Much Ado About Nothing

The BBC Drama Group presents Much Ado About Nothing, set in a modern day TV studio.

A film of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Kenneth Branagh. Branagh plays Benedick, Emma Thompson acts as Beatrice, Kate Beckinsale is Hero, and Keanu Reeves plays Don John.

A TV version of the play. It’s a well regarded BBC Miniseries production.

A filmed performance of the New York Shakespeare Festival playing Much Ado About Nothing, set in the 1920s.

A Russian film of Much Ado About Nothing (titled Mnogo shuma iz nichego), directed by Samson Samsonov.

A silly scene where Benedick is transformed into an idiot by love, as brought to you by the BBC’s Shakespeare Retold.

Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 Production, with Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, and Kate Beckinsale. (Shakespeare as it should be done.)

Third Rock From the Sun reminds us that there are Shakespeare references all over the modern day.

University of Maryland Baltimore County’s poster for their 2005 Production of Much Ado About Nothing.

A bunch of cool photos from a production of Much Ado About Nothing at Le Moyne College – seemingly set after a modern war.

Movie poster from PBS Shakespeare for Much Ado About Nothing.

Emma Thompson as Beatrice and Kenneth Branagh as Benedick in Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 production of Much Ado About Nothing.

Another picture of Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh in the 1993 production of Much Ado About Nothing.

Cover for Much Ado About Nothing in the Shakespeare New Folger Library.

A clean copy of Much Ado About Nothing with no line numbers from the wonderfully comprehensive Renascence Editions.

A copy of the complete text of Much Ado About Nothing, broken neatly into scenes. Be careful! Though the acts and scenes are marked correctly, the site author uses his own system for line-numbering, so though the text is correct, the line numbers won’t correspond to your printed editions. Still, wonderfully searchable, and has the neat feature of allowing you to see all the lines (and cue lines) for individual characters, which is cool, if you’re that kind of person.

A complete text of Much Ado About Nothing from the fantastically reliable bartleby.com. It’s reprinted from The Oxford Shakespeare of 1914. Again, be aware that the line numbers won’t correspond with modern printed editions.

This is a super cool facsimile of interpretation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, as taken from Charles and Mary Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare. The two authors set out (in late 19th century style) to present Shakespeare in a way that was captivating and accessible for younger readers. It’s a wonderful look at Shakespeare interpretation from the 19th century.

A more plain and straight presentation of the Lambs’ Much Ado About Nothing, excerpted from the remainder of the book.

This is a great site from the Internet Shakespeare Editions, including facsimiles of the play from a variety of early printings, and the text of the play from the First Folio of 1623 and the First Quarto of 1600. Definitely check out the "Life and Times" section for some interesting commentary.

This site from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2006 production of Much Ado About Nothing includes a performance history of the play, and some neat little games about past performances and the characters themselves. Check out their "Themes" tab as well, which explores Shakespeare and race, Shakespeare and gender, and Shakespeare and blood & guts.

A short essay with some points to ponder about Much Ado About Nothing. It includes a brief look at content and performance history, with links to some of the play’s more important monologues.

Here’s the website for the odd, modernized 2005 BBC production of Much Ado About Nothing. The story is set in a newsroom, Anchorman style.

A brief and incisive essay on "noting" in Much Ado About Nothing.