​This month we watched an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, starring Sarah Parish, Damian Lewis, Billie Piper and Tom Ellis.  It was part of a series of four television adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays broadcast on BBC in 2005.  It relocated the story to the present day, which did mean some changes in the story and characters. 
 
The setting for the adaptation was a news studio where all the main characters were employed.  For those familiar with Shakespeare’s play, Beatrice and Benedick were feuding co-presenters, Hero the weather girl, Leonard the station manager and Claude (Claudio) the sports presenter.  Don was a jealous visual effects manager.  To fit into the present time and the studio setting, there were some slight variations to the story, but in general the plot was similar.
 
One variation that I noted was the use of a Shakespeare Sonnet that Beatrice and Benedick discuss in place of the poems which they had written about one another in the original play.  The other notable variation was that Hero and Claude do not marry.  This perhaps fitted a more current approach, with all U3A attendees suggesting that they would not have forgiven Claude after what he had done to Hero on their wedding day.
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An interesting question is whether this was a comedy or tragedy.  One person summed it up as rather a comedy of errors.
 
Our current plan is to watch 12 Angry Men next month, based on a play by Reginald Rose.  This will be our last session for the year.  Everyone is invited to join us as an introduction to Film and Literature for next year.

We watched another episode in the Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads series.  This time it was be Miss Fozard Finds Her Feet, a monologue by Patricia Routledge.  It was interesting to compare this with the previous episode we had watched – Bed Among the Lentils.
 
It was interesting to see how characters can be created via a monologue.  Patricia Routledge created the different characters by voice changes and head movements, actually acting the characters.  There were three characters in particular that she showed really strongly using these techniques – her brother and two chiropodists in her life. 
 
Through the script we also gained a good picture of Miss Fozzard herself.  She was a bit naïve, at least at first, but was cautious about younger people who she thought did not have much experience and so were not necessarily capable.  The setting was also well suited to the monologue.  For example, after her brother has a second stroke, we see her looking out with rain running down the window, representing the bleakness of the situation.  Through her words we can “see” her brother sitting in his chair staring into space.  All of this showed how clever Alan Bennett’s script is, and how well Patricia Routledge interprets the words.
 
Next month we will be watching an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, starring Sarah Parish, Damian Lewis, Billie Piper and Tom Ellis.  Everyone is welcome to join us.  Anyone familiar with the Shakespeare Play may be particularly interested in this film. 
 
Details of BPACC’s Seniors Week screening of ‘Love and Friendship’ can be found in ‘Around the Traps’ (Drop down menu under 'Benalla'.
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