Throwback Thursday ~ Much Ado About Nothing

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

Noting that book blogging often focuses on new releases, here’s how Throwback Thursday works:

Pick any bookish or literary-related media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago.
Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it.
Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Set in a courtly world of masked revels and dances, this play turns on the archetypal story if a lady falsely accused of unfaithfulness. Villainy, schemes, and deceit threatens to darken the brilliant humor and sparkling wordplay–but the counterplot of a warring couple, Beatrice and Benedick, steals the scene in Shakespeare’s superb comedy of manners (via Goodreads)

That above is a somewhat edited version of the Goodreads summary because otherwise the entire story is given away. This is my favorite of Shakespeare’s comedies. As many times as I’ve read it or seen it, it always amuses me with its language and its meta plot. Throughout most of the play, Shakespeare seems to be poking fun at himself. It has laughs. It has tears. It has a heroine named Hero.

The first version I saw was Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 film adaptation:

And I’m pretty stoked for the Joss Wheadon version:

I’d also like to mention Shakespeare in the Cinema: Ocular Proof by Stephen M. Buhler as an additional Throwback and a shout out to one of my favorite college professors.

His classes, even the one on Milton, were always a mix of popular culture, music, and general lit-geekery. I was very lucky in my education to have rarely encountered forbidding literature teachers. Most were willing riff on whatever themes students saw in classic works instead of forcing one interpretation on us. Dr. Buhler is one of them best of them.