Live in thy heart, die in thy lap

A good, light Shakespeare comedy. Many of the usual Shakespeare tropes (mistaken identities, smart women, dumb men, fools, gender roles, marriage folies). It probably isn't top half of my favorites, but that is partially because I have a slight bias against Shakespeare's comedies. I prefer his tragedies and histories. But that is me. And there are plenty of ticket-buying people that disagree. 'Much Ado About Nothing' is still one of the more common plays of Shakespeare to see performing in schools, with Shakespeare companies, and in movies. It is a gambol that apparently plays.

Favorite lines:

“I can see he's not in your good books,' said the messenger.
'No, and if he were I would burn my library.” (Act 1, Scene 1)

“He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man. He that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.” (Act 2, Scene 1)

“Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.” (Act 3, Scene 1)

“I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.” (Act 4, Scene 1)

“For it falls out
That what we have we prize not to the worth
Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost,
Why, then we rack the value, then we find
The virtue that possession would not show us
While it was ours.” (Act 4, Scene 1)

10 people found this helpful

loved it!

The most memorable moment is the beatrice monologue I will now learn for mfa acting auditions! she learns of Benedick's supposed love. thanks!

2 people found this helpful

Great performance!

This is an unabridged performance of Much Ado About Nothing. It is well performed and a joy to listen to!

1 person found this helpful

Always love Arkangel

No one does Shakespeare justice like Arkangel performance. The actors, the supplemental music and sound effects, always brings the Globe Theatre to life. A sure fire win each and every time.

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Not good for academic projects

This audiobook was good! The voices were animated, there were sound effects, etc. and I am sure it would be great if you were wanting to listen to this for fun.

However, I listened to this for an AP lit project and it was very difficult to use for this purpose. They don’t introduce which voice is which character right off the bat so it is a guessing game as to who is who for the first five mins each time a new character comes in. Also, they do not denote when each scene is finished and worse yet the “chapters” in the audiobook don’t correlate with the acts (there are two chapters but five acts). So, finding spots in the book from the audiobook becomes very difficult. Plus, the stage directions are not read which makes for a more fluid read I’m sure, but makes it harder to understand what is going on in the story.

Overall, I think this would be good for those recreationally listening, but I would strongly recommend against this version for all students.