When the Prince comes to visit his friend bringing his bastard brother, the brave Claudio, and the clownish Benedick, love, betrayal, and humorous antics are the result. Starring Catherine Tate as the sharp-witted Beatrice and David Tennant as the proud bachelor Benedick, this version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing will have you equal parts gasping for air from laughing too hard and swooning from David Tennant’s facial expressions.
I am a firm believer that theatre is meant to be performed not read, and all you have to do is watch this version of Much Ado About Nothing to understand why. Set in a modern dress and time, but still in Shakespearian language, this play makes Shakespeare accessible. The characters become real. The jokes become understandable. And in this version, the interpretation makes it even funnier!
Plus, you get to stare at this guy a lot:
I can’t explain how his face makes me feel.
I must add that Beatrice is a complete bamf. It’s pretty well known that Shakespeare’s women are kind of iffy. Any of the strong ones end up crazy (Lady Macbeth) or beaten down (Taming of the Shrew), and if anyone other than Catherine Tate had performed this part Beatrice would have gone the way of the shrew. But in the expert hands of Tate (and Tennant), Beatrice doesn’t become a fool for love but falls in love with an equal. And now Catherine Tate is my spirit animal:
I just want to be you, Catherine. Just let me be you.
As a bonus, there’s an (older) audiobook version of Much Ado About Nothing where Tennant plays Benedick that I discovered on my recent audiobook hunt. I’m so excited to listen to it!
You can purchase or rent this version of Much Ado About Nothing here.
Warning: do not watch while in a public place or while eating or drinking. Yes, you will laugh that hard.
Need much more on Much Ado?
“Beatrice and Benedick are two of my all-time favourite fictional characters, and their love story is up there in my top five, right alongside Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s, and Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe’s.” ~ Samantha @ An Aspiring Receptionist
coffeeandwizards 
I still can’t get over the fact that I got to see them perform this live. It’s just… *happy sigh* So much love for these two. 😀
I haven’t reviewed this production, but I did review the play in general (with a minor mention of Tate and Tennant at the end, lol): http://anaspiringreceptionist.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/book-8-much-ado-about-nothing-william-shakespeare/
I am still super jealous you got to see them live. That must have just been unbelievable.
It was… just… unbelievable. I kind of just sat there in awe to start with, like it wasn’t real, lol. I was only about eight rows back, and it took a few minutes for it to sink in that Tennant was actually in front of me, and not on tv, and could SEE me. lol.
yupp, this is one of my other favourite things
I ain’t even bovered is my catch phrase whenever I remember to use it
I just watched this last night; it was my reward for finishing reading Much Ado for a class. =] Can’t decide whether I like David Tennant better in this or Hamlet, but both productions are fantastic. And that’s not even just from a fangirl perspective, that’s from an English major perspective too.
I still haven’t seen David Tennant’s Hamlet. Really need to though!
David Tennant AND Catherine Tate AND Shakespeare. I am DROWNING in all of this awesomeness! I’ve wanted to watch this for awhile now, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I watched Fright Night last week just because David was in it. It actually turned out to be better than I thought it would be. Not crazily fantastic, but worth the buck I spent to rent it at the Redbox.
IT IS SO GOOD YOU NEED TO WATCH IT!
I want to watch Fright Night, but I’m scared because I’m a scaredy-cat. Was it scary?