Much Ado About Nothing

Although I do read a lot and watch a few plays here and there, I would never claim to be particularly cultural. This isn't modesty (of any sort), but just me knowing what I like. And what better way to prove this but to watch a bit of Shakespeare?

Don't get me wrong - I like Shakespeare. Well I like reading Shakespeare at least, and even then an abridged prose version is preferred. But putting that aside I do think he's a lot of unnecessary hard work, hard work that does a lot to suck the fun out of his stories. And such was the case tonight while watching Much Ado About Nothing - Indian Stylee.

I don't know if it was the Shakespearean language alone or the fact that it was done with an Indian accent, but I was pretty much lost for the first 45 minutes at least - and that only because I had to Wikipedia the story after not having the foggiest - it was a little like watching a foreign film with no subtitles. This may be a little lame, and I'm certainly ashamed, but to be fair the only real alternative would have been to study it up beforehand which I think is equally loserful.

Having said that I do think that if I had been a little patient and disregarded the details (like the names of the characters) I would have been okay. Ultimately though a lot of the subtle humour (and probably the value of the whole play) was kind of wasted on me. Although I didn't hate it by the end, three hours plus was way too long (and a friend who came with me actually bailed half way through).

So considering the only real reason anyone would watch this would be for the Indian take, no, this doesn't quite get a recommendation.