Beatrice: Is it possible disdain should die while she hath
such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?”
― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
Today I've watched again Kenneth Branagh's 'Much Ado About Nothing' and couldn't help but compare it with the adaptation that I've seen two months ago at The Old Vic(starring Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones). Branagh's take on Shakespeare's comedy is a triumph of joy, laughter, charming verbal fencing and great acting, tension between main characters is sizzling and you can clearly see that actors are truly enjoying themselves.
The Old Vic's version was completely different, the only word that I find suitable to describe it would be 'claustrophobic', the action has been transferred to the time of World War II set in an English village with Don Pedro and his men stationed at a US air-base nearby (during the play you could hear the sounds of bomber air-crafts that made you think more about running for cover than love and romance), gigantic, dark, brown, table-like structure in the middle of the tage, around which the action took place only added to grim impression (it also distorted the sound). Redgrave and Jones are both great actors their age didn't bother me, however what did, was the fact that the rest of the cast looked really bleak in comparison to them.
The same play such a different feel but a great lesson on what happens if you try to hard to be original and innovative.
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