Jeevan's blog about Much Ado About Nothing

 Was performing outside in the cold a good idea with two other shows the same week? Probably Not. 

Was it worth it? Absolutely Yes.

Was screaming at the top of my voice a good idea? Definitely Not. 

 

‘Twas the second week back to Yew Tree after our Christmas shows, and we began to decide which play we would do for summer. The week before Sarah had asked us all to come in with facts about Tennessee Williams, however as usual, I forgot and so did some research in the car (or streetcar) on the way to drama. All I ended up bringing was the irrelevant fact that he was forced into being Catholic as a kid, and then a cringy pick up line (are you from Tennessee? Cos you’re the only ten I see!). Anyway, we talked about doing a play called Streetcar Named Desire (I honestly initially heard the word ‘streetcat’ so I thought we were considering doing a Streetcat Named Bob which I was hyped for but alas), but after a vote we decided against it. We then considered Much Ado About Nothing and a prequel to Hamlet that was a part of Connections once (I think) – the main difference in my mind between these is that one was written in English and one was not. For a lot of these sessions where we considered which play we would do, there was a lot of sitting in a circle listening to Sarah explain the play and then doing a little bit of acting. 

What!? Yes, I was listening! What else would I be doing – zoning out!? Never!!

After a vote, we obviously went for the one written in literally a complete other language (people keep saying to me that it’s still English, it’s just Shakespearean English – but if it wasn’t another language then we wouldn’t have to use a translator on Google would we?). 

 

We began to consider the setting for Much Ado – for example we could set it in the traditional Italy setting (for which Joe suggested we have the Spiderman Pizza theme play to show where it is), or after the war in the 1940s, or the 70s. If you saw the play or have seen the photos then I think you’ll already know which one we chose, but we decided on a 70s theme. Now, personally, this genuinely had me excited for the play because I had an array of very 70s shirts in my wardrobe that I hadn’t worn in ages and had no use for before. They did however take ‘over-sized shirts’ to a whole new level because I bought the majority of them during my “larger phase” just after lockdown when we went to Spain, so they literally went down to my kneecaps. On the topic on costume, I ended up wearing the tightest turtleneck jumper (apparently these things don’t come in any style other than muscle fit!), some high heeled boots (gave me a glimpse into the tall life), a bunch of 70s shirts and an eccentric gold blazer. 

 

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure the majority of people got the role that they auditioned for. I auditioned for Claudio with the wedding scene, not because I liked his character (no-one did), not because I thought playing a pathetic character would be fun, but because I was under the impression that I would be able to throw someone over a bench (obviously I was wrong). Casting came through, and I was given Claudio, and I’d spend most of my time on stage with Benedict played by Connor and Nat, Beatrice played by Arwen and Chloe, Don Pedro played by Kenzie, Leonato played by Olli and Hero played by Eliana and Georgie. 

 

For the first few rehearsals I really didn’t understand the play or character at all, and I struggled a lot with reading it. There was a point in Act 1 where Claudio and Don Pedro were talking (or just listening) to Benedict (who frankly just waffled on for time), and I was just stood there nodding my head and smiling to his ridiculous and offensive comments because I didn’t understand anything! It’s like when someone comes up to you and says something but you don’t understand so you just laugh hoping for the best. I’d started working at a bar in Wakefield, The Establishment, and then number of times some guy would just talk to me and I’d laugh with them despite not hearing the joke, then once they’d left I’d just stand there still and reconsider all my life choices is ridiculous. I’m gonna skip a few months to July 7^th to tell this story but me, Ellie and Kingy (who called the play ‘Much Ado About Nowt’) were in a taxi on the way to Connor’s party and frank(turner)ly in some ridiculously embarrassing clothes, and the driver said to us ‘It’s nice to see buses back on the roads after the strikes’ and none of us said anything back, which felt really rude, but we couldn’t contain out laughter in the back of the car. I don’t know why that’s actually relevant but for more stories like that, my Brexit blog will have them. In one of the rehearsals, I was having a really bad time simply because I couldn’t read it well enough so I did a whole dramatic exit to go get my green overlay from the other room only to realise I hadn’t brought it so I did a whole dramatic entrance back (all of this happened before I had even reached the door). It was then when I realised for this play that a lot of work had to be done outside the rehearsal room. 

 

There were two moments during rehearsals which really empowered me: 

1.     In Act 2, Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato had to convince Benedict that Beatrice was in love with him. Sarah’s initial advice for this scene was to act really badly which I personally believe to be my speciality. 

2.     Again, in Act 2, when Claudio “proposes” to Hero, there had to be a very awkward silence and moment between them. Being awkward is a common theme for me. 

 

This empowerment was very short lived as soon after, Georgie told Sarah that in her version of the script, Claudio and Hero share a kiss together. Luckily, Sarah took pity on me and said this wasn’t necessary, but Claudio should still at least kiss Hero on the hand, however, as you will know, I was very much against this with a passion. If Georgie hadn’t said anything, then this probably would’ve never crossed Sarah’s mind. Come the time of the performance, this was forgotten about, and that scene actually became one of my favourites from the entire play… 

 

After an interesting conversation with Olli about grabbing air out of a car window, the play was fully underway. We were powering through each act of the play, costumes were being found, and lines were being learnt (or meant to). One part of the play that I was truly dreading was Claudio’s song in Act 5. However, in a week when I wasn’t there, Sarah cut this but didn’t tell me because she wanted me to panic for about 5 minutes during rehearsal. Thankfully, Nat had told me it was cut at Brexit, so thankyou!

 

Sidebar: By this point, our Connections play Hunt was well and truly over, but I would like to propose a future play idea. A mix of Hunt and Find a Partner where Jo and Jamie go head to head with Steve and Carly to see who will survive the longest! 

 

When we were deciding where to perform Much Ado, quite a few places were listed including Clarence Park, The Secret Garden, Mechanics and also Nat’s garden. We knew we wanted it outside and needed a fairly large space for it so that narrowed it down to Clarence Park and Nat’s garden, and eventually the tough decision had to be made – we obviously chose Clarence Park (the Putting Green). I was very wary (I now know the difference between weary and wary thanks to Sarah now) of doing it outside simply because of British weather, but after performing Merlin and Morgana, I honestly was looking forward to it. That was until Sarah got the news two weeks prior to performing, and two days before going on holiday, that we could no longer use Clarence Park. Sarah asked us to try and find a venue during the two weeks she was away, and so I did a bit of research. I ended up contacting Waterton Park, Nostell Priory, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Primrose Hall, a bunch of town halls in the area, Wakefield Golf Club, Walton Hall and Sandal Rugby Club. Quite a few got back in touch saying they can’t facilitate us on such short notice or because they already have plans in place on the days we had other than Nostell. Fay from Nostell Priory emailed me back asking to set up a call for the following week to discuss it further so come Monday, I reluctantly called her. However, to my relief (I really don’t like making phone calls) she didn’t pick up the first time so I called it quits and confessed that I couldn’t find a venue. Sadly, ten minutes later she phoned me back and I answered. It was genuinely a very chill call, other than Fay forgetting she had emailed me beforehand, but she ended up saying that we could have Nostell for our performances. Luckily, later in the week, Sarah had managed to get Clarence Park back for our performance at the original times! 

 

During the two weeks Sarah was away, I genuinely had such a blast with Ellie taking Gold company, and Brexit taken by Paul (these were my two favourite rehearsals), but for Much Ado it was a completely different story. Having it lead by Vanessa was great, she genuinely gave us some good directions and encouraged us a lot but my issue with the two rehearsals we had was how behind schedule the play was. Ben came to sit in for a session, and I remember before it started I was just in the corridor talking to him and Ellie, and then Vanessa said that she’s extended the time until warm up by 2mins, which was already up – I took the hint, she wanted us in the room. But throughout the rehearsal I kept just going into Studio 2 to get away because it really frustrated me. At this point, I don’t think we had a full cast once! But as always, these things pass and the play always comes together by the time of the performance. Sarah said the play was so close but so far away at the same time and it honestly summed it up perfectly.

 

About a month before the play, unfortunately, Callum had to drop out (luckily, fingers crossed, we should be seeing him again for the Christmas shows), so John stepped in to help. I was already seeing John twice a week, and that was enough chaos for me, but seriously, having John a part of the cast was really fun: 1. You can’t fault his acting, 2. His ridiculousness always brightens up the rehearsal room, and 3. He knows how to encourage us to make us believe that we can do it (I just know his ego is gonna go through the roof now). I remember when I walked into drama in one of my 70s outfits, and I saw John and he just smirked so I fully just told him to shut up despite it interrupting Best and Worst (not being able to interrupt is page 1 of rulebook 1 of YTYT, as is not being able to eat a DibDab whilst on stage which I found out existed several years ago back when Sapphire was held at CAPA). 

 

Throughout the rehearsals, we spent a lot of time focussing on Act 1, Act 2 and Act 4, and so for me personally I felt that Act 3 and 5 were the weakest. Luckily, I feel that Sarah also thought this too so we continued to go over these until we were confident in them. Near the end of our Brexit rehearsals, a little group developed and we decided that we would go to Karaoke night every Wednesday at Hogarths. However, on one Wednesday, an extra rehearsal had been planned for Much Ado which would’ve been fine because both me and John could just say we can’t make it, but the issue we had was that we had Lamda beforehand. So, both me and John concocted a plan to go to Lamda and then make a (Taylor) swift getaway (car), however someone (Ahem John!) couldn’t contain their words and let it slip that we were gonna go Hogarths and miss the extra rehearsal. To clarify, this wasn’t a whole cast thing, only about 4 others turned up. In the end, we were “persuaded” to stay and rehearse (it genuinely was useful though) but we “enjoyed” an eventful night out afterwards.

 

The next day, we had our first (and only) rehearsal in our outdoor performance space. The weather was surprisingly nice (or fine, which I apparently use as a descriptive term a lot), and on a personal note, I knew my lines a lot better than I thought. For Hero’s funeral scene - which, for some reason, was underscored with some pretty upbeat music, had hardly anyone show up (probably because people hardly knew her – get it? Nevermind) and had one of the perpetrator’s read the epitaph (a fact we only figured out one day before the show) – I was tasked with making the gravestone using the photos taken by Arwen and I made the mistake of doing it out of very thin cardboard. This obviously did not sit well with the wind (pun intended). Luckily, after a bit of problem solving and combined brain power, we solved it by shoving my hair gel inside the base of the grave to weigh it down. Sadly, after the performances I left my hair gel inside the grave which is now at the WYTDC and even though I literally went back a few weeks after, I still forgot it again! I mean, we all know I don’t use hair gel on a daily basis, but still, I like at least having the option. During Balthazar’s song, we had an idea that to further Claudio’s obnoxiousness, he should join in and sing ‘Hey Nonny Nonny” very badly. This was probably the worst decision I have ever made, which I will explain a bit later on. However, a win for the day was seeing Brooke in a moment of weakness wear my gold blazer after continuously refusing to wear it for the entire rehearsal – it’s a very small win, but a win is a win. During another scene, I brushed my hand through Connor’s hair and honestly, the amount of gel in there was insane – my hand literally got stuck. Now, Chloe said two very interesting and memorable things that day:

1.     Someone could ski off the end of my hair because it was so flicked up. 

2.     I have a collection of shirts that would’ve been used as wallpaper in a 70s --- (moving on).

By about 9pm, the majority of the cast had already left so we called it quits, even though we hadn’t actually done the ending of the play. But it’s fine (he says in a Ross Geller high-pitched voice)! As I’ve said before, these things always come together in the end.  

 

A week later, the day before our first performance, a few of us (Arwen, Connor, Chloe, Nat, a Zoom Brooke and myself) met up in Starbucks (a mate date, if I may) to run lines and scenes we weren’t fully confident about – I initially said “I’m sure I’ll be fine” which, later in the day, I found out was not true. The day before this I went through each scene of the play I was in just coming up with some ideas (by some, I mean two A4 sides), some for my own character, and some for the interactions Claudio has with others. The issue I had with my character at this minute (other than his insane level of pathetic-ness) is that I played him too ‘nervously’ in Act 1, whereas what I wanted to convey to the audience was his kiddish and boisterous friendship with Benedict. After our Starbucks “mate date”, I went back to Ben’s where Arwen and Connor were staying where we managed to go through lines for the entire play but I’m not gonna lie, I spent a lot of the time focussed on his cat! Before I headed off to Lamda and Hogarths, we enjoyed a little game of Mario Party. That night at Hogarths, despite being encouraged to drink, I refused, and confidently explained that my voice would be better off without it this week (famous last words). 

 

The Performances: 

The day before the first performance, I’d talked to both Olli and Kenzie and we all met up an hour early to practice lines, and to go over my two A4 sides of ideas (my TED Talk as Nat called it). As always, I had with me my box of Pringles (a story I’ll save for my Brexit blog). We spent quite a lot of the time practising Act 2 Scene 3 where we were tricking Benedict into believing Beatrice was in love with him. After Connor and Arwen arrived, we practiced some scenes involving Benedict which is when Kenzie kept pointing at the back of my jacket without saying a word, until it was pointed out that there was a spider there! The weather for the first performance was actually pretty good. Once Sarah arrived, she needed some “strong people” to help her bring all the tech stuff to the performance space. It was finally time for my time in the gym to pay off… I ended up carrying a power cord. However, it’s the thought that counts. Before the performance, we went over the party dance scene (which we wear masks in so I didn’t have my glasses on for – I pretty much stumbled wherever) and finally the end of the play. Sarah also changed how we did Act 2 Scene 1 – there’s a moment when Claudio “proposes” to Hero, and initially there was just a long awkward pause where he looks at her smitten with love and surprise, however it was changed so that I move everyone that was in the scene into “wedding positions” (it’s a lot funnier if you just saw it in person – I’m not too good at explaining things). As always, my mum arrived 45 minutes early, and we were all waiting inside the golf hut for the play to begin. The play itself went really well – there was only one moment in one of Claudio’s scenes which went wrong but I’d managed to cover it up without our head in our hands (which is kinda hard with it being in a different language). There was one moment which almost made me laugh and break character in a very serious scene which was when Olli said “my daughter has a sister”! As I said before, me, Olli and Kenzie met early to practice the garden scene (Act 2 Scene 3), however in both our performances it seemed to go wrong (but it was always still fluent). The lines were always just in the wrong order – on the first day, it seemed like we lost a lot of the lines, but in the second it felt like we had too many lines (probably just because it was the first time it went almost correct). Now, an issue I had was that I didn’t want to wreck my voice before the Brexit musical we had a few days later, but that all went to the bin when I screamed Hey Nonny Nonny out. By Saturday, I had almost completely lost my voice, but I was taking an overdose of Strepsils, Paracetamol and Sudafed, so I thought I’d be fine. On the second performance, Sarah told me to take it easy and come up with an alternative to the scream… I did not. Sarah told us on the second performance to have no regrets, and I took this seriously; at the end of the play, I sung out ‘I need a Hero’ just for some laughs (I mean, it’s even from the 70s)! Despite the weather on the second day (there was a vote to change it to indoors which I seemingly slept through, but for some reason we decided to still do it outdoors), I really enjoyed performing Much Ado.

 

It seems that my blogs have a common trend – the details of the actual performances get the smallest paragraphs. Anyway, now that I’ve done that, I wanna mention a few people because this is definitely the end of yet another era for Yew Tree: 

 

1.     Connor – Genuinely, getting to know you and acting alongside you since our first play together in Ceasefire Babies 5 years ago, to our last play together this year Much Ado About Nothing, has been one of my highlights. I literally can’t count the number of times you’ve managed to make me laugh during rehearsals. I’ll be practising my Mario Kart so eventually I’ll at least come 2^nd in a race against you one day, but for now you are very much the Yew Tree Mario Kart Champion!!

2.     Chloe – Okay, so ignoring an awkward almost-3 month period and then the even more awkward two years that followed, acting alongside you is always a joy. I still remember a moment during a rehearsal for that murder mystery we did in summer last year where, for simply no reason at all, we just stood there on the side of the stage laughing for about 10 minutes straight! Bus gang definitely won’t be the same.

3.     Joe – I think we’ve established that putting us two together in a group for drama is the most utterly unproductive thing that could ever be done! But it’s always a fun choice – if Sarah ever said to get into a pair with someone you don’t know that well, you’re the guy I’d shift over to and claim I’ve never met before. Also, as a sidenote, we will survive more than three days on Stranded Deep and those crabs ain’t gonna stop us again!

 

Good luck with whatever you choose to do to everyone that’s leaving Black Company this year: Connor, Chloe, Brooke, Joe, Nat, Georgie and Lucy. Looking forward to some very different vibes next year! 

 

Anyway, that’s all for my Much Ado blog, and I do apologise for the lack of focus on the topic, the “jokes” that won’t make any sense because of a sheer lack of context and my overuse and misuse of punctuation (namely, dashes). I genuinely think Much Ado About Nothing has been one of my favourite plays to take part in so far - although I keep on saying that for every new play…

 

See you in the next blog, 

Jeevan : )