Much Ado About Nothing Review

Much Ado About Nothing was a clever and well thought out performance. I enjoyed the different characters, the subtle humor and the plot. I thought the actors and the director did a very good job.

 I was surprised that the play was not set way back to medieval times, but instead right after World War I. I always thought that a Shakespeare play had to be set way in the past or in present time (modern). But somehow, it made the performance easier to watch, because the time period was not completely alien to me, and it was more realistic. The clothing was not made out of silks, and the characters did not put on dramatic accents to try and make the show better.

I have seen five Shakespeare plays, not including Much Ado About Nothing: an adapted version of Macbeth only a year ago named The Throne of Blood; Romeo and Juliet; Twelfth Night; Cymbeline; and The Taming of the Shrew. I compared all of the shows and noticed that they had at least one thing in common: The way the actors/characters said their lines was not realistic. Instead of trying to speak normally, like they would with non-Shakespeare language, they yelled all of their words and paused for effect after every sentence. This made the plays interesting, but I couldn’t really connect to the characters or what they were saying. The reason I mentioned this is because in Much Ado About Nothing, I understood and connected to the situations because the actors delivered their lines realistically.

            My favorite character was Dogberry (a constable), because even though he wasn’t one of the main characters, he had stage presence and was a natural comedian. He had great comedic delivery, and made me laugh really hard. It is very important that the actor becomes their character, or else the audience will be taken out of the world of the play. The actor that played Dogberry became his character.

            Much Ado About Nothing was very fun to watch, and maybe one of the first Shakespeare plays that I really understood. The actors did a great job of becoming their characters, and the performance really makes me want to get more interested in the world of Shakespeare. The experience was thrilling. 

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Reckless by Cornelia Funke, is a suspenseful story that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. It starts off with a twelve year old boy whose father disappeared. His name is Jacob Reckless, and he has a younger brother named Will. Jacob discovers that the mirror in his father's study is a portal to a parallel world. This world is filled with magical creatures, and is very different from it's neighbor. 
Twelve years later, Jacob, who is now a grown man, has made a name for himself in the Mirrorworld as a treasure hunter. His brother followed him through this time and has been bitten by a Goyl. Goyl are people made of stone that wish to conquer the Mirrorworld. 
Jacob knows that he has limited time before Will grows stone skin of his own and becomes one of the fierce creatures. He goes on an adventure that will test his mentally and physically.
The Characters:
Jacob is very brave and clever, and probably the best treasure hunter in the world. He is restless, and needs to be on an adventure. Otherwise he will be miserable. Many girls are attracted to Jacob, yet he has never really stayed with one long.
Will's last name does not suit him at all. Where Jacob is rough, Will is gentle. Where Jacob is fidgety, Will is still. In love with a girl named Clara. Because of his sweet personality, the transformation is shocking when Will starts to behave like a Goyl: angry and fierce. He believes in Jacob.
Fox is a vixen that has the ability to change back into human form. She has been with Jacob since he saved her from a fox trap. No one can lie to Fox, and she knows Jacob better than he knows himself. She is secretly in love with Jacob, but the reader only finds this out later on, when there is an obvious connection between Jacob and Clara.
Clara is in love with Will, but later on, her emotions are clouded. Jacob and her both went for a drink at the river, but it turned out to be magical water. The water makes the drinker kiss and fall in love with the closest living thing, no matter how ugly. However, while Jacob continues to love Clara, she stays by Will's side always.
The relationships between these characters makes the book even more interesting.

Romeo and Juliet Reading Response

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a story about a boy and a girl from rival families that fall deeply in love. The characters each have their own personality that contributes to the plot. 
Romeo is a teenager that is in love with a girl (Rosaline) that does not love him back. During the night he wanders the forest, sighing and crying because of his longing for this girl. Come daylight, he comes home and shuts himself in his room, because he does not want to talk to anyone. I think Romeo finds love a very fragile thing that cannot be described through words. However, Romeo believes he has never loved until he sees Juliet. I don't think love has been very kind to Romeo.
Benvolio is Romeo's cousin and dear friend, and strongly thinks that Romeo should forget about Rosaline and move on. To Benvolio, love is not sacred (like it is to Romeo), and it should be easy to forget about a girl. I don't think he is trying to insult Romeo, because it really seems like he was worried when he talked about how Romeo was reacting to his un-returned love for Rosaline.
Mercutio is Romeo's other friend, who has an easier time calling Romeo out on the ridiculous things he does. For instance, when Romeo speaks of a dream, Mercutio mocks him by describing Queen Mab, a small fairy-like creature that brings specific dreams to people. But like Benvolio, Mercutio still cares about Romeo. When they all attend a masked banquet, Mercutio urges a reluctant Romeo to dance. He wants him to move on as well. I like Mercutio, because he seems like a very fun, lively character that brings a little humor into the play. 
Juliet is a young girl that is faced with the decision to marry a powerful Count named Paris. She does not want to marry at all, but considers it because it is what her parents want. When she sees Romeo, it is love at first sight. Even though he is a Montague,  she wants to be with him. Juliet is a very interesting character, because it seems that she hasn't really thought of love since she met Romeo.
With all of these characters, Romeo and Juliet is brought to life. 

Romeo and Juliet (Act 1, Scene 1)

Now that I am able to understand the story, Romeo and Juliet, I really like it. Of course, I've heard about the story by seeing allusions from other books and movies, and even saw the end of a modern version of Romeo  and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio. All I knew was that there were two people in love, and they both ended up dying.

I like scene 1, because it introduces the story through a dialogue between two Capulets (family of Juliet) that despise the Montague family of Romeo. It is clear that there is a fierce rivalry between the two families. Only after a street fight brawl do we hear about Romeo. But Romeo is not in love with Juliet yet, he is in love with a girl named Rosaline. She does not love Romeo back, which causes him to wander alone in the woods, depressed. Benvolio, Romeo's cousin, is trying to make Romeo forget about Rosaline and observe "other beauties". So far, we have not heard of Juliet.