Director: Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, Hillary Shakespeare
Writer: Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, Hillary Shakespeare (Screenplay) William Shakespeare (Play)
Starring: Emma Beth Jones, James McClelland, Luke Hunter, Anya Rivers, Tani Toluwa, Toby Wynn-Davies, Joseph Emms, Michael Otteson, Johnny Lucas, Jody Larcombe
Plot: Hero and Beatrice, cousins and best friends, have very different approaches to love. Beatrice, burned once, is fiercely avoiding her arrogant ex-boyfriend Benedick and has sworn off men in general. Hero, a true romantic, is deeply in love with Benedick’s friend Claudio, but too shy to say it. When they get trapped in a house with the entire boys rugby team, they’ll be forced to face the questions they’d been avoiding.
Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Much Ado starts when cousins Beatrice (Jones) and Hero (Larcombe) find themselves getting to spend a weekend with the whole boy’s rugby team, with Beatrice needing to face her ex-boyfriend Benedick (Lucas) who has driven her away from dating, while Hero gets the chance to tell Claudio (Hunter) how she really feels.
As Hero prepares for own wedding, the group need to show Beatrice what love really is with the bond between her and Benedick being the driving force of what they want to being together.
Thoughts on Much Ado
Thoughts – Much Ado is a modern twist on the classic William Shakespeare tale, keeping with the same dialog from the original play, think what Baz Luhrmann did with Romeo + Juliet back in 1996. This time we get Much Ado About Nothing reimagined looking at the different points of view when it comes to handling love. This story will show how the modern times have changed over the years when it comes to love, which might make some of the film a little bit more difficult to believe everything we see. It will work for everything it is showing, with strong performances throughout the film, which will show in the different chemistry between both groups and the ones that come together through the film. We will get a couple of laughs along the with how things unfold, while nothing is taken on the completely serious side, much like how it would have been written in the first place.
Final Thoughts – Much Ado is an interesting spin on the classic play, showing the change in how love is seen.