Word: benedick
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...general, the monologue performances seemed to be stronger than the multiple-player scenes. This was most strongly exemplified by Hanson, who gave an excellent performance of Clarence's dream of drowning from Richard III. Clarke was also solidly entertaining as Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing, musing on what follies seize men after they fall in love: "I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster, but...till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me...a fool." Jae Y. Kim '96 gave a rousing call to arms in Henry...
...real stars of the evening are Andrew Barth, as Iago and Romeo, and Stephanie Smith as Mercutio and Desdemona. It is tempting to imagine them as Viola and Malvolio or Beatrice and Benedick in some future HRDC production. Barth is wonderfully vicious as Iago, and his Romeo, while predictably over-the-top, retains more grace and wit than the buffoonish comedy demands Smith's comic zeal and exuberance make her the focus of every scene she is in; her Mercutio is delightful, and her Desdemona is as perfect a performance of that sadly banal role as could be imagined...
Well, it works. This isn't the best Shakespeare on film -- a photo finish between Olivier's Richard III and Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight -- but it may be the best movie Shakespeare. The skirmish of will and wit between Benedick (Branagh, never so charming a screen presence) and Beatrice (his wife Emma Thompson, here tart and intense) plays like a prime episode of Cheers. The characters' passions seem not revived but experienced afresh. There is wrenching melodrama in the perfidy that estranges the innocent lovers Hero (Kate Beckinsale) and Claudio (Robert Sean Leonard, a wonderfully vulnerable puppy-lover...
...cast that makes the production. Benedick (Mike Efron) transforms himself convincingly from the cynical bachelor to lovesick schoolboy. He is at ease with the verse and knows how to communicate the jokes buried in the Elizabethan English to the audience without awkwardness. But he also recognizes the serious aspect of the play, resisting the temptation to eke a laugh out of every line...
...partner in crime, Beatrice (Jessie Cohen) is equally confident and effective. Her acid attacks on Benedick melt into real compassion at the appropriate moment. Cohen's prim superciliousness perfectly captures her character...