A Fantastical Banquet for Shakespeare Fans

Much Ado About Nothing may be my favorite Shakespearean comedy. For starters, I can’t resist a literary love-hate relationship, and Beatrice and Benedick are the ultimate. Then there’s the wordplay, which is just as much fun today as it was at the turn of the 17th century. True, some of the homonyms are lost in translation because pronunciation has changed, but plenty remain even now. The Complete Much Ado About Nothing: An Annotated Edition of the Shakespeare Play by Donald J. Richardson was a great edition for adding historical context and explaining some of the wordplay that might be missed with a modern reading. But why stop with one reading and miss the chance to nerd out, Shakespeare style?

There are a few film versions worth watching. The classic 1993 film version directed by Kenneth Branagh is still beautiful and captures the sunny Italian countryside in all its glory. Emma Thompson is probably my favorite Beatrice, and the verbal sparring between her character and Kenneth Branagh’s Benedick (Thompson’s then-husband) is as sparkling as their surroundings. This version is basically the ne plus ultra of Shakespeare adaptations featuring flowy costumes, pretty faces, and magnificent Tuscan scenery. No big disappointments, no big surprises.

The cast of Kenneth Branagh's 1993 film version, replete with flowing sleeves and bonus Baby Kate Beckinsale!

Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh as Beatrice and Benedick. Sybill Trelawney was hot, y'all.

Joss Whedon’s 2012 version is a unique take. Shot in black and white at his home over the course of a long weekend, with a cast of familiar faces for anyone who is a fan of his other work (Buffy 4EVER!), it channels the manic energy of a classic screwball comedy fueled with plenty of martinis. Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof as Beatrice and Benedick have an effortless chemistry that speaks of a personal history hinted at in the text. Nathan Fillion’s Dogberry is a standout, too -- maybe my favorite version of the character, although this is not my favorite version of the play.

In which Joss Whedon's swimming pool is forever immortalized.

Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof reunited as Beatrice and Benedick. Be still my heart.

I’ll admit it -- I’m a bit of a purist and find that modern settings often take me out of the story. There are few performers who can insert Shakespearean lines into a contemporary setting while making it seem effortless and unaffected. David Tennant is one of the exceptional few, and it’s his performance as Benedick that anchors the Wyndham Theatre’s 2011 production directed by Josie Rourke. Catherine Tate makes a buoyantly fun Beatrice, too. It’s worth watching for the pairing of Tennant-Tate and for his outstanding performance. Just don’t expect a proper film with great production values -- it’s the filming of a play.

Rourke's version is set in 1980s Gibraltar. Yes, you read that right.

Getting to see a live production of the play was the true highlight of my Fantastical Banquet endeavor, especially because I got to see it at the American Shakespeare Center in charming  Staunton, VA. American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse is a replica of the Jacobean theatre which burned in the Great Fire of London in 1666. But the setting is only part of the magic -- the company also uses Shakespearean staging practices that turn any sense of stodginess you might associate with his plays on its head. The universal lighting, brisk pace, and the way characters come and go from one scene to the next with no break brought an electric energy and sense of fun to the whole production. If you’ve ever wondered why Shakespeare’s works are still performed 400 years later, see one performed at ASC and wonder no more.

American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse

If you still haven’t gotten enough of The Bard, and you want to know more about what his plays would have been like back in the day, don’t miss this delightful video about Shakespeare’s original pronunciation vs. received pronunciation. Featuring father and son David and Ben Crystal, respectively a linguist and actor, it unveils the mystery of a many a mismatched rhyme and lost pun by delving into how the words would have been pronounced originally.

Adorable father-son Shakespeare nerds, Ben and David Crystal. Click through to see them in action.

Welcome to Thornfield

Have you ever loved a book so much that it felt like an old friend? Jane Eyre is that for me -- opening its pages is something like finding a familiar face in a crowded room. It has shared equally in times of joy and sorrow, and when I’m feeling down or in an unfamiliar place, I can start reading it and feel right at home.

When I discovered the book for myself, I quickly realized I was reading something truly original. I had been gorging on Victoria Holt novels about orphaned governesses and sardonic, handsome men for years but this one was clearly superior.  Jane seemed like a fully realized person, and there was nothing flat or cookie cutter about the story even though I was familiar enough with the tropes. If you’re a fan of the genre and haven’t read it, you can easily recognize the story in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and hear the wilder echoes of it in Wuthering Heights, among other things.

Why has Jane Eyre captured the imaginations of generations of readers? For starters, there’s the romance between Jane and Mr. Rochester. Full disclosure: when I’m feeling particularly self-indulgent, I start re-reading when she arrives at Thornfield or even when they meet in a most dramatic fashion shortly thereafter. Their conversations run the gamut from playful teasing to blood-stirring declaration, and beneath it all is Brontë’s wit and passion. The secret Thornfield harbors may be melodramatic to modern eyes and the language is admittedly a bit archaic, but the banter between Jane and Rochester still holds up. (It’s a shame the actual dialogue rarely makes it to the movie screen untouched, but more on that later.) 

Spooky manor-house harboring a dark secret? Yes, there’s plenty of juicy drama here. Storms, fires, secrets -- everything you really need for a great Gothic novel! I don’t know that I could love the story as much without those elements, say if it were set in Peoria in 1972. But all of the fantastic murdery moments aside, it’s Jane herself who makes the novel so compelling. She’s feisty and passionate and grounded by an innate sense of self-respect. “I am no bird and no net ensnares me” isn’t just a Pinterest-worthy pull quote. Without being told by anyone else, living in a society that offered no such promise to women, Jane believes and lives by the premise that she is a “free human being with an independent will.” She defies all who would assert otherwise. Instead, she says, “I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself.” As relevant today as ever.

So just to break it down, we’ve got: an epic love story, spoopy Gothic accoutrements, dramatic murder times, and a feisty heroine who was way ahead of her time. If that’s not enough to tempt you, I am not sure how you got here.