Woke up this morning to a fabulously gorgeous fall day in Houston....nip in the air, lush vegetation, not a cloud in the sky..... and off to a lecture on Beatrice & Benedict, Berlioz's take on Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. As a part of the lecture (given by the illustrious Ann Thompson), we viewed sections of the Kenneth Branaugh movie of several years ago, which is just the most charming cinematic piece ever.
Two sections to love--
1. The opening, where Emma Thompson reads from a book the now famous "Sigh no more" passage:
Sigh no more, ladies, sigh nor more;
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never;
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny;
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey nonny, nonny.
Sing no more ditties, sing no mo,
Or dumps so dull and heavy;
The fraud of men was ever so,
Since summer first was leavy.
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into. Hey, nonny, nonny.
Truer words ever spoken? I think not. :)
2. Later in the play his gentlemen friends (including Denzel Washington!) contrive to convince Benedick that Beatrice is actually in love with him. I was kind of howling with laughter here. Oh Shakespeare, you get me every time.
'm so glad you're better. I can't believe the timeliness of this post; Colin and I were watching Frankenstein last weekend and Mr. Branaugh is in it. We were talking about how great he is and I recalled that his monologue that you posted was basically the first time I really appreciated brilliant acting, timing, direction, the whole shebang. It was like I had seen the light. and I swear I played that section of the VHS until it could be played no more. Thanks for sharing!!
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