Since this is a play and is meant to be acted out rather than read, here I will move to more closely relating my memories of the movie to the play’s words. Kenneth Branagh’s face immediately leaps to mind between every few lines and pauses in the speech. I think that even though there is almost no mention of lines for Benedick for this scene, I think that in a play or movie I would use Benedick’s reaction to what his friends say a lot. Playing to Benedick’s ego, Claudio seems to flatter Benedick saying that he thought that Beatrice would never have ‘loved any man’, indicating that Benedick must be something special. I would play this scene with the utmost exaggeration, just to emphasise the hilarity of the situation that Benedick has been put in by his ‘friends’. The outright lies also hold some comedy, as the lies that they all say that she ‘loves’ Benedick, when we know that so far she does not. Previously in a monologue at the very beginning of this scene Benedick lists all the virtues that he wants in a woman, she must be ‘fair’, ‘wise’, ‘rich’, ‘virtuous’, ‘mild’, and ‘noble’, ‘of good discourse’ and ‘an excellent musician’. These are all the virtues he requires in a woman, and it seems that his companions, Don Pedro and Claudio, know these prerequisites and list them in Beatrice, that she is a ‘sweet lady’, ‘virtuous’, and ‘wise’. I would show the audience Benedick’s face right after these lines were said; I think he would be in a kind of contentment.
Many things that are said in this scene seem to be over the top, like when Claudio emphasises, ‘she will die’ if she does not get Benedick, it seems to be a part in the play which would best be played with Claudio shouting these lines. Claudio seems to really enjoy the acting profession, and might think too highly of himself as an actor, as he also seems to over exaggerate the lines when he says that Beatrice ‘beats her heart’, ‘tears her hair’ and so forth as well as the over emphasis of ‘she will die in later lines. This picture is given to me mainly from the movie, and it is actually quite funny the way Claudio acts so melodramatic. I would have him play in almost exactly the same way all of his lines. Naturally I would want any actor playing the part of Claudio in this scene to be hysterically melodramatic, I would want him to shout out his lines at the top of his voice, deliberately use giant hand motions, exaggerate almost every aspect of his character to play these lines in this scene.
Leonato seems to be quite worried, and lost in all of this, I’d have him missing his cues and forgetting his lines, as this seems very rehearsed. His tendency in this scene to say ‘oh’ at the beginning of his lines seems to me as if he has just woken up, or just realised it was his turn to speak. He would be agitated in my version, as he is an old man, and not used to playing tricks on people in the same way Don Pedro and Claudio seem to be.
Don Pedro seems to have a role in instructing the act; he seems to be the one who leads the other two down paths in the conversation. He starts the listing of Beatrice’s virtues, saying she’s ‘sweet’ and so o, he’s like the director he also starts the section where they list the good qualities on Benedick, saying he’s a ‘proper man’. He would obviously and intentionally lead the conversation in his direction, maybe with some strange facial expressions to his friends.
This scene is hilarious because of the outright lies that Claudio, Don Pedro and Leonato say about Beatrice, that she’s in ‘love’ with Benedick when in fact at this time she despises him. Also much emphasise lies on the way the actors play their parts, as any lines read blandly with no actions would have no humour in them.
The next scene is the deception of ‘fair’ Beatrice. This scene is considerably shorter than the deception of Benedick and that might be an indication of something. It seems that it only takes a few lines and two people talking to get a woman to believe something that may not be true. This is either an underlying want for marital commitment or a true gullibility on Beatrice’s part. This may be reflected in a scene I might show as longing expressions of love every time Benedick’s name is mentioned, tying him in with the almost lie that he ‘loves’ her. Every time that Hero mentions not to let ‘Beatrice know’ of Benedick’s love, I would want Beatrice, much like in the movie rendition to almost reach out and say ‘no’ with her face. Facial expressions render in quite well in the whole of these two scenes, as Benedick has no lines, and does not want to be seen and neither does Beatrice.
Hero also plays to Beatrice’s ego and ‘proud’ stature, saying that there is no ‘prouder stuff than that of Beatrice’. Also much like Benedick’s deception Beatrice’s ‘friends’ go on to list Benedick’s good virtues, saying he’s ‘wise’, ‘noble’ and ‘young’, much the same virtues that Don Pedro and co. list in Beatrice. The part of Hero is by far the most important in this deception; almost all that is said is said from Hero’s mouth. Ursula, much like Leonato, is just being dragged along to make the scene believable to Beatrice as a true conversation, and not a ploy. I would have Hero be strong on stage, knowing very well what to say at all times, with no hesitations, the exact opposite of what Ursula would be like.
These two scenes are almost by far the most humorous parts of this play, and I think that the way that Kenneth Branagh interpreted this scene to be excellent. I cannot see how the scene could be played better than the way he directed the talented ensemble in this picture. His addition of a prop for Benedick to mess around with, the ‘deckchair’ is hilarious, just when the interesting parts come up Benedick falls over the deckchair as he hears them. The facial expressions that Beatrice has en cue in her scene are hilarious, her longing looks and reactions cannot be matched. I would be hard pressed without much experience to direct a better garden scene than that in this movie. Both characters, Beatrice and Benedick, are almost given away, when for instance Don Pedro momentarily puts Benedick down by saying Beatrice is wise, ‘in everything but in loving Benedick’. This bring out a loud ‘bah’ from Benedick, which he tries to disguise by making a ‘cooing’ sound, which I found hilarious. There is nothing in the script that calls for that, and it was just a stroke of genius putting that in.
I think that Benedick’s almost complete turnaround at the end of act 2 is funny, seeing Benedick wrestle with his self set benchmarks, saying that when he said he’d stay a ‘bachelor’, it would only be until he got ‘married’. Its funny seeing him justify what he said before, just at the beginning of the scene and what he says now. This monologue needs the right reading, with emphasis on ‘the world must be peopled’.
This is a really funny play, and I think that Beatrice and Benedick bring out most of the comic relief in an otherwise serious play.
