Much Ado about Nothing: in Performance - University of Birmingham

Shakespeare’s much loved play, Much Ado about Nothing, is read and studied all over the world. But it was written to be staged, and can only be fully appreciated and understood through performance.

In this free online course, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), the University of Birmingham’s Shakespeare Institute and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust will welcome you to Stratford-upon-Avon - the home of William Shakespeare and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Learning from actors, academics and the director of the RSC’s current production, the course will explore Much Ado about Nothing in performance, with a different area of focus for each of its four weeks:

- Week 1: Dr Nick Walton from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust will discuss original performance conditions, looking at how Much Ado about Nothing was staged in Shakespeare’s time; how his role as an actor shaped his writing; and how he reflects the age in which he lived.

- Week 2: Dr Abigail Rokison from the Shakespeare Institute will look at the different ways in which the play has been interpreted for the stage throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, focussing on how the darker side of Much Ado about Nothing has been explored.

- Week 3: Christopher Luscombe, Director of the RSC’s current production of Much Ado about Nothing, will discuss his role, as he worked on the play from initial rehearsals to its culmination on the Royal Shakespeare Theatre stage.

- Week 4: Michelle Terry and Edward Bennett, who play Beatrice and Benedick in the current production, will discuss their approach as actors, and how they use the text to create performances with depth, coherence and energy.

By the end of the course, you’ll feel confident in commenting analytically on the interpretations and staging choices made in the RSC’s current production of Much Ado about Nothing. This sets the play in a new era, just after World War 1, and sees it performed as Love’s Labour’s Won - a title possibly attributed to it during Shakespeare’s lifetime.

This course is an excellent accompaniment to the production, which can be watched: live at the the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 14 March 2015; in cinemas on 4 March 2015; and in schools on 30 April 2015, as part of the RSC’s schools broadcast series.

You can find out more in Jacqui O’Hanlon’s post for the FutureLearn blog: “Much Ado about Nothing: why there’s no right or wrong way to interpret this play.”