Much Ado...Well what I saw of it.

Because newborn babies tend to mean little sleep for their parents I only saw half the play owing to the need to watch my new nephew while my sister slept. However, what I did see of the play left an impression. Overall I feel positive about it and if I had seen the rest of it I am sure I would have enjoyed it. The sets were beautiful, I enjoyed the music, and setting it in Spain was an interesting idea. As far as acting goes I had a few scruples because I am not a fan of overacting or of slapstick comedy and I felt this play had both. Granted you have to make your actions and facials big when on stage but I felt it was overdone in places particularly the scene where Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonata are staging a conversation for Benedick to overhear. While I thought Benedick's reactions perfect and hilarious, I felt the other three were overdone. I though portraying Don John as a woman was an interesting take on it and it a lot of senses it worked very well. However, I felt the actress sometimes over did it a bit and I disliked that. I loved the Watch they were hilarious, though I sometimes missed their lines because they rushed. On the whole however I enjoyed my limited viewing of Much Ado About Nothing.