music more. Sally had an objective on moving Margaret and Hero from one side to another. For the audiences eye we needed to make it obvious as it is a quick gap and a important of the storyline. Inspired by The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time we thought that putting Margaret and Hero in the air will make this piece unique such as the things that The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time was about using physical theatre.
This video shows loads of lifts that The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time used which was directed by Frantic Assembly (A physical theatre company focuses on movement in plays and there own devised plays). This gave us ideas about using our lift as it is visiable approach for the audience to see a swap going on. It explores techinques such as the walking on the wall lift, the jet pack and flying. The lifts were amazing to watch and that's what we wanted. Frantic Assembly are well known for there lifts which is great for our performance.
Rehearsals in the theatre
What was different rehearsing in the theatre than rehearsing normally?
Rehearsing in the theatre brought the staging and the whole performance to life.
From this photo you can see that the everyone is in character and see that this particular scene is working with the other people in the scene. This particular scene I found that I was lot more confident with trying a action to support the dialogue on what I was saying such as in this picture I was saying
'He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight, and my uncles fool reading the challenge,subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the bird bolt'.
I was basically telling a story about my how Benedick lost a archery match with Cupid thats why I made an action for a archery pose for this photo. This photo of the performance is roughly in the middle of the Beatrice's part between Hero, Messenger and Leonato. The modern interpretation is
'Benedick once put up a public notice in Messina challenging Cupid to an archery match. My uncle's jester accepted the contest on Cupid's behalf but used toy arrows at the shooting match. But tell me, how many men did he kill and eat in his battle? I promised I would eat anyone he killed'.
This quote made some much sense to me whilst I was acting and I understood how this story was funny because I am saying how dumb Benedick is.
This scene starts with me and Hero and talking as we are listening to Leonato and what he is organising in the festival. In rehearsal we had to imagine a really attractive guy that you would love to see so Donna and I used to whisper to ourselves what our perfect guy would be to come on stage to the festival. The guy that we imagined was Don Pedro one of the band members. With this imagined guy I think we added some energy towards the scene because we were fans of Don Pedro therefore we should be excited and pick up the scene.
Costume
As you can see from the photo I am wearing a flowery dress which is what would be worn at a festival. I thought that this dress suited Beatrice as she is a feisty character and that she would suit a dress because of her presence particularly in this scene she is owning the stage. I thought that in this costume I felt like more of a Beatrice because I could create a 'walk' for her shaking the hips with head held high more which made the performance better for me. The wellies helped me to picture myself in a festival too because wellies are the most common footwear at a festival.
Staging
The staging was really clever as we used the projector as part of the set which I was amazing to have for the audience as it showed who is what character.
Here is a photo of what it looked like before the scene started out. This way of using technology made the character clearer to the audience, made the set minimum and it was clever in the sense that you haven't seen this type of staging before. The whole idea of this screen makes the performance more professional and unique and less complicated when it comes to moving from scene to scene.
How did the audience react to the play?
Overall I think the audience laughed at the funny parts which some of our character act more in the character to get more of a laugh. Sally brought this up in our feedback so we took it on board. The one part which was challenging for me not to laugh was the toilet, After all of the times in rehearsal how everyone didn't laugh at my reactions it certainly was achieved in the real performance. As soon as the knickers were on the audience were creasing up the whole time during this scene. The first couple of times was a bit nervous I had never done it with the knickers but after the a couple more I knew what the audience would react to therefore I could act on that. On the open dress I gave a natural reaction to something that Hero was saying which was dropping the toilet paper and rolling off the stage. That moment was so naturalistic which I didnt know how to react at first and whilst keep listening to the conversation. Personally that was the best that I have seen myself play that role because of the natrualistic places however it was a success in the main performances too.
What was the process of the monologue at the end of this scene?
Sally gave some acting points about my monologue and mostly said about how I was overacting Beatrice slightly whereas in this monologue she is genuinely shocked about what she has heard about her love life and how she loves Benedick. To improve my monologue I asked the question to myself
'What fire is in mine ears'?
The response to the question completely changed as my tone was more soft instead of loud and open. Since then the monologue became much better. As the monologue progressed I could see that the more i was in love with Benedick the more I opened up to the audience. Especially on the last line which was
'I believe it better than reportingly'
I could see a change in my face and I could actually think I am falling in love which makes me naturally run off.
Character Profile
Name: Beatrice (niece of Leonato)
Age: 30
Description of character
Beatrice is the niece of Leonato who is a noble man in Messina. She is a feisty character with lots of words to say about certain characters.
What does Beatrice think of the other characters?
'No and if he were I would burn my study' ( Act One Scene one)
Beatrice is uses some of these insults about Benedick to present to other people how much she detests the guy. She makes harsh remarks and comebacks to Benedick. Beatrice doesn't like Benedick as he more of a bachelor man trying to show off in front of everyone and wants to get all the ladies.
'Id rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man wear he loves me' (Act one scene one)
This is a bold statement coming from Beatrice as she clearly doesn't want anything to do with Benedick. The language shows that Beatrice having a battle with Benedick for her to try and win because she doesn't take no for an answer.
'Taming my wild to thy loving hand
If thou dost love my kindness shall incite thee
To bind us up in a holy band
For others say thou dost deserve for
I believe it better than reportingly' (Beatrice Act 3 scene 1 Beatrice)
However in Act three scene two she expresses her love for Benedick and finally realizes how she feels. She is saying:
'Ill be kind to you from now on, and if you really do love me that kindness will encourage you to seal our love with a wedding band. People say that you deserve my love and I believe it- not just because they've said so'
Interestingly Shakespeare has written this particular monologue in verse to put stress on the certain words to make it sound loving such as 'wild heart and 'thy loving hand'. Previously Beatrice has always spoken in prose to make the harsh sounds stand out.
What do the other characters think of her?
Benedick
Benedick is very masculine character towards Beatrice as he tries to win Beatrice over by passing the insults back and fourth with Beatrice.
'Well you are a rare parrot teacher'
The phrase 'rare parrot teacher' means that Beatrice is instructing Benedick like a parrot would is following the insult that Beatrice said previous.
Towards the end of the play we see a different Benedick with Beatrice such as this quote
'I do love nothing in the world so well as you.' (Act 4 scene 11 Benedick)
Benedick is saying that there is nothing in the world that I love as much as you. Benedick has expressed his love for Beatrice which shows that he has changed from act one when he is arrogant to a passionate loving character who has fallen for Beatrice.
'No truly Ursula she is too disdainful'(Act 3 scene 1 Hero)
Although Hero, Ursula and Margaret are putting on a trick, Hero still says this to try and get a react in the 'act'. This quote means
'No truly Ursula she's is too scornful. She is as devious and fierce as the wild hawk on the rocks'
The words 'scornful' (attitude in speech) gives a impression of Beatrice that she is too loud and big for her boots. Also 'devious' (shifty and crooked) explains Hero's opinion on how indecisive Beatrice is.
In conclusion I have really enjoyed researching and playing Beatrice as she is a character which is fun to play and has given confidence. Also this play has made me enjoy learning Shakespeare by learning lines in Old English.
Rehearsals in the theatre
What was different rehearsing in the theatre than rehearsing normally?
Rehearsing in the theatre brought the staging and the whole performance to life.
From this photo you can see that the everyone is in character and see that this particular scene is working with the other people in the scene. This particular scene I found that I was lot more confident with trying a action to support the dialogue on what I was saying such as in this picture I was saying
'He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight, and my uncles fool reading the challenge,subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the bird bolt'.
I was basically telling a story about my how Benedick lost a archery match with Cupid thats why I made an action for a archery pose for this photo. This photo of the performance is roughly in the middle of the Beatrice's part between Hero, Messenger and Leonato. The modern interpretation is
'Benedick once put up a public notice in Messina challenging Cupid to an archery match. My uncle's jester accepted the contest on Cupid's behalf but used toy arrows at the shooting match. But tell me, how many men did he kill and eat in his battle? I promised I would eat anyone he killed'.
This quote made some much sense to me whilst I was acting and I understood how this story was funny because I am saying how dumb Benedick is.
This scene starts with me and Hero and talking as we are listening to Leonato and what he is organising in the festival. In rehearsal we had to imagine a really attractive guy that you would love to see so Donna and I used to whisper to ourselves what our perfect guy would be to come on stage to the festival. The guy that we imagined was Don Pedro one of the band members. With this imagined guy I think we added some energy towards the scene because we were fans of Don Pedro therefore we should be excited and pick up the scene.
Costume
As you can see from the photo I am wearing a flowery dress which is what would be worn at a festival. I thought that this dress suited Beatrice as she is a feisty character and that she would suit a dress because of her presence particularly in this scene she is owning the stage. I thought that in this costume I felt like more of a Beatrice because I could create a 'walk' for her shaking the hips with head held high more which made the performance better for me. The wellies helped me to picture myself in a festival too because wellies are the most common footwear at a festival.
Staging
The staging was really clever as we used the projector as part of the set which I was amazing to have for the audience as it showed who is what character.
Here is a photo of what it looked like before the scene started out. This way of using technology made the character clearer to the audience, made the set minimum and it was clever in the sense that you haven't seen this type of staging before. The whole idea of this screen makes the performance more professional and unique and less complicated when it comes to moving from scene to scene.
How did the audience react to the play?

What was the process of the monologue at the end of this scene?
Sally gave some acting points about my monologue and mostly said about how I was overacting Beatrice slightly whereas in this monologue she is genuinely shocked about what she has heard about her love life and how she loves Benedick. To improve my monologue I asked the question to myself
'What fire is in mine ears'?
The response to the question completely changed as my tone was more soft instead of loud and open. Since then the monologue became much better. As the monologue progressed I could see that the more i was in love with Benedick the more I opened up to the audience. Especially on the last line which was
'I believe it better than reportingly'
I could see a change in my face and I could actually think I am falling in love which makes me naturally run off.
Character Profile
Name: Beatrice (niece of Leonato)
Age: 30
Description of character
Beatrice is the niece of Leonato who is a noble man in Messina. She is a feisty character with lots of words to say about certain characters.
What does Beatrice think of the other characters?
'No and if he were I would burn my study' ( Act One Scene one)
Beatrice is uses some of these insults about Benedick to present to other people how much she detests the guy. She makes harsh remarks and comebacks to Benedick. Beatrice doesn't like Benedick as he more of a bachelor man trying to show off in front of everyone and wants to get all the ladies.
'Id rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man wear he loves me' (Act one scene one)
This is a bold statement coming from Beatrice as she clearly doesn't want anything to do with Benedick. The language shows that Beatrice having a battle with Benedick for her to try and win because she doesn't take no for an answer.
'Taming my wild to thy loving hand
If thou dost love my kindness shall incite thee
To bind us up in a holy band
For others say thou dost deserve for
I believe it better than reportingly' (Beatrice Act 3 scene 1 Beatrice)
However in Act three scene two she expresses her love for Benedick and finally realizes how she feels. She is saying:
'Ill be kind to you from now on, and if you really do love me that kindness will encourage you to seal our love with a wedding band. People say that you deserve my love and I believe it- not just because they've said so'
Interestingly Shakespeare has written this particular monologue in verse to put stress on the certain words to make it sound loving such as 'wild heart and 'thy loving hand'. Previously Beatrice has always spoken in prose to make the harsh sounds stand out.
What do the other characters think of her?
Benedick
Benedick is very masculine character towards Beatrice as he tries to win Beatrice over by passing the insults back and fourth with Beatrice.
'Well you are a rare parrot teacher'
The phrase 'rare parrot teacher' means that Beatrice is instructing Benedick like a parrot would is following the insult that Beatrice said previous.
Towards the end of the play we see a different Benedick with Beatrice such as this quote
'I do love nothing in the world so well as you.' (Act 4 scene 11 Benedick)
Benedick is saying that there is nothing in the world that I love as much as you. Benedick has expressed his love for Beatrice which shows that he has changed from act one when he is arrogant to a passionate loving character who has fallen for Beatrice.
'No truly Ursula she is too disdainful'(Act 3 scene 1 Hero)
Although Hero, Ursula and Margaret are putting on a trick, Hero still says this to try and get a react in the 'act'. This quote means
'No truly Ursula she's is too scornful. She is as devious and fierce as the wild hawk on the rocks'
The words 'scornful' (attitude in speech) gives a impression of Beatrice that she is too loud and big for her boots. Also 'devious' (shifty and crooked) explains Hero's opinion on how indecisive Beatrice is.
In conclusion I have really enjoyed researching and playing Beatrice as she is a character which is fun to play and has given confidence. Also this play has made me enjoy learning Shakespeare by learning lines in Old English.