Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

john-lauritsen The greatest fault of this performance is that many of the actors could not do justice to the words of Shakespeare. There are no subtitles. Some of the dialogue in Much Ado is in prose and some is in poetry (pentameter), but here one could hardly tell the difference. The actors put all their energies in emoting, making faces, flailing their arms around in meaningless gestures -- but they failed to enunciate. Some were worse than others. The actress who played Beatrice sometimes spoke much too fast, rushing the words together and producing gibberish. She was pretty, but that didn't compensate from her inability to deliver the Shakespeare words. The sound quality was not good, which made things even worse. The sets and costumes were nice enough, and the actors looked good enough, but so what? I'd rather watch a Shakespeare play on a bare stage, where the actors just wore blue jeans and T-shirts -- so long as I really heard the Shakespeare lines.

mhk11 I concur with the predominantly favorable assessments of this production that have already been posted. Robert Lindsay and Cherie Lunghi are both excellent, and Katharine Levy is likewise outstanding in the role of Hero. Robert Reynolds (presumably intentionally) makes clear how repellent Claudio is, as he delivers a fine performance in that difficult role. Jon Finch emphasizes the silly and decadent dimension of the role of Don Pedro, in a capable performance that could have been enriched with a bit more gravitas. Michael Elphick is far, far better -- far, far funnier -- in the role of Dogberry than was Michael Keaton in Kenneth Branagh's cinematic version of the play.My only complaint relates to Graham Crowden in the role of Friar Francis. He conveys the impression of not having memorized his part very well; his intonation in his recitation of some of his key lines is decidedly odd.

Alain English I really enjoyed the Kenneth Branagh version of "Much Ado About Nothing" and I was sorry to miss the recent RSC production, so I thought I would have a look at this one and see another take on one of Shakespeare's more popular comedies.Robert Lindsay certainly has the wit, panache and energy to make a really good Benedick and he's matched by the beautiful and sparkling Cherie Lunghie as Beatrice. Katherine Levy certainly makes the most of Hero, turning in a very strong and forthright portrayal of what is an underwritten and rather weak character. Jon Finch plays Don Pedro as an arrogant lord who enjoys his scheming and gossiping. It is a good portrayal, but I missed the compassion of Denzel Washington in the same role.Micheal Elphick certainly makes a plausible and by-and-large comprehensible Dogberry, though I thought he could have done more with the character's malapropisms to get more humour out of the character.This version uses much more of the original text than the popular movie, so the pace is somewhat slower, and now and again the period setting looks a little bit tacky.That said, lovers of Shakespearean comedy should find little wrong with this.

beauvallet Lindsay and Lunghi bring to light previously unknown facets to the two well-known characters of Benedict and Beatrice, and have a kind of sympatico that makes their sudden love for each other more believable than is generally found in other versions of Much Ado. They are bolstered by a marvelous supporting cast. This production far exceeds Branagh's film version in acting, but suffers when the production values are compared, an unfair comparison since Branagh had the luxury of actually making a film on location while this BBC edition is a teleplay.