The stage directions are important enhance the effects of the deception. As this scene is set in the garden I would direct Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio to come out from the front of the stage (from the house) through the audience to the main fountain, where Balthasar will be sitting down on a bench next to it. There will also be small pond and a lotus tree concealed by bushes where Benedick will be, right of the stage. Benedick will hide behind the bushes and hear the song.
As they walk towards the fountain, lines 32-34 should be whispered so that Benedick cannot hear them. Their talk with Balthasar includes contemporary meanings on the word ‘note’ which is repeated a lot and has sexual interpretations. This wouldn’t be funny for modern audience but however, would be for a contemporary audience. Another contemporary reference is made, ‘sheep guts should hale souls out of men’s bodies’ this refers the irony of sheep gut made into an instrument which is used to show love. Balthasar will then sing an ominous song which if ironically Benedick had been listening, to rather that moaning about Balthasar voice; he would have caught on about the deception. Another ironic thing happens in line 77 when Don Pedro says ‘for tomorrow night we would have it at the Lady Hero’s chamber window.’ as they later think they see Hero with Brachio. To catch the attention of Benedick after the song I would have Don Pedro say line 81 ‘that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signor Benedick ‘very loud and exaggerated. When Benedick hears that Beatrice is in love with him, I would have him start to climb up the tree to get a closer view of Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio. The three friends must act that they do not know that Benedick is hiding nearby, to prevent him from suspecting any trickery. Leonato usually says the most important lines as he is the most trusted of the three. Due to this Benedick believes him as he questions them ‘I’st possible? Sit the wind in the corner’. As Beatrice is like the wind and never can be in love. Don Pedro then starts to answer Benedick without him asking, reeling him in to the idea. This trapping image is also used by Claudio who states ‘Bait the hook well, this fish will bite’ However as soon as Benedick is lead to believe that Beatrice is in love ironically Leonato the most trusted of the three forgets his lines at the crucial bit. Here I suggest the three should huddle luring Benedick into believing that something is happening, until line 101 where the shock of Don Pedro causes Benedick to fall off the tree and into the pond. There Benedick will stay under the water until his line in 106 where he will raise up of the pond with pond weed all over him. At this point he will refer to Leonato with another epithet ‘that the white-bearded fellow speaks it’.
The three then refer to how love has changed Beatrice. Claudio uses a metaphor to refer to love ‘He hath ta’en th’infection’, which causes Benedick to see how mad she is about him. These next lines I would suggest that the three should overreact and enjoy saying it as Benedick cannot see them. Leonato uses hyperbole to enhance the effect ‘she’ll be up twenty times a night and there will she sit in her smock, till she have writ a sheet of paper: my daughter tells us all.’ They also include the sexual pun ‘she found Benedick & Beatrice between the sheets as well’. As well as refer to the effects of love ‘Then down upon her knees he fall’ weeps’ sobs, beat her heart, tears her hair prays, curses’, and how it has driven her to suicidal death. And thus blaming Benedick for this, ' He would make but a sport of it and torment the poor lady worst.’ Although they seem to criticize their best friend they seem to enjoy it, Claudio the most because he is the most immature and the youngest, Don Pedro even goes on to say that Beatrice is too good for him ‘ In everything but in loving Benedick’. Don Pedro then works up to jealously, making Benedick lose his pride ‘I would she had bestowed this dotage on me, I would have daffed all other respects’. Another contemporary sexual meaning is introduced in line 147 with the word ‘die’ which is repeated over the next few lines. Don Pedro to top it off insults him overall calling him a ‘contemptible spirit’, he’s good for nothing. However to not completely destroy his self-esteem they say some good things about him so he will ask Beatrice. They then end their deception by sending in Beatrice to call him into dinner. However they are disappointed as they won’t have the privilege to see it as they have to leave, ‘I would see, which will be merely a dumb show: lets us send her to call him in to dinner’. Then as they finish their deception I would have them leave hiding their laughter and merriment as they try not to let Benedick find out. Then they would leave through the audience with the spotlight on them.
After that I would make the attention and spotlight turn to Benedick as he goes towards the main fountain, getting the pond water off his clothes, and getting ready to say his second soliloquy. This is where he judges if the evidence is true, ‘they have the truth of this from Hero’. Due to the love of Beatrice he then contradicts his first soliloquy finding reasons to say why he wants to change and prove Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio wrong, ‘I must not seen proud, happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending’. Also another paradoxical sentence is added to the soliloquy ‘horribly in love’, notice that he doesn’t refer mild but horribly like themselves. He then ends this soliloquy by saying it is his duty to be in love as the world must be peopled.
Just as he finishes this line I would have Beatrice storm into the garden. Benedick should then try and make himself look handsome and try getting the pond water off him, finally sitting on the edge of the main fountain. Subsequently they would start their dialogue. Humour flows through this part as Benedick has changed his attitude towards Beatrice calling her ‘fair’ which, differ from his other epithets, and also because of Beatrice enraged anger to Benedick, i.e. ‘against my will’. Conversely, however much she insults him, Benedick thinks that it is a compliment. She then realizes that something is wrong as he said ‘thank you’ to her. When she says line 206 I suggest that she be holding a knife and scrolling her finger from the edge of the knife to the point and then flicking the point of the knife. After that I suggest that she leaves in a strut as her insults are not working against Benedick. There Benedick will be alone again at the centre of the stage thinking that he has impressed her as the deceivers said (the more she gets angrier the more she loves him). That is why he thinks that the line ‘against my will I am sent to bid you come in to dinner’ has a double meaning however because his mind is clouded by love he fails to see that there is no double meaning. Ironically his last line ‘I will go get her picture (heart)’ is not true as instead Hero and her maids do that instead in the following scene. Thus ending this scene filled with comedy, contemporary means and laughter.
