Week 2 – Acting the Role: BEATRICE (Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”) – The Rehearsal Room

Erika Rolfsrud

All right. 

Nathan Agin

Hi everybody, this is Nathan Agin. Welcome back to the Working Actors Journey rehearsal Room. We’re back for week number two with acting the role of Beatrice from Shakespeare’s. Much a do about nothing. And yeah, we’re gonna keep exploring this character. If you, if this is your first session, pause here. Go back, check out week one, catch up on all, all this stuff, you know, everybody discussed last time and the conversations, we’ll just keep going deeper and deeper. So the only other thing I wanna mention is if you’re on YouTube subscribe. If you’re on the podcast platform, subscribe, let people know about this, click those notifications so you find out when things are coming out if you’d like to support the project. 

We are on Patreon, so you can help this continue to grow and develop. 

And I think that’s it for me. There’s, there’s more notes and things like that below on YouTube or in, in the podcast description. If you’re looking for links for either things that were talked about or to learn more about what you know, what this is or to follow along with the scenes, all those links are below. So that is it. I’ll turn it over to the group. Have a great session and I’ll try to catch you guys at the end. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Thanks Nathan. 

Shannon Clair

Great, 

Juls Hoover

thank you. 

Erika Rolfsrud

So I’m gonna start a little differently this week, speaking to my brilliant friend Jeff Steyer, who manages to find these archival videos and things like that. 

We were talking about much ado and apparently no, not just, apparently there was a recording of the much Ado about nothing at the, at the national, the first company at the national, and Maggie Smith plays Beatrice and her then husband Robert Stevens plays Benedict. And it got me to thinking about performance in that, the differences of how the scene is played. 

So I’ve got four little clips of the very first scene and it would be interesting to discuss a little bit and then we can go dive in and, and, and get to the meat of, of knowing what the meanings are. Just watch, watch this. 

See if I can do it. Okay, there we are. And share. 

She did. Okay. This, okay, this is, I have to say is one of my favorites. This is Catherine Tate and David Tenet. And also notice the staging. Is it public? Is it private? What do you think about either choice? 

Shannon Clair

Can you do Full screen? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

I wonder that you’ll still be talking Senior Benedict, somebody marks You. 

What My dear lady dine, are you yet living? 

Is it possible disdain should die when she has such meat food to feed it. A senior Benedict courtesy itself must convert to disdain. If you come in her presence, Then it’s courtesy a turncoat. But it is Set. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Erica, 

Erika Rolfsrud

all ladies 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Erica 

Erika Rolfsrud

and I would, I could 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

find it. 

Erika Rolfsrud

We’re 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

not able to hear it sadly. I’m sorry. We’re not able. Oh there it is. 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Maybe I 

Shannon Clair

sat us astray with the full screen. Maybe it doesn’t work with full screen. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Oh no. So you missed all that beginning? Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

Yes. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay, hold on. I’ll just start 

Shannon Clair

it 

Erika Rolfsrud

again. I will eat whatever he lays out for me. Okay, so 

Now I wonder that you will still be talking sin benedict. Nobody marks you. 

What my dear lady dine? 

Are you yet living? 

Is it possible disdain should die when she has such meat food to feed it. A sin Benedict courtesy itself must convert to disdain. If you come in her presence Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I’m loved of all ladies only you accepted. And I wish I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart for truly I love none. A dear happiness to women. 

That is the first. Lemme see if I can bring this down. Gotta move. Maybe you guys over here. There and then this is from the movie The Brown All movie. Okay, here we go. 

Daughter, her mother half many times told me. So were you in doubt, sir? That you ask her Senior Benedict No. 

In your Leonardo be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders. For all Messina as Nike as she is, I wonder that you will still be talking Senior Benedict. Nobody marks you. What my dear lady disdain. 

Are you yet living? Is it possible disdain should die while she had such meat food To feed it ass Benedict courtesy itself must convert to disdain. If you come in her presence, then It’s courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain I’m loved of all ladies only you accepted. And I would, I could find in my heart that I had not a hard heart for truly I love none. A dear happiness to women. They would else have been troubled with a pernicious suiter. I thank God and my cold blood. I am of your humor for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a mans swear he’d lost me. And God, keep your ladyship still in that mind. 

So some gentleman or other she’ll escape A predestinate scratched face 

Scratching could not make it worse. And for such a face as yours were Well you are a rare parrot teacher. A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours. I would my horse at the speed of your tongue. Bird, keep your way here. God’s name I have done. 

You always end with a jade’s trick. 

Right then the recent one in at the public theater in the park. No be her father. She would not have his head on her shoulders as like him as she is. I wonder that you’ll still be talking sin. You are been a dick. Nobody marks you. 

What My dear lady disdain. Are you yet living? Is it possible disdain should die while she has such meat food to feed it in. Your benedict courtesy itself must convert to disdain. If you come in her presence, Then it’s courtesy A turncoat, huh? But it is certain I’m loved of all ladies only you accepted. And I would, I could find in my heart that I had not a hoard Hort For truly I love none A dear happiness to women. They would else have been troubled with the pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood. I am of your humor for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow then a man swear he loves me. 

Ooh God, keep your ladyship filling in that mind. So some gentlemen or others shall escape. A predestinate scratched face Scratching Cannot not make it worse for such a is yours work? 

Okay. And then finally, Maggie Smith. 

If senior Leonardo be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders for all messina as like him as she is. I wonder you will still be talking Senior Benedict. Nobody marks What my dear lady this day. Now you yet living? Is it possible disdain should die when she has such meat food defeated? A senior Benedict courtesy itself must convert to disdain when you come in. Her presence Then is courtesy a term code. But it is certain I am loved of all ladies only who accept it. And I would, I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart for truly, I love Nan, but Dear happiness to women, they would else be troubled with a pernicious suit. 

I thank God in my cold blood, I’m of your mind for that. I’d rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man’s swear. He Loves me. God, keep your ladyship still in that mind. So some gentleman or others she’ll escape. A predestinate scratched face Scratching could not make it worse. And such a face as yours. Oh, well you’re their par teacher at the End of my tongue is better than a beast of your, I would my horse at the speed of your tongue and stayed his call. So, well, but keep your way of God’s name because I have to end of the I know You. 

I, I, that was a choice that kind of made me go, whoa, whoa. Okay, stopping the share. 

I, I showed that so that we could look at the language, the shape of the language and how everybody used it. 

The paces were so different and everything from what I loved is like the difference in, in period for the time that the production was using. Sounds contemporary sounds, you know, bean, you know, benedick, you know, and all this kind of stuff that, that, you know, are perfectly valid and fun to play with. 

I was very shocked actually by the ending of the, the Maggie Smith and Robert. Didn’t that take you by surprise? 

But it’s valid. 

I would be curious to know how the rest of the scene played out from that beat. ’cause it seemed like everybody was sort of like piling in at that point. 

What I found interesting with the Emma Thompson, there was a sorrow in her that was there. And what was interesting, whether Bran meant to or not. Her frame at the end, she was alone in the frame and everybody was behind him, which just kind of broke my heart. 

And then David Tenet and Catherine Tate, you know, and I loved his accent. I I, I know that’s his actual accent, but I loved the flavor and the melody that he brought to it. And not being afraid of like, I think this is the license that I would love people to learn with. Shakespeare’s. Like when he said, what my dear lady disdain are you yet living? Just, you know, sets it up just beautifully. 

Melody rhythm, public versus private playful cover, like Catherine Tate clinking, David Tenet’s cup, like a little toast. And nobody was paying attention to them at all. Everybody was upstage ignoring them. 

And then you have the the ones where everybody’s like, oh, they’re going at it again. We’re gonna watch Maggie Smith and Robert Stevens. 

And it’s, it’s just an interesting, like nobody’s really paying attention to them in, in the browna until towards the end of their sniping. And it’s just fascinating to me. 

And just, I, I absolutely love how different every single one of them are that this language is, there’s a basic beginning, middle end to that first scene as all scenes are. And they all followed it. 

But the difference in motivation that they decided to go at it with was really fascinating to, to me, to, you know, see, what did you guys think? What’d you notice? 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I mean, I, I was reflecting on my own personal preference of just as a personality, how I would like to have a conversation like this with someone I have that kind of a relationship with. Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

noticed that some of the clips we watched were more performative in that the character was performing for her or his audience. And I simply gravitated towards the more intimate conversations. Like I gravitated towards the Catherine Tate and David Tenet one because of that intimacy and that nor the normalcy or the real, I think I’m a more realism based performer, so I like the normalcy that is established in those moments or like before the audience turned towards them in the braa version. That also could be, because I’ve seen those two clips before and the other two I hadn’t. So I don’t, I wonder if it’s a familiarity thing, but I think that’s also part of it. Like I just gravitate towards realism based conversations. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. Anybody else? 

Shannon Clair

I mean, I guess what I was also noticing was that even though the tenant and take one, no one on stage is paying attention. So it is, it is conveyed as a private conversation. There is an awareness of the audience on both of their parts. There is a real relationship happening with the audience that’s in front of them, which was interesting, I thought. Yeah. Okay. Because I was like, ah, it doesn’t totally feel like a private conversation. They, it still feels like they’re trying to one up the other, but like, somehow they have this insight into the fact that they’re still being watched even though the people in their world are not watching them. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. And that I, I was really sad that that clip was shortened. We didn’t get to see the very end of it when she does Jade trick to him. 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

You, it was, so we don’t know how that evolved with that one. Right. I thought I was curious that they’d cut it there, but 

Shannon Clair

Because Yeah, in the other ones, I mean, in the, in the brena it becomes so personal. Yes. In that moment it’s completely personal and private. 

And it, there is like a whole little journey that he, that he’s built in and the way he’s directed it, where like, you start off and they’re having a personal conversation, then they’re having a public conversation. He exits gloriously and she is left with this long standing resentment of like, well that’s, that’s our relationship. There we go. That kind of sums it up. 

I feel like that’s what that scene is telling me. 

Erika Rolfsrud

It’s interesting the idea of, sorry, that it, it would create an even bigger challenge for him than to win her because she was, there was so much pain in history in her pain there for me in that window. 

And it was almost more of a private aside, you always end, end with a Jades trick 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Rather than an accusatory thing that maybe he didn’t even hear. I I, to me, the way I I watched it, it struck me is that that was private and Well yeah, 

Shannon Clair

because seem like in the public one, you’re trying to one up with that. Right. So, or or in the Maggie Smith version, which is really interesting. You just lose it on that one and there’s a whole nother level of something going on there. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Totally is. 

Shannon Clair

But yeah, I feel like in the, in the, it feels like a statement that’s not just about this is how you win conversations, but this is what you do between the two of us. You bow out Fast. Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Interesting. 

Juls Hoover

There’s the history that’s rich. 

Erika Rolfsrud

It’s Totally the history. Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

What’s interesting, I think you were talking about public and private and performative, and I think there’s an aspect of being performative in front of a group for the audience or in front of their peers or performative for each other too, in order to protect and, and guard up and, and yeah, again, to protect what has happened and to show that you are unaffected by it. And I think that even in those performative spaces, whether it’s for the audience, whether it’s for their peers or for each other, it was everything to watch the reactions of the jibes and retorts going back and forth and flying. And who was affected by what, like even in that last one at the, is it the Delacorte? That last one? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. The one before Maggie Smith. Yes. The one at the Delacorte. Yes. 

Juls Hoover

His reaction at the, at the end with the scratch face and what he took from that, because they were going back and forth and it was very lively, but he stopped at that almost like he was put on his heels a little bit. And I think for each one of them, and for each one of them, each one of the clips I, there was a different relationship and a different history and different choices for that, that were being made. And I thought what you said previously last week, that is everything and that changes everything. And, and especially in how those reactions happen after each retort. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I hope you got something from that as we now dive into the nitty and of figuring out what it is that Bill’s given us to say. 

So 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

One more thing about interesting was watching theater. I love, I love watching theater, but there’s something about watching Emma Thompson’s face that just gave me more insight into the character than watching, for example, Catherine Tate or Daniel Brooks from, you know, like a, like a wide shot type of thing. So if Emma Thompson was the only Beatrice I saw in those four clips who really enjoyed, she like got turned in like onto that conversation. She said, oh, I, I, here’s my partner, here’s the person I get to the other people I didn’t necessarily see that with. And that could have just been because we’re watching a theater performance as, you know, like a wide shot type of thing. 

But I saw something in her eyes that I didn’t see in anybody else, and I thought that was interesting. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Hmm mm Yeah. Yeah. I 

Cat Sheehan

Feel like, sorry. 

Erika Rolfsrud

No, go. Go. 

Cat Sheehan

I think that moment, I, I really love Briana’s direction and I love the, the way he directs that film. And I think that I, of course I start looking at the whole story and like that moment where I always feel every one of these scenes, I always feel like, feel like Beatrice is quicker than she’s really quick. And I feel like that’s why Ian’s with a j’s trick. ’cause he is like, you know, he is sort of running to keep up with her. I, you know, 

Erika Rolfsrud

I 

Cat Sheehan

don’t know if that’s my bias, but I, that’s how it feels to me. And then to have Emma Thompson’s portrayal Beatrice and to, to sort of show her isolated makes me think of two things. I feel like Brandon is sort of setting up the shaming, right? That like Benedict is playing to the crowd and he’s kind of, it seems to me that he’s the one who’s kind of leaning into that public space and then walks away and kind of leaves her. And it makes me think of, you know, the way he directs the wedding scene, it’s super gendered. So you see like all the men on one side and, and all the women on the other, and Benedict’s, right? The only one who, aside from the Friar, who sort of calm and then ultimately kind of steps over to the female side. 

So I feel like I kind of see this, to me, it sort of sets up Beatrice for how frustrated she is in that even that kill Claudia line. Like, and, and not trusting and wanting to trust this love for Benedict. You know, I feel like it gives that actor a lot to work with as Beatrice if 

Erika Rolfsrud

she does 

Cat Sheehan

have that moment where she feels a little silenced, powerless, you know? 

Erika Rolfsrud

And it’s interesting to see when he really brought everybody’s attention to them that they were, nobody was really paying attention. Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

Then 

Erika Rolfsrud

he sort of opened it up a little. 

Cat Sheehan

They yeah. And 

Erika Rolfsrud

everybody started to look and everything and suddenly it, it was a crowd of people watching Beatrice and Benedict again. But, you know, it’s, it’s a fascinating thing to play with. Like, we’ll do that. We’ll, we’ll get through the meeting and then we’ll, we’ll try it. Like, if it’s public for everybody else’s benefit and you’re covering, or if it’s private, when, what happens then? 

Is it too much? You know? But we’re gonna, we’re for all the scenes. For all the scenes. Yay. So let’s turn our hymnals to one, one. 

I pray you seen your mom on to Oh, no, no, no. We’re doing that. Yeah, we’re doing that one first. Right? Got it. 

A long day. Okay. 

So the first one we’re gonna do actually is what I would say is sort of her warmup and her anticipation. 

So she’s starting off with a pun from the get go, an insult, you know, whether the kid’s gonna get it or not. She makes me think of a cat with a mouse. She’s got the, the tail, she’s pinned the tail down. She’s just kind of poking at it. 

So let’s start reading it and then go into what it means. So who’s my first? Beatrice Shannon? 

I 

Shannon Clair

read this one last time. If someone else, 

Erika Rolfsrud

if you 

Shannon Clair

wanna switch it up, but 

Erika Rolfsrud

Oh, okay then Nu I’m doing it wrong. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Unlike fun. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Unlike fun. Nu Right. You 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

got it. Okay. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Alright. All right. Cool. Unlike fun. Unlike fun. Unlike fun. Okay. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Unlike fun. All right, so starting from, I pray you 

Erika Rolfsrud

And who do we want for a messenger? All right, Shannon, you do messenger. Jules, you do Leonardo. And I’ll read that one hero line 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I pray you. Is senior mom ttu returned from the wars, or no, 

Shannon Clair

I know none of that name lady. There was none such in the army of any sort. 

Juls Hoover

What is he that you ask for? Niece? 

Erika Rolfsrud

My cousin means sen, senior Benedict of Padua. 

Shannon Clair

Oh, he is returned and as pleasant as ever he was. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay, let’s stop there. Let we know what we’re saying here, right? 

I pay you a senior amount return from the wars, or no, she’s asking the messenger. 

Is He, is 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

he, is he back or not? But 

Shannon Clair

Immediately making it difficult to answer. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Exactly. Yeah. It’s like she’s warming up sort of thing. 

I know. No, none of that name. So the poor messenger is at a loss, which is she knew he would and then even her uncle is like, wait, wait, what? Who that 

Juls Hoover

she was 

Erika Rolfsrud

Harold know Harold’s like, she wants to know about Van and 

Cat Sheehan

Nick always, 

Erika Rolfsrud

always. And the messenger goes, oh, yay. You know, he’s returned and he’s pleasant as ever. 

You almost get a sense with Beatrice that she’s just waiting to see what the messenger says. 

You know, if he Messenger had said, oh yeah, he’s there, boy, he is a pill. You know what I mean? The, the, the, it’s like the anticipation of what do I get, what do I get, what do I get? 

All right, let’s continue with, he set up his bills here in Messina. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

He set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight. And my uncle’s fool reading the challenge subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the Bird Bolt. I pray you how many he he killed in Eden in these wars. But, but how many have he killed for Indeed, I promise to eat all of his killing 

Erika Rolfsrud

All. Here we go, cat. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, I’ve got some interesting notes on this one, but 

Erika Rolfsrud

Set up with Bills, 

Cat Sheehan

Putting up posters to advertise like some kind of a contest. So the idea, so there are a couple ways to read this. So it’s sort of a cont contest with Cupid and I’m, look, I’m mostly leaning on Arden, which I thought had the best notes on this, which was you could read it as I’m going to sort of act like a great lover and take on Cupid, or I’m gonna resist falling in love and therefore I’ll set up like a long distance shooting contest with Cupid. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. 

Cat Sheehan

Also Monto is, you know, it’s a fencing term and the suggestion is sort of a bragging soldier, right? Which I have to say, I think is also a, like a, a portrayal that Kenneth Brianna leans into. Like, I think you get his Benedict is kind of bragging. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. So 

Cat Sheehan

there’s a little bit too. I see that in his, 

Erika Rolfsrud

Where the cio you call it A 

Cat Sheehan

little bit. Yeah. Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

So 

Cat Sheehan

the interesting thing is, and then we have this, and my uncle’s fool reading the challenge subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the Bird bowl. So like, I’ll stand in for Cupid and I’ll fight for this guy. Right? Or I’ll take his side. The interesting thing about my note is that, you know, it could, she could mean, you know, as if her uncle had had a, a fool, you know, a, an entertainer like those great fools and Shakespeare. But I also like this note, one of the notes suggested that it could be an elliptical reference to herself as her uncle’s fool. And I think she, 

Erika Rolfsrud

considering 

Cat Sheehan

Beatrice as a fool is in, in the Shakespearean sense is super, it, it makes a lot of sense. She’s really quick, she’s really quick witted. She’s also a bit of a social critic, right? When she’s commenting on women, when she’s like, heroes, you’re cue to speak. Like, I see her very much as sort of the taking on that role of the fool. So that’s a possibility. I know you can’t play all these, but like, like think about what makes sense for you and then challenged him with the Bird Bolt. So Bird Bolt is like a, like a, a like a, a lesser arrow. Like it’s not really gonna do any damage. 

So either it became sort of a joke or it just didn’t really hit right. So it was sort of like inviting some kind of a contest either with or against Cupid, which she may or may not have been part of. And then it kind of didn’t go off right or it didn’t land, or something didn’t hit. Which to me is also interesting because that’s a pretty consistent, I think, idea around Beatrice’s wit that her wit hits the mark that she can see a church by daylight, that she speaks Pawn Yards and everyone hits. Right? Like there’s, you know, so I, to me it sort of taps into that theme, but something went a little mushy. So again, I don’t know if she’s just making fun of Benedict for resisting love or trying to fight on the side of love and being a lover and she was or was not involved. Those are all options. 

It is interesting to me that she also then switches topic pretty quickly. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

How many Happy Killed and Eaton, which she kind of gets wrong. It was a proverbial thing about killing and eating, right? I will eat all of your killing with sort of a proverbial joke because you won’t kill anybody. Right. So I feel like she’s, 

Shannon Clair

and I Feel like she, she’s playing on that Like 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. She’s, 

Shannon Clair

You know, saying I, I, you know, whether she said that when he went off to war for real, or whether she’s saying now my assumption is he’s killed no one. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. Because 

Shannon Clair

not a great soldier. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Well, can I, can, I’m gonna hit a pause just for a second and let, then let’s go back to Senior Monto, Right? 

What is that position and what, why would she choose that? 

Cat Sheehan

I mean that’s, I mean, it literally is an upward thrust in fencing, right? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. 

Cat Sheehan

So there’s sort of the, the bragging again, like is he a bragging, flourishing soldier? Which is kind of a theme in Shakespeare, but it also does have a little sexual innuendo, which Beatrice manages to get away with in a way that I find fascinating. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. I mean, I have the Pelican right here and it also says social climber and one who mounts sexually. Yeah. And 

Erika Rolfsrud

one who what 

Juls Hoover

Mounts. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. And sorry, the fencing term. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, yeah. Mine also like, sort of over overdone, fashionable fencing combat. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. It’s all upwards. 

Cat Sheehan

All upwards. 

Erika Rolfsrud

All of the, see there’s an image of it. 

Hit me, hit me. 

Juls Hoover

I love that idea of Beatrice as the fool. Like that is just beautiful. 

Cat Sheehan

I love it. 

Juls Hoover

Like Right. Especially because she opens and she is clearly outwitting all of these men that are around her and, 

Erika Rolfsrud

and She gets away with stuff. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

As a fool would. 

Juls Hoover

Right. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Pool can, can cross a line without losing their life if, if that’s how it’s arranged. 

So 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

it, but it also, it ties into the next thing where she said, I gave away my heart. Right. That’s how I’m reading it. Like, I might have fallen for this. Later on, she comes back to that topic of I did fall for it, I’m not gonna fall for it again. 

So it’s interesting that we’re talking about this because I only thought that was a one-off reference, but now it seems like she might have been dwelling on this for quite a while. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I bet. This is just my thoughts, but I bet she’s been wondering about this war and who’s getting hurt and things without really saying anything. 

Okay. So I pray you with senior returned from the wars or No. So for whatever reason, I’ll do some reading on this thrusting up gentlemen. The sexual I think is something that we’re, we’re gonna lean towards, but, or if you guys have another take on it, it’s your beatres. It’s your beatres. 

Shannon Clair

Well, I feel like in some ways it’s, it’s, yes, she’s seeing what the messenger’s capable of, but also when you really, really care about someone and you don’t want anyone to know that you really, really care, isn’t it better to try to immediately make a joke out of it and even avoid saying their name? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. And also as maybe even a condescending put down way is that little trickster here, 

Shannon Clair

you know, 

Erika Rolfsrud

then something along those lines. Okay. So he set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight. 

So that means Exactly. So he set up his bills here in Messina. So he plastered his notice of himself or to Cupid and challenged Cupid at the flight. 

So with his bills. So is she saying that he came to Messina looking for love? He challenged Cupid? 

Cat Sheehan

That’s a good question. 

Erika Rolfsrud

And 

Cat Sheehan

I mean, it literally means like a long distance shooting contest. Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

It 

Shannon Clair

does make me think of where he says that he’ll be a sworn bachelor for his whole life. Like has that been a thing for a long time? Was was, is this a reference to some time when he actually was like, Hey, what if I, you know, tried out a contest with Cupid and in that is that he is him like, I’m gonna beat Cupid. I’m not gonna fall in Love Cupid doesn’t, you know, or does it, or is it like, I’m gonna play a game with Cupid and maybe it’ll work out. I don’t know. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. Like as if he’s like, put himself out there among the lovely ladies of the town and things like that and he is going to avoid every arrow. He’s not gonna fall in love. 

Maybe that’s the competition. 

And my uncle’s fool, I really love this idea that Beatrice is her uncle’s fool reading the challenge. 

Subscribed for Cupid. Subscribed for Cupid means. 

Sorry, I don’t have my 

Shannon Clair

said I’ll, I’ll fight for Cupid Cupid. I’ll be Cupid’s Bowman. So 

Erika Rolfsrud

she’ll say, all right, I’ll step into the fray. Reading the challenge subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the Bird bolt, 

Cat Sheehan

Which is like a little blunted arrow, so nothing won’t do any damage really. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. So she challenged Benedict at the Bird bolt. 

What does that 

Cat Sheehan

mean? I Mean, my note says, so the enigmatic sense is either that the fool insisted on using the blunter and less swift weapon in order to mock Benedict’s Pretensions to be a 

Erika Rolfsrud

later 

Cat Sheehan

man, which seems on in care on brand for me. And or that the Fool clumsily transformed the nature of the contest from Swift shooting to more fumbling childish attempts. I don’t like the second one. The first one seems, I 

Erika Rolfsrud

Like the second one. I like the first one. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, right. The other thing, just to throw another spin in here is apparently flight, it might also be 

a pun on Flighting or flight, which is a Scottish insult contest, which seems like, I know that’s maybe too much, that’s a bridge too far, but it is sort of, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I can’t, my brain 

Cat Sheehan

can’t. Right? No, I know It. Like my 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

brain is like too many things I know, 

Cat Sheehan

but they I agree. But 

Erika Rolfsrud

it’s also, 

Cat Sheehan

they they do, that is what they do right. When they’re together 

Erika Rolfsrud

And you know, as the action go, how the hell do I play that You Just keep in mind a very clear definition of what you’re saying. Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

These are 

Erika Rolfsrud

your words. So, 

Cat Sheehan

So ignore that. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Well, what I was wondering was Cupid, I mean, looking at much do, looking at Midsummer specifically. Okay. The idea of Cupid, he shoots an arrow. It’s a, it’s a nice little arrow that goes into the person and then they fall in love with the first person they see. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right? 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

So is the arrow that Cupid shoots a bird bolt, meaning it’s a like a, a blunted little arrow. Yeah, that’s, is that it itself? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Like it would Bounce 

Cat Sheehan

off. 

Erika Rolfsrud

That’s 

Cat Sheehan

a Nice way to think about it. Yeah. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Yeah. I was just wondering if that’s in Self The Arrow or is it like blunting Benedict’s? I mean, are we insulting Benedict or are we comparing ourselves to Cupid? I guess I’m trying to balance two things. 

Juls Hoover

I wonder If there’s like some kind of like weird like Freudian thing that she’s pulling here where she’s like, oh, he has this bird bolt that doesn’t work on anyone. And it would never work on me, nor has it worked on me. But maybe it’s working on around the town on everybody 

Erika Rolfsrud

else. Like a line 

Juls Hoover

And like A pickup 

Erika Rolfsrud

line, you mean? 

Juls Hoover

Well, something like that, like falling for him. But in her way, assuring everybody and telling them without telling them that I would never fall for him. We’ve never had any kind of, like, I would never be struck by his arrow. Right. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Even 

Juls Hoover

though he’s representing Cupid, but telling them in a way that they, without exactly telling them. Almost like this kind of like, I don’t know. Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Again, 

Juls Hoover

it might be a little bit of stage, but 

Shannon Clair

yeah, to, To play into the, like she is somehow insulting him with the idea of like, bird bolt is all you’re capable of. That’s what we’re doing. 

I forget where I read it now, but one of the, one of the scripts, one of the things that they pointed out was that Cupid is notoriously blind in most of Shakespeare’s references to Cupid. And so is therefore not a good shot. So challenging Cupid, you are challenging someone who is not good at aiming and why? That’s why love is so chaotic, right? 

Cat Sheehan

Because 

Shannon Clair

it’s like, 

Cat Sheehan

that’s great. Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

You just fall in love with whoever Cupids shot. But Cupid is, you know, unpredictable and can’t see. 

So that the whole idea of this being like you would, you would have to be not great at archery or not want serious competition if you’re gonna challenge the, the blind kid with the arrows anyway. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Well I, you know, 

Juls Hoover

The blind kid Keep it 

Erika Rolfsrud

blind kid. I’m looking at the language in, in terms of what’s loaded in for her. So for me it’s so set up his bills here in Messina. So he came into town challenged Cupid at the flight. Yeah, go ahead. Try and make me fall in love. And my uncle’s fool reading the challenge, she saw what was going on, subscribed for Cupid and challenged him at the bird bolt. I still get stuck on bird bolt, but the idea that if bird bolt is the smaller thing that has no puncture, perhaps she shot it, it’s her shooting at Benedict and it’s a bird bolt instead of an arrow. 

I don’t know. I’m thinking about what their history is and if there’s something in this that also explains what happened between the two of them. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Well let’s keep going and then maybe it’ll make more sense as we go on. So I pray you, how many have he killed and eaten in these wars? 

But how many have he killed? Or indeed, I promise to eat all of his killing. Go 

Juls Hoover

Faith niece. You tax Senior Benedict two. 

Erika Rolfsrud

No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on. Go. As in. 

Juls Hoover

What 

Erika Rolfsrud

the hell does that mean? 

Shannon Clair

Oh, 

Juls Hoover

Okay. So, 

Erika Rolfsrud

so I pray you, how many have he killed and eaten in this war, these wars? So some mentioned earlier about the killed and eaten. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. It was sort of a, it is sort of a proverbial thing, right? Like so I’ll I’ll eat everybody. Everybody you kill. Haha. ’cause you won’t kill anybody. Yeah. It’s funny to me that she says it though. So, I mean it’s one of one things I love about the language of this play because it’s so prosy, it feels super naturalistic even though there’s a lot of rhythm and there’s a lot of structure. Like, did, did she misspeak the first time Huff Money had he killed an Eden? Oh, but how many had he killed for? I promise, you know, like, it’s sort of funny. Like she sort of, it feels like a correction to me almost, but I don’t know. 

Erika Rolfsrud

It is. But go ahead. 

Cat Sheehan

The public, you know, the, this feels, this feels very public to me, right? Like again, the straight man, the messenger. 

Give me something I can now spin into an insult about Benedict publicly. 

As long as I get 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

to keep 

Cat Sheehan

thinking about him. I dunno. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Now this is, and this is where we are with the trick. We have to get very specific about what she’s saying here. 

Shannon Clair

Well, and I love what part of what I love is the, is this like sharp left turn or what feels like a sharp left turn in the middle of this line into, you know, this bizarre analogy we’ve got with Cupid and very enigmatical, even people who know what happens would probably have a hard time following because, and it almost feels like either you’ve got options, right? She knows that she’s like going, people aren’t following this story. She better shift into something that’s a little more upfront or that they, they did actually have some sort of like send off where she’s like, yeah, I’ll, I’ll eat all ones you kill. And that telling this story about shooting things, like making this big analogy about shooting things. 

She’s like, oh, oh I have a, I have a better one, I have a better one. That that thing where it’s like, oh I’ll, I’ll eat what you killed. And either this initial like how many had he killed and eaten is, I mean that’s presenting him as pretty monstrous, right? Oh, how many did he kill and eat is like the, if that’s your first setup is I’m making him seem extra like awful and inhumane. 

And then referencing the fact that I think he actually didn’t kill anyone. 

I don’t know. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I’m going off of the, the bird bolt idea. ’cause I’m trying to figure out her thought process here. If the bird bolt doesn’t kill anybody and it’s really ineffective, then it makes sense that she would then say, yeah. So speaking of that, how successful w he in the war? I mean he probably didn’t do anything ’cause I told him I was gonna eat blood. So I feel like in my mind, if I was playing Beatrice, that would be my thought process. I’d be like challenged him at something totally ineffective. Speaking of ineffective, how ineffective was he? Because I said X, Y, Z. That the last part I’m not sure about. 

But that is my connecting thought. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah because I also hear it as a joke structure. I pray you how many I think killed and eaten in these wars. But how many I think killed or I have indeed promised to eat all of his killing. You know she, she’s doing but I don’t, she’s setting herself up for the joke. 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I also see as a possibility, I’m still stymied about that moment, that image of bird bolt. But that’s, you guys choose for your beatrice’s. 

The answer is in what it means always with Shakespeare. 

So, 

so he challenged him at the bird pul if bolt, if she’s getting to a point where she’s reliving in her second maybe a possible rejection or the thing like the bird bolt boom didn’t puncture. 

I’m gonna change the subject. ’cause if I go there I’m gonna get down. I’m really excited to see him ’cause I’m gonna give it to him. There’s also that possibility on how you wanna play it. I promise to eat all of his killing. 

And I, I, I love, we’ll keep moving ’cause I know time-wise we gotta go. But pick it up with Leonardo please. Faith niece, Faith 

Juls Hoover

niece, you tax senior Benedict too much. But he’ll be meet with you. I doubt it not 

Shannon Clair

He has done good service lady in these wars. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

You had musty ritual and he has hope to eat it. He has a very valiant trencherman. He has an excellent dog 

Shannon Clair

And a good Yeah We could stop 

Erika Rolfsrud

that line. Let’s figure that line out. So, and Hugh had musty ual. So he had done good service lady in these wars. 

Cat Sheehan

You 

Erika Rolfsrud

had musty ual stale provisions. So, 

Cat Sheehan

so Beatrice right? She takes good service and then she turns it into like food service As opposed to like 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. So she, yeah she twisted it in food and she does it like that. It’s a great thing about her. She’s so fast. 

So this poor messenger he had done Good service lady in these wars, you had must eat Victor and he have hoped to eat it. It’s hope another just mis different spelling for help. It’s just another, yeah. Yeah. 

He is a very valiant trencherman as in like eating right? The trencherman is yeah. Isn’t it? That’s what they call your plate is a trencher. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yep. 

Cat Sheehan

He’s a 

Erika Rolfsrud

very valiant trencherman. He has an excellent stomach. 

Shannon Clair

Well I feel like what’s, I mean, yeah she could be picking up on food service, but I feel like she’s picking up on this idea of the messengers. Like he’s done a really, he did really well in the war and she’s like, oh he did you a favor. That’s what you mean. He ate your bad food for you. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Oh I Hear you. 

Shannon Clair

He’s got a good stomach. Do you know what I mean? Hmm. So what she’s taking what he means by good service and flipping it and saying, oh he did you a personal favor. That’s why you’re speaking highly of him 

Erika Rolfsrud

because 

Shannon Clair

you had boring food 

Cat Sheehan

and he 

Shannon Clair

helped you to eat it. Yes. He is really good at eating. He’s got a great stomach. 

Erika Rolfsrud

That is, that is really, as I’m reading through it more, I wasn’t quite sure and then reading through it more. That is a perfectly viable definition and and play. So read that line then with that in mind. 

Shannon Clair

So we’ll start with Messenger or 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Shannon? 

Erika Rolfsrud

No, with Shannon. I wanna, I wanna hear her read it with that thinking in mind. 

Shannon Clair

He hath done good service lady in these wars. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Oh, I’ll, I can cue you. 

Shannon Clair

Oh, 

Erika Rolfsrud

I want you to read the Beatrice line with the way you just interpreted it. Oh 

Shannon Clair

you want me to read the Beatrice line? Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

yeah. Okay. 

Shannon Clair

I usually say Vittle ’cause it’s like a archaic spelling. I don’t know if we mind, but 

Erika Rolfsrud

How about, 

Shannon Clair

okay. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. He hath done good service lady in these wars. 

Shannon Clair

You had musty widdle and he hath hoped to eat it. He is a very valiant trencherman. He has an excellent stomach. 

It 

Erika Rolfsrud

plays what were, what are you? I mean it does And then 

Juls Hoover

the messenger. A good soldier too. Lady. 

Erika Rolfsrud

And a good soldier too. 

Shannon Clair

Soldier to a lady 

Juls Hoover

too Lady. 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. So the reaction, so like he’s also picking up on the fact that he, that she’s trying to say, oh he did good service off the field in the eating department. And he’s like, no, no, no. He did good service as a soldier and a good soldier too. Lady. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yep. Cat. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

Poor messenger. 

Cat Sheehan

I know the poor Messenger. 

Shannon Clair

He Was out of his depth. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah, 

Cat Sheehan

he Was out of his depth last time. 

Erika Rolfsrud

And so you’re like any other, you want anything you wanna throw in Kat 

Cat Sheehan

On the vi eating part? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

Or The two lady? Nope. Okay then yeah, you Finding the way that makes it work and go For it. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Let’s, let’s, okay, let’s get going and then keep going through this and then we’ll then we’ll read through it and then we’ll move on to the next one. Yeah. Okay. So l Rita, the next few lines. So Anna start with or actually messenger, start with he have done good service lady, 

Shannon Clair

He has done good service lady in these wars. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

You had musty ritual and he has hope to eat it. He is a very valiant d rencher man. He has an excellent stomach 

Shannon Clair

And a good soldier too lady. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

And a good soldier to a lady. But what is he? To a lord, 

Shannon Clair

A lord to a lord, a man to a man stuffed with All, all honorable virtues. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

It’s so indeed he’s no less than a stuffed man. But for the stuffing, well we are all mortal. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Love her. She just kind of like batts it and bats it and batts it and steers it into a conclusion that she can just pop it. 

So let’s, let’s be clear about that. Stuffed with all honorable virtue. So the messenger is saying he is full of great things. He’s super, super benedict. Right? And she takes that and says absolutely it isn’t. It is so indeed he is no less than a stuffed man, which means stuffed man can’t help. 

Cat Sheehan

Sure. It can mean a dummy or a fat man or a rich man. I’m d Rich doesn’t totally seem to work there. 

Yeah. So I mean if you stick, if you stick with the food line, right? She could mean chubby over stuff with food, 

Erika Rolfsrud

right? 

Cat Sheehan

I mean I kind of like that one as sort of a through line. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. Yeah. And then we move through to, but for the stuffing, the contents and all this 

Cat Sheehan

stuff. Gosh, love That. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Well 

Cat Sheehan

like What? I know, I love that we’re all mortal. It cracks me up. It kind of reminds me of that line and I just saw Macbeth, but the line where the, the murderers show up in Mecca. Me, you know Macbeth is like, well you know, we all kind of pass for men. 

You know, even men who were like, you are I guess well we’re all mortal. It’s so funny. Oh 

Erika Rolfsrud

my god. Another One 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

he can’t help it. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay, let’s keep reading. You must not sir. 

Juls Hoover

You must not sir mistake my niece. There is a kind of Mary war betwixt in your Benedict and her, they never meet, but there’s a skirmish of wit between them 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Ala he gets nothing by that. In our last conflict, four of his five wits went halting off. And now is the whole man governed with one. So that if he had wit enough to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between himself and his who or it is all the wealth that he has left to be known a reasonable creature who is his companion now he had every month in new sworn brother. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah, let’s look at that. I 

Cat Sheehan

love this part 

Erika Rolfsrud

Much clearer, which I love because I love that she’s also continuing, we’re talking about a war ending and that they’re coming home from war and our last conflict. 

And it’s a long sentence. 

She speaks full like it just comes out now. Now, now, now, now, now, now. Or as Dame Edith Evans said, you pull the period towards you. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Ooh 

Erika Rolfsrud

Sentence. 

Cat Sheehan

No. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I like it. 

Erika Rolfsrud

So ELAs, he gets nothing by that. There’s a skirmish of whippy. So he gets nothing by our skirmishes. ’cause I always win. Yeah, he, he 

Cat Sheehan

gains Nothing. Right? She defeats all of his mental capacities essentially. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yep. In our last conflict, four of was four of us, five wits when halting off and now is the whole man governed with one. 

She just got him so bad that he is not left with much. And so that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between himself. And his horse. So what little wit he has left is the only thing in keeping him as a reasoning creature to an animal 

for it is all the wealth that he had left to be known as a reasonable creature. That’s all he has left. 

That he’s known as being a human guy. It just, you know, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

That’s the only difference between himself and his force. That’s right. Right. The only difference is his own one wit left. Okay. 

Erika Rolfsrud

No. A reasonable creature. Yeah. As in like a human versus the animal. Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

Capable of reasoning. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. So, and who is his companion? He hath, and I love that she just, she comes right in with a new question. 

You know, who is his companion now? He hath every month a new sworn brother. 

Anu, why don’t you do that speech, that Beatrice speech and try it like, like you are having a ball. 

Just sort of that idea driving it. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Okay. 

Ala he gets nothing by that. In our last conflict, four of his five wits went halting off. And now is the whole man governed with one. So that if he had witt enough to keep himself warm, let him bear it for a difference between himself and his horse, where it is all the wealth that he had left to be known. A reasonable creature. Who is this companion now he had every month in news swore in brother. 

Shannon Clair

It’s possible, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Very easily possible he wears his faith, but as the fashion of his hat, it ever changes with the next block. 

Shannon Clair

I see Lady, the gentleman is not in your books. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

No. And he were, I would burn my study, but I pray you, who is this companion? Is there no young squarer now that will make a voyage with him to the devil? 

Shannon Clair

He is most in the company of the right noble Claudio. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Oh Lord. He will hang upon him like a disease. He is sooner caught than the pestilence. And the taker runs presently mad God help the noble Claudio. If he had caught the Benedict, it would cost him a thousand pound air. He be cured. 

Shannon Clair

I will hold friends with you lady 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Do good friend. You 

Juls Hoover

will never run Mad Niece. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

No, not to Lahad January 

Shannon Clair

On Pedro’s approached. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Great. So it’s, I do love the thing. It’s very easily possible he wears his faith, but as the fashion of his hat, it ever changes with the next block. So, you know, the block used to form the felted hat, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

the 

Erika Rolfsrud

shape of the, you know, that he’s basically, she’s basically saying, you know, he melds and molds into whatever anybody else wants to be liked, essentially. 

And I just love the whole gentleman who’s not in your books. So for our audience, being in someone’s books is, it’s like your heart, right? It’s being in the books 

Cat Sheehan

in your favor. Yeah. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Good Graces. Yeah. Right. 

Cat Sheehan

Good graces. Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

I Also like the, the on the undercurrent in the idea that he wears his faith, but as the fashion. Me too. 

Cat Sheehan

That it’s ever 

Shannon Clair

changing. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. 

Shannon Clair

That sense of like, oh, he doesn’t keep face. That’s not he, he is always looking for the next thing. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

He’s ready to change it up at any Time. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Another clue for, for us about her 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Opinion she has of him. It came from something 

Juls Hoover

in their history. In 

Erika Rolfsrud

their history. Yeah. I pray you, I would, I love and I would burn my study, but I pray you, who is his companion? Is there no young square And now that we’ll make the voyage with him to the devils or you know, somebody will go out and party and whatever with him and whine and women and such noble Claudio Lord, he will hang upon him like a disease. He sooner caught than the pest and the taker runs presently mad. So his influence God help the noble Claudio, you’re gonna have Benedict help. No. If you caught the Benedict, it will cost him a thousand pound air he be cure. Okay. So, and we’re through that scene. Let’s read it in, in its entirety all the way through. Keeping in mind and take your time. Because remember, never mistake speed for energy. 

Cat Sheehan

Hmm. If 

Erika Rolfsrud

you’re driving or pulling that period towards you, people listen, they will follow your train. 

You’re going and missing some of the important words just for the sake of flipping along, you’ll lose them. Yeah. And you know, the story can be much clearer. So just as a general, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I, I really appreciate that note actually because I, I know that for me, what I really wanna do as an actor is really get my thoughts clear and sometimes I find that I skip over that process. So there is one sticky point for me. 

Why does she change from reasonable creature to who is his companion now? Like what is her thought process like? Does she see something, does she think about reasonable creature who is not a reasonable creature? Oh, the young guy who’s now his new best friend is not a reasonable creature if you know, like, I’m trying to think if I were acting this, like who, what would trigger me to say that? Who is his companion? Now 

Erika Rolfsrud

It could be playful in terms of, and I don’t know if this is a modern take on it, but is it fishing? 

He’s not hooked up with someone. Is he? I mean, I’m gonna put him into the guise of, of got a new buddy. They’re out whining and dining women, you know. Does, has he hooked up and become buddies with some lethario? Is he, you know, it’s, it’s it’s her fishing expedition I think. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

As 

Shannon Clair

’cause Yeah. Coming out of the story of like, this is our dynamic, this is how we 

Cat Sheehan

play 

Shannon Clair

together. What’s he doing with other folks these Days? Because All 

Cat Sheehan

she does is asks about him. Right. Is he back from war? How many have he killed? Which is sort of a joke, but is he, you know, is he okay? Is 

Erika Rolfsrud

Get hurt. Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

The subtext and then, yeah. And this, this cos he hanging out with what’s he doing? 

And then I think it’s interesting to me that thing isn’t there no young square here? Like she’s giving us the little insight into the Benedict too. Right? Does he, Why is he with like a younger swaggering guy? You know what I mean? I’m sort of curious about that. Like also, you know, there’s often an impulse in the comedies where in order to grow up you have to kind of step away from your male friendships and step toward a woman, you know. Which again, if you’re looking kind of thematically at the play, like it’s sort of interesting to me that you know, that she specifically says a young square, she kind of thinks she knows the type of person he is hanging out with and wants to confirm something. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. And is his, is is his behavior staying the same? 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Is he finding a guy to party with and if he’s not, oh no, no, no, no. He’s quiet and he reads his books and things like that. 

There’s also possibly the motive of trying to figure out what she’s about to see. She’s excited and very nervous. 

Gimme some information so I can maybe figure some stuff out or Get, 

Juls Hoover

It feels like a young squarer would be somebody who would be easily manipulated because they’re young and would Look 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. Would laugh at Benedicts jokes 

Juls Hoover

laugh. Yeah. And think of him as wise. Yeah. And and 

Cat Sheehan

yeah. Which Claudio does. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

I mean he’s not Claudio’s not a ladies man. Right. Clearly not, doesn’t know how to talk to women but, but you know that he asks Benedict what he thinks of hero before he says, I think she’s cute. 

Erika Rolfsrud

He’s so pretty. 

Juls Hoover

Guy that needs 

Erika Rolfsrud

Pumping up 

Juls Hoover

this guy that needs his ego stroked. 

Cat Sheehan

Mm. 

Juls Hoover

In order for feel like a, so that Benedict can feel like a reasonable Yeah man. Reasonable animal. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I like that connection. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

That’s 

Erika Rolfsrud

that help a little bit. Yeah. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Well when we get get back to it, we will also talk about playing with vowels and, and the picture Patrick kind of. 

Yeah. So seeing as it’s nine, let’s keep moving then we can go back and read the whole thing as one. 

So we can pick up with who wants to read Benedict? Hey Jules, you read be No, we’re gonna stick with the same Beatrice say Annu Beatrice 

Benedict is Jules Shannon, Don Pedro. So we’ll start from, you have it full Benedict. We may guess by this. 

Shannon Clair

Okay, You have it full Benedict. We may guess by this what you are being a man. Truly the lady fathers herself be happy lady for you are like an honorable father. 

Juls Hoover

If senior Leonardo would be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders for all Messina as like him as she is. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I wonder that you’ll still be talking Senior Benedict. Nobody marks you 

Juls Hoover

My dear lady. Disdain. Are you yet living? 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Is it possible disdain should die while she has such meat food to feed it as Senior Benedict courtesy itself must convert to disdain. If you come in her presence 

Juls Hoover

Then 

Erika Rolfsrud

is 

Juls Hoover

courtesy a turn code 

Erika Rolfsrud

from There? Let’s start with that. So even Don Pedro. So truly the lady fathers herself. 

No be happy lady for you or like an honorable father. 

I think we’d have to go back to No, but her mother had many times told me. So you or you in Dallas Her that you asked her seen her Benedict? No. For then you were a child lady fathers yourself. Be happy lady for you. Or like my, okay, I’m just gonna move to Benedict. If senior Lito be her father, she would not have his head on her shoulders for all Messina as like him as she is. 

So she wouldn’t wanna look like dad. 

Cat Sheehan

No. 

Erika Rolfsrud

No one wants to look like their dad. No, no. And it’s so, it’s so funny to, because it seems like with Benedict this comes in as sort of like, you know, you know you have your come, somebody comes in with a punchline and then somebody tries an add another punchline it. You know what I mean? It almost seems like, Well 

Shannon Clair

actually it’s the, the part that you skimmed over at the top. Leonardo is making one of his rare jokes. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

In this play when Benedict is like, were you in doubt that you asked your wife if this was your daughter? And Leonardo is basically like, no, because you Benedict, you were a kid so you couldn’t have swooped in and gotten my wife pregnant is I think the implication there. So perhaps the reference to a bit of a the ladies man thing that’s come up a couple times you were a child so I didn’t doubt And 

Erika Rolfsrud

it is going, it’s also what the audience is gonna hear for you then you were a child that they might just hear it as a sit down young man, let the adults talk kind of thing too. Which is very, and you know he’s a very, he’s got his own kind of wit Leonardo does. He’s a state, I guess you can call him like a statesman sort of kind of thing. He’s a noble, I don’t know if that’s the right estimation, but you know, D Pedro is the highest rank in this group. So you have it full Benedict. We have just by this, what you are being a man, truly the lady fathers be happy lady or you are like an honorable father if sna okay. And then it makes the joke about like, well I look like dad and then comes Beatrice. 

Just think at the anticipation. 

I don’t know if you’ve ever like not seen someone in a long time and it, it’s just really, it’s wild and it’s loaded. 

So, you know, it’s, it’s what Anyway, okay. I wonder that you will still be talking senior Benedict. Nobody marks you. Who are you talking to? Benny? 

Your joke’s kind of falling flat ’cause nobody’s listening to you. 

I feel so sorry. 

Cat Sheehan

She is, 

Erika Rolfsrud

she’s 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Yeah, she is. 

Cat Sheehan

She’s marking 

Juls Hoover

There. It feels like that line for Benedict, and please correct me if I’m wrong, it almost feels like he’s calling her beautiful. Like there’s no way she, and then she comes in. Is there any way where like he could be like, there’s no way that she could look like her father because Promis 

Cat Sheehan

I don’t Charact. I don’t think so. I think it’s, it’s just literally like she wouldn’t wanna look like him. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

Because He is so indifferent to her later. Right. When Claudia was like, what do you think of hero? And he is like, well I don’t know. Her cousin’s way cuter. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

She’s got arms and legs. That’s 

Erika Rolfsrud

girl. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. Basically. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

I was just thinking it could be an interesting moment if that was the case. ’cause then she comes in and then he has to make this change and put up his defenses and then they’re at it. You 

Erika Rolfsrud

mean as if she caught him trying to flirt with hero? 

Juls Hoover

No, I think I’m confusing that. I apologize. I thought that Benedict was caught talking about Beatrice. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Oh, 

Cat Sheehan

Oh yeah. It’s hero like Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

You’re Talking about hero. Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

Got it. Yeah. Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. So still be talking. 

What my dear lady disdain Are you yet living lady disdain? It’s just, there’s nothing historically in that, right? She, he’s just like 

Cat Sheehan

lady, it’s A morality play reference. Right? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Is it? 

Cat Sheehan

Okay? She were a per personification and a morality play. I mean it’s sort of a literary theme, but Yeah, I think it doesn’t matter. I think he’s just giving her, he is treating her like she’s the embodiment of disdain. And then again she spins it differently. Of course I am Right. Courtesy would turn it disdain if Right. You came in her presence or whatever. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. It’s the best way to get that. Somebody tries to do a dig, you just take it in. And then 

Cat Sheehan

She’s so, she’s so quick. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I wonder if she scares him. Okay. Is it possible the stain should die while she has such meat food to feed it as senior benedict? And I love that we’re still talking about eating and food and consuming and you know, that that’s also still there. 

So you know, you, you’re basically supplying lady disdain with plenty to feed on. 

Sorry buddy. 

Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in her presence. 

So your mere presence changes a person’s disposition of courtesy into disdain just ’cause who you are. 

Shannon Clair

I love that his comeback is just then is courtesy a turncoat, which is pretty lame. 

Cat Sheehan

It’s lame, 

Shannon Clair

It’s pretty lame. Like he can’t take it and then twist it. He has to 

Cat Sheehan

now 

Shannon Clair

start a whole new strand of I’m loved of all ladies. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, absolutely. And then, and also sending himself up in the process. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Well, what’s great too is it’s, it’s he’s outta practice and there’s something about that that could speak to their relationship going and, and moving through the play because he’s out of practice. He then remembers who she is and what it was that was so extraordinarily different about her versus the other women. He’s known. 

Whether the actor of Benedict, you know, wants to take that into whatever. But yeah, she, he’s, he’s rusty ’cause there’s nobody around him to play with that’s at his level. Either he’s been paling around with the guys at the campfire before the battle and blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. There’s no wit that’s been, you know, working with him. 

Okay, so Benedict says then, is courtesy a turn coat? But it is certain I am loved of all ladies only you accepted. And I would, I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart or truly I love none. 

So he’s giving it the old, you know, all the ladies love the Benedict. 

And I wish I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart, but truly I and not a one of them. I don’t give a line about any single one of them, 

Cat Sheehan

Which also tells everybody that he or tells her that he’s available. 

Erika Rolfsrud

He’s single. 

Cat Sheehan

Like they both actually do that. Even when they’re saying like, I’m not gonna get married. I’m just like you, but I, you know, that does mean I’m available just in case. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Well, yeah, I’m available too, but I’m not gonna do it. Okay. 

A dear happy. Okay, ANU, I don’t think we it. So, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

okay. 

Erika Rolfsrud

A dear happiness to women, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

A dear happiness to women, they would else have been troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humor for that. I had rather hear my dog barked, get a crow, then a men’s where he loves me. 

Juls Hoover

God, keep your ladyship still in that mind. Do you wanna continue or no, 

Erika Rolfsrud

No, keep going. Yeah. We 

Juls Hoover

God keep your ladyship still in that mind. So some gentleman or others shall escape. A predestinate scratched face 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Scratching could not make it worse. And towards such a face as yours worth. 

Juls Hoover

Well you are a rare parrot teacher. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours. 

Juls Hoover

I would, my horse had the speed of your tongue and so good a continuer. But keep your way a God’s name. I have, I have done 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

You always end with a jade’s trick. I know you of old 

Erika Rolfsrud

And I do love the idea that, that he’s certainly letting her know that he’s single and she’s like, God, me too. 

You know, I dare happiness to women that they would’ve health been troubled with the pernicious suitor. I thank God in my cold blood, I am of your humor for that. My cold blood that I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a mans swear he loves me. 

And his response then is sort of, this is, I’ve heard the first time God keep your leadership still in that mind. So some gentleman or other shall escape a predestinate scratched face. 

Cat Sheehan

I mean that’s really casting her in the role of like a Kate, like shrew. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. It it gets almost like you’re little mean like 

Cat Sheehan

gets A little mean. Yeah. And 

Erika Rolfsrud

like why like, oh, he kind of turns it, but she doesn’t need to scratch anybody’s face. She just talks them into their stupidity and they leave scratching. Could not make it worse and tore such a face as yours were getting mean 

Cat Sheehan

Potentially. Yeah. Right. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

When when, when you know, like a woman that you think is attractive basically rejects you by saying, yeah, I would never take any man you included. Are you gonna then jab back and say, yeah, well you’re too ugly. ’cause that’s such a typical male comeback, right? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

This 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

is 

Shannon Clair

very interestingly, 

Cat Sheehan

I think 

Shannon Clair

where the Brandau version started making this scene public is when she 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

Is I would rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man’s swear. He loves me. Kind of gets everybody’s attention and then it does get a little meaner. 

Cat Sheehan

Hmm. 

Erika Rolfsrud

It do. I mean it do, it’s just, there’s nothing really clever in wordplay about that. I mean, she turns it and keeps it word play. But 

Juls Hoover

That is interesting ’cause it’s intimate up until then in the Brando version and then it becomes very showy. Almost like there was an awareness that this isn’t the best that I can do, or like that it’s not matching the wit that I know that you can dish out. So I’m gonna turn it around and I’m gonna make it public and Hmm. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Because yeah, there has to be an arc to the scene. You, you, if you start really big public, 

Juls Hoover

Right, 

Erika Rolfsrud

Where does it go? You can see how it goes to mean. 

I mean I, God, I really would love to see how the Maggie Smith, Robert Stevens one plays out because it sort of becomes this like, she goes at him like into him and it seems like it’s gonna sort of break into this, the cross. 

Shannon Clair

And she has up until that point, this sort of grace with the scarf and the ultra femininity going on with the way that she’s using it And walking and then Woo. Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

you pop us asshole. Yeah. So it ends with the jades trick. 

A boot of my tongue is better than a beast of yours. 

Cat Sheehan

She’s, She’s, but she’s still faster than it is. Like parent teacher’s kind of weak. It just means like, oh, you just repeat stuff and she actually doesn’t, like, we’ve seen her be really, really flexible and quick. And then that I like a bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours is great. Yeah. Right. I can make noises. You can’t even talk. You’re a dumb animal. And then that horse thing and that jade’s trick. So I did look up Jade and jade, so it does mean an old worn out horse, like who will bolt or buck you off or whatever. But it was also slanging for a worn out prostitute. 

And I think I mentioned last time, like rarely used for men. 

So I think that’s super interesting. The other thing I wanted to just observe is I, my feeling is that like, looking over beatrice’s words again, I feel like the word swear is very important to her. She uses it again and again. Do not swear and eat it. And then the whole thing about men, right? Men can just tell a lie and, and swear to it. There’s something about that word that I think is, is important. It’s got weight to it. I don’t know what that weight is and it’s not my job to figure it out. But I think that’s 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. But I think it’s very important because I think it, it, it certainly does give credence to the idea that if something happened, perhaps it was that he broke his oaths Yeah. 

To her. And that was everything. 

Cat Sheehan

Also, we’re back to words and what they mean. Right? I’d rather hear a dog bark at a crow, which is meaningless than a man. Swear. He loves me, not a man loving me. Right. Or a man 

Erika Rolfsrud

Swears that he is 

Cat Sheehan

right. But do you he swears he loves me. Is that, does that mean he does love you? Really? Is it, are those words true? Seems 

Erika Rolfsrud

to, 

Cat Sheehan

there’s something in there. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. Let’s see. It’s almost 20 after. So let’s actually keep plowing forward to get a little bit more work done so that next week we can finish up the, we’ll move a little faster as you play with this. I will point out things like, 

it’s fun to listen to the, like I’ve always loved. 

They would else have been troubled with a pernicious sutor. 

It’s linked with a end of an s start of an S. So it’s almost like the sound of a snake pernicious sutor. You playing with these sounds, 

my dog bark at a crow that a man swear he loves me. Just as you work on this, play with that, play with vows, find the antithesis and lift them up and set them up so that you can ring the bell in the idea that she’s forming. And it’s very important with her because she does speak in very long sentences. So it’s important to find the train of thought and where she’s going. And the way to do it is to make sure you’re hitting the correct words. 

Right. We can get more in depth as that as we work the scenes. So let’s go, let’s go, let’s go to the beginning of the dance. 

Ooh. Got a little thunder. 

Okay, so let’s go to two one, shall we? 

So they’ve just finished supper and now we’re gonna start the dance part, the mask. 

I’m gonna have a little fun now. 

So, 

and I, I, I don’t know enough about masks, but if it’s something that, like, you have your team, I don’t know your family, you all know who you are and you all, they know who they are. So we’re gonna, you know, we’re gonna help each other with the masks and nobody will know. Do you know what I mean? I don’t know if there’s intrigue in that or if it’s just basically show up with a mask or, you know what I mean? It’s, it’s, I don’t know. Depends on how we’d stage it, I suppose. 

Okay. So yeah, let’s, let’s the goal, let’s, let’s get through this one. Lot of imagery. 

Who read Beatrice last time on this one? Do you remember? Last week? 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I think I read it last time. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. Jules, you haven’t read Beatrice yet today, right? 

Juls Hoover

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Shannon, you read Beatrice? 

Shannon Clair

Not Beatrice, but I’ve read other things. So we’re, we’re good. Jules could do it. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. Jules, you go Shannon, you do Leonardo Annu. You do hero. And Antonio, whenever they, they have a couple of little lines. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Okay. 

Erika Rolfsrud

And let’s, let’s sit and 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Leonardo’s brother. Does somebody wanna read that? That’s 

Shannon Clair

Antonio. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Antonio. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Oh yeah. Thank you. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah, 

Shannon Clair

For some reason the Folger version says Leonardo’s brother, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I have no name. 

Erika Rolfsrud

And this one it’s, yeah, yeah. In the new Cambridge, they, they insert it editorially for our sake. Do, 

Shannon Clair

Do people get confused? ’cause I’m like, okay, Beatrice is Leonardo’s niece. We also have 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Ito’s 

Shannon Clair

brother Antonio, but he’s never referenced as Beatrice’s father. So presumably maybe there was a sister, there was, you know, it’s like 

Erika Rolfsrud

They never talked about, there’s that 

Shannon Clair

great mystery, No 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

hero twin that shows up at the end. That’s, that must be Antonio’s daughter or something. Yeah, I was very confused as well. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. I, they never, ’cause they never discussed her history. If it’s something that, you know, maybe her parents were lost at sea and so Leon us, you know, adopted her. I don’t know or yeah, yeah. 

So yeah, I’ve thought about that too. She’s a very lone character. Ooh, we got a thunderstorm. Okay, let’s give the shot was not count. John 

Shannon Clair

Was not Count John here at supper. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I saw him not 

Juls Hoover

How tarley that gentleman looks. I never can see him, but I am heartburn an hour after. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

He is of a very melancholy disposition. He 

Juls Hoover

Were an excellent man that were made just in the midway between him and Benedict. The one is two, like an image and says nothing. And the other two, like my lady’s eldest son, evermore tattling, 

Shannon Clair

Then half senor Benedict’s tongue in count John’s mouth and half count John’s melancholy in Senor Benedict’s face 

Juls Hoover

With a good leg and a good foot uncle and money enough in his purse. Such a man would win any woman in the world if he could get her Goodwill. 

Shannon Clair

Hi, my trth niece, thou will never get the A husband if they’ll be so shrewd of th tongue 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

In faith. She’s too cursed. 

Juls Hoover

Too cursed is more than cursed. I shall lessen God. Sending that way for it is said. God sends a cursed cow, short horns, but to a cow too cursed. He sends none. 

Erika Rolfsrud

That’s Stuff. ’cause that’s gonna start, that’s a sort of a new newbie with the in faith. She’s too cursed. So the initials 

tartly, that gentleman Tartly always makes me think of, I don’t know the episode of friends. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it. When John Levitz is high as a kite. He’s a restaurant owner and he’s coming in to do a tasting menu with, with Monica who has no idea that he’s high. And he’s like, tarts, tarts, tarts. And he’s just playing with it. And it’s so great when you think about tart, it’s, it’s, I just, it’s something to think about when you play with some of these words. Do you know what I mean? Is it an P? No, I’m going wrong. What’s the, anyway, okay. No mothership is not downloading correctly. Okay. 

Cat Sheehan

It’s not, but There’s something to it. Yeah. It like helps 

Erika Rolfsrud

with 

Cat Sheehan

the word, I mean. Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

yeah. That, that word that is is like the word is the sound of the thing it’s describing. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. I mean 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

That Is on aia. Yeah, 

Shannon Clair

yeah, 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah it is. But that’s not technically What 

Shannon Clair

this is like the sound of the sensation we associate 

Cat Sheehan

with it 

Shannon Clair

or something. Yes. 

Erika Rolfsrud

But it is kind of fun to play, especially with Shakespeare to help people along you, you’re the adjective you’re using just working, you know. Okay. So how tarly that gentleman looks. I never can see him, but I am heartburn an hour after. So he’s a sour face guy. Yes. Jules. 

Juls Hoover

Is There, has there anything been, I’m sure there has about much to do and the food references and the con consuming and like all of this and the palette and the flavor. I mean like, it’s in everything that we’re reading. So 

Erika Rolfsrud

that’s An excellent question. 

Cat Sheehan

Far. Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

that is an excellent question up. Much to do. 

Juls Hoover

I mean, just keeps Coming up over and over and over again. And it, I am sure that there’s some kind of like sensorial thing to it of like the drawing to the mouth tasting the, again, I, I don’t know, it’s just so interesting. It’s like, it’s very present. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I think that’s a fascinating idea. Yeah, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

that’s, Shakespeare was hungry when he wrote this. 

Juls Hoover

Totally. He Was high. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay. So, all right. 

Cat Sheehan

I mean there Does 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

does 

Cat Sheehan

tend to be like a lang Yeah. A language or a like a you, you’ll get sort of a feel for the, you know, there’ll be sort of a topic or a way things are described in a given play. Like 12 flight is all illness. Like love is illness. Yeah. Here’s, it is a lot of like 

Erika Rolfsrud

food 

Cat Sheehan

sexing people seeing 

Erika Rolfsrud

and eating, 

Cat Sheehan

seeing or not seeing eating. Yeah. And a lot of like some of the sexual innuendo stuff is definitely turning on that eating stuff 

Erika Rolfsrud

Being full. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

You Know, 

Cat Sheehan

A made and stuff later comes up with different implications then the stuff man initially, 

Erika Rolfsrud

but it 

Cat Sheehan

does repeat. There are a lot of sort of these repeating ideas that would be, I also like it that she’s just correct about Don John. Like she’s, again, once again like she just puts her finger on it 

Erika Rolfsrud

And no need to be polite about it. Uhuh that guy just no Uhuh. But, and I love in the next line how quickly she brings up Benedict. 

Cat Sheehan

Of course 

Erika Rolfsrud

You were an 

Cat Sheehan

excellent man 

Erika Rolfsrud

that were made just in the midway between him and, oh 

you know, the lady does protest too much. Me thinks the one is too like an image and says nothing the other too, like my lady’s eldest son ever more prattling. So again, it’s setting it up with the joke. You know, I got one guy over here and I got another guy over here very keeping it clear for the audience. ’cause then she takes it a step further with Leonardo’s help and half of senior Benedict’s tongue and count John’s mouth and half of Count John’s melancholy in Senior Benedict’s face a good leg 

Cat Sheehan

and a 

Erika Rolfsrud

good foot uncle. And that 

Cat Sheehan

Leonard’s not that good. Whatcha saying? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Trying. 

Cat Sheehan

I know. Bless 

Erika Rolfsrud

it. I 

Shannon Clair

trying to play along, 

Cat Sheehan

You know? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. And, and instead of like taking him down, she just kind of goes with it there, there’s an affection. 

Cat Sheehan

No sweet 

Erika Rolfsrud

there. Yeah. You know, 

Cat Sheehan

she saves him. She picks him 

Erika Rolfsrud

up. They’re having a good time. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I would imagine it’s a little bit like being at a state dinner and you have to be very polite and that kind of a thing. And then when you get home and you’re taking off your socks, you’re like, that guy, did you see the guy? But oh yeah, the one from, you know, you get to get it all out, but she is no shame. Let’s do this. Let’s play. So she says, okay, I’ll play with a good leg and a good foot uncle and money enough in his purse. Such a man would win any woman in the world. 

If he could get her goodwill. 

If he could win her over basically. 

Shannon Clair

I Love that she tags that on the end. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Shannon Clair

’cause she’s basically, it’s set up so much in a way where it’s like, oh, if you have all these things you’ll get the good woman, but actually you won’t because you still, you actually just need to get her goodwill even if you have all those things. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. It’s like this, this additional, and I found that when I played her that it was something where I would always catch myself not having enough breath because it was such an attachment To the other. Well, and I 

Shannon Clair

feel like Leonardo’s response is also to that of like, oh you’ve really added too much to this list. You’re never gonna find a husband. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. I used to love that. That, I don’t if you’ve ever seen the movie singles, but Bridget’s character Scott Campbell, Scott asks her, well, what do you wanna man? She goes, well he used to think he needed to have a great job. He needed to do better and he needed to say, God bless you when I sneeze. And he said, and that one she goes, just needs to say God bless you when 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I sneeze. 

Erika Rolfsrud

And then of course the callback is later and she’s in the elevator with Matt Di and she sneezes and he says, God bless you. And this moment of 

charming yourself so bi my things, you will never get the a husband if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue. 

Antonio. It’s very interesting. I mean, 

Cat Sheehan

old 

Erika Rolfsrud

guy never gonna get a husband if you don’t watch that mouth of your’s. Kind of. 

And that all depends on also that actor. Are they gonna have a relationship where he’s one of those old guys that does this and she can just get back at him and he’ll be like, Beatrice? Or you know, I don’t know what it is, but, so, okay. So we, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

couple Couple, just a couple things. One before I forget. Back on line nine, like my lady’s eldest son, is Beatrice talking about her serving lady? No. 

Cat Sheehan

Who is her 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

lady? 

Cat Sheehan

It’s again, it’s sort of, it was a construction, like a stereotype. Yeah. So it’s my, but my lady just meant any lady. So it’s like a spoiled older son. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Oh, okay. Thanks. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Juls Hoover

Spoiled childhood. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Okay. And then I 

Cat Sheehan

would Say like a wealthy woman’s son or something. Right. But they would use my, but it just meant kind of a stereotype. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Oh, okay. Thank you. It’s funny though, it’s like I would expect like a kid to be ever more tattling, but it’s like the eldest son. I just felt that quite interesting. Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

Tattling is more like just talking all the time 

Erika Rolfsrud

about 

Cat Sheehan

how wealthy you’re gonna be. ’cause you’re the heir apparent, blah, blah, blah. And 

Erika Rolfsrud

like, like the defense. Obnoxious little shit. Yeah. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Yeah. And then the other thought I had was that Antonio, at least the way I’m reading it now, he doesn’t wanna engage in any word play. He, he’s just like, yeah, yeah. You know, she’s just, you know, I just find that funny. He’s such a straight man to everything that’s happening here. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Really is. Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

He 

Erika Rolfsrud

really is. And he just lays it out too. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. Right. He 

Erika Rolfsrud

is too cursed. Let’s just call her what it is. 

Cat Sheehan

Hmm. 

Juls Hoover

In the pelican it’s saying too cursed means two not also cursed. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. It’s a pun. 

Juls Hoover

Right. And he’s so he’s saying she’s too cursed. 

Erika Rolfsrud

She’s like double cursed. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah, yeah. 

Juls Hoover

So, and 

Erika Rolfsrud

that dumb. She’s 

Juls Hoover

cursed. She Gets out. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. She’s wiggles out of it always. 

Erika Rolfsrud

So this is when she pops in. So let’s read it from the in faith. She’s too cursed 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

And we’re gonna go in faith. She’s in faith. She’s too cursed. 

Juls Hoover

Okay, Who 

Erika Rolfsrud

is it? You got it 

Juls Hoover

Too. Cursed is more than cursed. I shall lessen God. Sending that way for it is said, God sends a cursed cow, short horns. But to a cow too cursed. He sends none. 

Shannon Clair

So by being too cursed, God will send you no horns. 

Juls Hoover

Just if he send me no husband for the witch blessing, I am at him upon my knees every morning and evening. Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face. I had rather lie in the woolen. 

Shannon Clair

You may light on a husband that has no beard. 

Juls Hoover

What Should I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting. Gentle woman. 

He that hath a beard is more than a youth. And he that hath no beard is less than a man. And he that is more than a youth is not for me. And he that is less than a man. I am not for him. Therefore, I will even take six pence in earnest of the beard herd of the bear herd and lead his apes into hell. 

Shannon Clair

Well then go you into hell. 

Juls Hoover

No. But to the gate. And there will the devil meet me like an old cuckold with horns on his head and say, get you to heaven. Beatrice get you to heaven. Here’s no place for you maids. So deliver I up my apes and away to St. Peter for the heavens. He shows me where the bachelors sit and there live. We as Mary as the day is long. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. Let’s look at that section. So two cursed. Two cursed is more than cursed. So she said, I shall lessen God sending that way. 

Or it is said, God sends a cursed cow, short horns, but to a cow, two cursed. He sends none. So we’re talking about cdre. Right. The horns, short horns. 

So to cursed is more than cursed. I shall lessen God sending that way. 

So is it, shall I shall lessen as in take from God sending that way. Or I shall make a lesson. 

I’ll take that and I’ll parse out some new lesson. Even though it’s spelled S 

Cat Sheehan

Oh yeah. ’cause it could work both ways, right. When you’re religious listening to 

Shannon Clair

me. But I Kind of like the more and less going On. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah, me too. I take it that way. More than cursed. Less than God sent. Right. That’s the, 

Erika Rolfsrud

And especially since it too is a pun. She’s too cursed. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Then yeah. Okay. So too curse is more than cursed. I shall lessen God sending that way. God’s sending. 

So God’s sending of the holder, okay. For it is said God sends a cursed cow, short horns, but to a cow, two cursed, he sends none. So she’s all for being too cursed, but sends a cursed cow shorthorns. So a woman who isn’t cursed enough, she get only gets a little kry. The what is the 

Cat Sheehan

shorthorn? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Who, 

Cat Sheehan

yeah. I don’t know. I mean the co. The co. I mean the jokes about kdry W worked both ways. So like a woman who was coupled it also got horns. Like you, you don’t hear that 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

as much. Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

I 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

didn’t 

Cat Sheehan

know That. So yeah. And that whole so short horns were less harmful. Right. In the case of angry cow. But then also less conspicuous is my note. 

So she would be less conspicuously, cuckolded or cuckolding. It’s hard to know like which way this works. Right. And you know, it sort of sso resolves itself just to be sending a husband. Right. Then I won’t have horns. If you don’t send me a husband, then I won’t cuckold him or he won’t cuckold me. 

Shannon Clair

I Feel like 

Cat Sheehan

the in 

Shannon Clair

implication is that like yes, you’re saying I’m too cursed for a husband. 

Great. Because cursed women get husbands and that’s how they’re made coupled, right? Like, so 

Cat Sheehan

that’s How they get horns. Yeah. So 

Shannon Clair

it’s, So getting a husband actually means that you are cursed. Like she’s making a relationship between being cursed and having a husband. Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

Right. 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. And if you’re too cursed, you get to, you get to be free of the husband so you don’t get the horns. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Right. The more we end up playing with the bachelor’s in heaven, I love The cursed is more than cursed. I shall lessen that. Sending for God said God sent cursed cow, short horn, short horns, but with a cow too cursed. They’re just, it’s just delicious using it and playing with it. And so Leonardo who I have a feeling this is must be his function when we do these parties, keeps lobbing her. Go further, go further, go further. 

So by being too cursed, God will send you no horns. 

Just Yeah, just like that. Yeah. Just if he send me no husband for the witch blessing, I am Adam upon my knees every morning and evening. 

So if there’s a little trick that one of my old teachers mentors used to say, he say lift the words that the audience’s ear recognized in terms of sentence structure. So just, if he send me no husband, they’ll, they’ll, it’ll sort of help lift the idea of it. Or, but they’ll know that the structure and the idea is going the opposite direction. 

Something else to play with. 

So for which blessing I am Adam upon my, so she’s like, and thank God for that. I’m bachelorette Lord. And the idea of it, Lord, I could not endure a husband with a beard on his face. I had rather lie in the woolen now beard. ’cause we get, we’re getting into beard. No beard as in man versus boy that with a beard on his face. Whether the connotation is, is that, 

Cat Sheehan

I mean, really, I mean in the, in the play a beard, it seems to be associated with the side of maturity. 

Virility. Right? There’s the Claudia later is insulted as Beardless. 

Erika Rolfsrud

You guys hear that one? No, 

Shannon Clair

no. We, wait, wait, what does Benedict do? Does he shave? 

Cat Sheehan

He shaves is part of, I mean, that’s what’s also interesting is like he has a beard and then he shaves. So I don’t know, it’s, I don’t know. It’s like so, so presumably these men also actually have beards. So again, I feel like she’s just covering her bases in some ways. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I don’t like a hairy guy. Yeah. Basically. Like I, I get razor brain burn when he kisses me and I just, 

Cat Sheehan

But I think it’s all, you know, again, like the, you know, 

Erika Rolfsrud

the super 

Cat Sheehan

nerd in me is also like she’s late. A lot of the things that’s set up here are later more serious. Right. Like the, this, you know, this image of virility, this image of masculinity is going to be really ugly in the shaming. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. But 

Cat Sheehan

here it’s just sort of playful. Like, ah, he is got a beard. He doesn’t have a beard. You know, I still don’t, I’m not interested. Although I do think it’s funny, like she veic both talk about in the abstract, having very specific feelings about the spouse they know do not want. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. Yeah. And interestingly enough, it sort of goes down a list of that eliminates and ends up being the two of them. You know, okay. 

Lord, I could not. Okay. You may light upon a husband that has no beard. 

Good point. So whatcha you gonna do with that? Beatrice, and I love this. What should I do with him? 

You know, like, dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting gentle woman. 

So the idea that she’s maybe suggesting that a man without a beard isn’t much of a man. So there’s really no way 

to describe 

Shannon Clair

She’s eliminated all up. 

Erika Rolfsrud

She is, she is making it real hard for you to find the right guy for her. So you, I I do feel that, what do I do with him? I dress him in one of my dresses and, and, and then she posits it further. 

She’s, so, she makes the joke and then she’s like, okay, he, the half the beard, he’s more than a youth. So he is older, he’s been able to, you know, sebaceous glands have all been through and he is got the hair. Okay, here we go with the testosterone. 

He said half no beard is less than a man. He can’t even grow facial hair. 

And he, that is more than a youth. It’s not for me. I’m not into it. Don’t want it, don’t want the beard. And he that is less than a man. 

He, you know, I’m not for him or he, you know, I’m not for him. 

So what do you do? Therefore, I will even take six pence in earnest of the bear word and lead his, his apes into hell. There’s some explanation we need to have there. 

Cat Sheehan

Sure. So, so for whatever reason, the traditional punishment for spinsters after they died was that they had to lead animals into hell. Sure. 

What I love about this though is that is the way that 

Shannon Clair

she 

Cat Sheehan

sort of modifies it, right? She’s like, sure, I’ll just, I’ll do, I’ll just do it like the one time, like I’ll just drop them off Right. And the devil and be like, go to heaven. Go to heaven, and then I’m gonna hang out with the bachelors in heaven, which I kind of love. So she takes this, you know, it’s another way for her to say that she, she isn’t gonna get married. Right. 

Erika Rolfsrud

But 

Cat Sheehan

that she, 

Shannon Clair

I love that the bachelors don’t have to lead animals into, they’re just hanging out in heaven. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. I guess, you know. Yeah. You know, those double standards even back in the day. But I, I just sort of love that, like the way that she, again, she spends it so like, well if I have to do that, I’m just gonna do it the one time and then I’ll get to hang out with bachelors in heaven. Right? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Like it’s a, oh yeah, no, I’ll do what I’m supposed to do, but then I’m going to top that and I’m gonna go party with the guys. 

Cat Sheehan

Which, and again, I think is super, like the way Beatrice sort of navigates conventions I find super interesting. Like, like more and more I feel like I’m seeing this play as, you know, Claudio and, and hero and kind of the pitfalls of conventional courtship, right? Yeah. As opposed to Benedict and Beatriz who find kind of their own way through. And I, I sort of love that in that moment. And 

Erika Rolfsrud

Also the idea that words no proof words can bring a woman down. 

Cat Sheehan

Oh yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

By accusation, by falseness, by that kind of a thing. And yet words are beatrice’s purview. They, they are exactly what she can do. 

It’s just an interesting juxtaposition of that, you know, that how words can harm women terribly. 

Cat Sheehan

Hmm. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Because if you accuse a guy of something like that, it’s, it’s not gonna happen so quick. Nobody’s gonna get, she hero’s not gonna show up to the church and say, Claudio did this. ’cause everyone would be like, eh guys will be guys. It was his bachelor party. 

So I, 

Cat Sheehan

In the scene she’s also like, she’s traditionally in some ways rejecting these labels, right? That that being, you know, she’s, again, she’s successfully manages not to be called a shrew, but this language is really close to that. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

And again, like sort of sort of that kind of finding her own way and in, in part because I think her, you know, her character is so clearly charming and Mary, you know that people are charmed by her. Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

They really are. Everybody likes her. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Jules, you were gonna say something? 

Cat Sheehan

Sorry. 

Juls Hoover

Yeah, it’s okay. Two things that just sparked something for me, but I looked up beard and other definitions for it and it suggested a covering also. So when, oh 

Cat Sheehan

great. 

Juls Hoover

Dick shaves his face. It could be that kind of symbol of here I am 

Erika Rolfsrud

right 

Juls Hoover

of vulnerability kind of thing where he’s been covered up whole play kind of 

Erika Rolfsrud

thing. It’s sort of like a mask in a way, isn’t 

Juls Hoover

it? Right. Yeah. Yeah. And then that idea of, oh God, I just lost it for Beatrice Kat, what did you just say about the, 

Cat Sheehan

That she’s sort of successfully batting away these potential labels. You know, again, like an interesting contrast to hero where like, like she’s getting close to being called, you know, a shrew in this, in this scene with the word curse. And she’s, she’s instead kind of a avoiding that or her spin on, if I have to lead apes into hell or animals into hell after I die, I’m just 

Erika Rolfsrud

gonna, 

Cat Sheehan

you know, she kind of finds her own way through rather, rather than being kind of labeled or reduced or even 

sort of, what’s the word I’m looking for? Like, she, she manages not to be kind of labeled in a way that these, you know, if you, again, if you think about the taming of the shrew, the way Kate is labeled Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I, I think 

Juls Hoover

I 

Erika Rolfsrud

going, sorry, go ahead Jules. 

Juls Hoover

I was just gonna say, I think that it’s also just as far as like the acting of Beatrice in, and I’d be interested to hear what Eric and Shannon, you guys have played her before this like, trap of playing her as if she knows everything already, as if she knows 

Cat Sheehan

That’s great. 

Juls Hoover

Comebacks great. And how she, if she knows with, she knows that she has wisdom. So she’s constantly on the, I’m going to one up you rather than finding the contrast of the vulnerability of really not knowing sometimes and where she’s going to pull this from next. Like to see, to see the struggle, but not show the struggle. 

If that makes any 

Cat Sheehan

sense. That’s great. 

Juls Hoover

Because 

Erika Rolfsrud

I think 

Juls Hoover

that there is a little track there of, of coming off as if she knows everything. But that’s, I don’t think that’s the case 

Erika Rolfsrud

there, There is that trap. The, the idea of the hubris of it kind of thing. I, I, I made her a very active thinker in the moment thinking on the line. 

And the times that she went too far was usually right after a very vulnerable moment. 

Like when she doesn’t pick up on Don Pedro actually proposing and she goes a little bit further and everything, I’m like, oh, oh fuck, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. 

And then, you know, Leonardo helping her out by like, would you go do that thing that we were talking about with the thing? Thanks very much. And she’s out of there and it’s, that would be a fun thing to play with in terms of, again, dealing with that scene in the church and where she doesn’t have language. 

So I don’t know, Because we 

Cat Sheehan

see the words as a mask too, right? I mean, the wit is a mask, right? I don’t have to, I’m not getting labeled. Sure. But there’s something real under here or the way that she invented it speak to each other. 

Erika Rolfsrud

And that’s something to think about when you’re playing her. How do you use the words when you’re playing Bene Beatrice? 

Shannon Clair

Well, and I, and I think also, I mean, as, as much as we’re talking about like how she lo she wonderfully takes things in spins things. I mean, there’s also this density you get in the middle of some of these things and you’re like, how are we getting out the other side? 

And I think so I think there is that like, when you’re spinning stuff on your feet and you’re figuring it out, your story is a little you, but you, you find the good little tag on the end and it works, you know? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. Yes. And 

Juls Hoover

a little celebration in of the moment. Like just for herself kind of Like, 

Shannon Clair

yeah. And, and also just how much joy she takes in the process, I think is the other thing that keeps her from being the sort of know-it-all she, this is, this is play and that, like, there’s gotta be genuine enjoyment of it as, as an actual activity 

Erika Rolfsrud

Still like comedy. Yeah. So, yeah. All right. So let’s, I think we got nine minutes left. I think we can move through the rest of the scene. I think 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

One thing, could we, could I real quick just touch on in earnest of the bear herd and lead us apes into hell? Can you talk about the mythology or the, the belief behind that? 

Cat Sheehan

I, I don’t know where it comes from really, but again, the in earnest of would be like this Money. Yeah. Like, like I’m getting, I’m gonna give you this now or I’ll take, take it knowing that I will do this job for you. Like a down payment. I don’t think 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

The deposit, The 

Cat Sheehan

deposit, little deposit and then, yeah, I don’t actually, does it tell me where it comes from? 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

I mean, is Satan, what, what is bear herd is Satan. 

Cat Sheehan

Oh, A bear herd. Just somebody who 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

heard 

Cat Sheehan

bear bears. Literally. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Birds 

Cat Sheehan

Bears, Shepherd 

Erika Rolfsrud

Bears. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. So, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

so person 

Cat Sheehan

who looks after the bears. So again, I don’t know 

Erika Rolfsrud

that it was 

Cat Sheehan

specific like 

Erika Rolfsrud

fighting 

Cat Sheehan

specific animal that the spit had to lead into hell. They were just doomed. Oh, it says apes. Interesting. Yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

That’s, that’s the weird thing too. To me it’s like go to the bear. So I will even take six pen pens in earnest mon money of the bear word and leave his apes into hell. Like 

Cat Sheehan

It’s a, it is a little weird. I guess it was just 

Shannon Clair

hurting 

Cat Sheehan

bears more, 

Erika Rolfsrud

Huh? 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Huh? 

Cat Sheehan

The 

Juls Hoover

keeper. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Any animal, take any 

Shannon Clair

animals Interchangeable. Bears, Apes. Same. 

Juls Hoover

And then the trained ape, 

Cat Sheehan

Oh, no, no, sorry, sorry, sorry. 

Juls Hoover

And 

Cat Sheehan

they also looked after train apes. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Oh. 

Juls Hoover

And 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

the 

Juls Hoover

are the proverbial punishment of women who divergences. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Interesting. Where 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

does this come from? Bears. 

Cat Sheehan

Bears and train apes. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Sure. Why not? 

Erika Rolfsrud

There’s A whole, I know we’re running out town, but there’s a whole thing I did a study for in grad school about the fact that women were considered to be the lesser human being because there they were considered, it was considered one sex humans, one sex. We were just a lesser version because our, our fallopian tubes and all that kind of thing. She looks like an internal testes and penis. 

Yeah. So we worked perfect sex because it didn’t drop and become male. 

Shannon Clair

Yep. That’s how that works. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Then you go into the duplicity of how like boys played women and then in the breaches roles then played men, you know, that were fak. It, it’s, yeah. It’s just, it’s wild. Wild. 

Okay, so I I’m, I’m gonna do a deeper dive on, dive on Ernest of the bear word. Okay. No, the gate. 

So I’m not gonna go into hell. 

I’m just delivering apes no to the gate. And there will the devil meet me like an old cuckold with horns on his head and say, get you to heaven, Beatrice get you to heaven. There’s no place for you, maid. 

So the the devil says, nuh, you’re not hanging here. 

So deliver eye up the apes and away to St. Peter for the heavens. He shows me where the bachelors sit and we live there as Mary as the day is long. I just love that. 

Shannon Clair

Yeah. She gets all the bachelors. 

Erika Rolfsrud

We get 

Shannon Clair

All 

Erika Rolfsrud

the 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

bachelors, 

Erika Rolfsrud

We’re all gonna party and there’s no consequence. We’re in heaven Now. Who cares? Okay, so let’s read. Well, I trust you. We’ll be ruled by your father. That’s an interesting, 

Cat Sheehan

I love that like a counter, right? You’re not Beatrice your hero. You’re going to be ruled by your father. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah, 

Shannon Clair

I Know. This is the one part of the text where I’m like, wait, could Antonio possibly be Beatrice’s father? But he has no authority over her and he’s flipping it and is like, Hey, you’ll be ruled by your, I’ve given up on her. She is her own person over there. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. It Strikes me as that Antonio’s trying to keep this on track. 

Cat Sheehan

Mm. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Because they’re about to have the proposal. They’ve heard about it, they know it’s going to be coming, 

Cat Sheehan

which is backwards also wrong. It’s not the 

Shannon Clair

so 

Erika Rolfsrud

which 

Cat Sheehan

men are just so wrong this way all the time. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Okay, so let’s take it. We got five minutes. So from Antonio, well Niece, I trust 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Well Niece, I trust you will be ruled by your father. 

Juls Hoover

Yes. Faith, it is my cousin’s duty to make curtsy and say, father, as it please you. But yet for all that cousin, let him be a handsome fellow or else make another curtsy and say, father, as it please me. 

Shannon Clair

Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband. 

Juls Hoover

Not till God make men of some, make men of some other metal than Earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be over mastered with a piece of a valiant dust to make an account of her life to a claw of a way word moral? 

No uncle, all none Adam’s sons are my brethren and truly I hold it as a, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred 

Shannon Clair

Daughter. Remember what I told you? If the prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer. 

Juls Hoover

The fault will be in the music cousin. If you be not wooed in good time. If the prince be too important, tell him there is measure in everything. And so dance out the answer for Hear me. Hero, wooing, wedding and repenting is a is as a scotch jig, a measure and a synco paste. The first suit is hot and hasty like a scotch jig and full as fantastical. The wedding mannerly modest as a measure full of state and, and, and ancient tree. And then comes repentance. And with his bad leg falls into the synco paste faster and faster till he sink into his grave. 

Shannon Clair

Cousin, you apprehend passing. Truly 

Juls Hoover

Have a good eye. Uncle. I can see a church by daylight. 

Shannon Clair

The breves are entering. Brother make good room, Right? 

Erika Rolfsrud

Lemme see how many, we’ve got three minutes. So I love that she steps up that Antonio’s trying to talk to hero. Let’s be serious for a second here. And Beatrice is one thing. I think she’s amped up, She’s Juiced, she’s ready. And she’s also making a mockery of what is about to happen, I think. And to me, the way I played it also was, I’m protecting hero by making it funny. Don’t take this too seriously. You’re gonna be fine. There’s all these rules. Rules, but learn by me, it’s fine. You know? That’s what I played it as was as like the elder si sister trying to get her laughing and just have fun. 

You know? So, because also she doesn’t have a mother, both hero and Beatrice don’t have moms. All 

Cat Sheehan

the missing mothers 

Erika Rolfsrud

Dad, they have missing mothers. So they’re sort of sisters and mothers to each other. So, so yes, faith, it is my cousin’s duty to make curtsy and say, father, as it please you, that’s what she’s supposed to do. But yet for all that cousin, let him be a handsome fellow or else make another curtsey and say, father, as it please me. 

I think it’s pretty straightforward. I love that. Well, niece, I hope to see you one day fitted with a husband of all this. Not till God make men of some other medal than Earth, would it not grieve a woman to be over mastered with a piece of valiant dust to make an account of her life, to a clawed of wayward moral. 

Just chew it in your mouth as you do it. It’s just, and the, the idea that her, I mean a Kat, I know you can go deeper into this, but the, the, the equivalency for her that a man is about as interesting worth living with as a clump of dust. 

Juls Hoover

What’s also interesting too is like that, that part before where she talks about the Bachelor’s in heaven, it’s like saying, I don’t need any of the men here on earth. That’s boring to me. I will only hang out with bachelors in heaven. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

It’s also, and it is funny to me too ’cause it’s, you know, it, it’s certainly, you know, from the Bible, right? Man is fashion from dust and earth and then she turns man into wayward moral. 

It’s, it makes it sound like women are better because we came from Adam’s rib. I don’t know, but I think that’s kind of funny. Like the, and, but it’s clever, you know, as always 

Erika Rolfsrud

Very clever. But I love her point of like, you know, Adam’s sons are my brethren. 

Cat Sheehan

That’s funny too, right? The spin on, yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

I gonna Send a match in my kindred. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Hang out and do all the nasty with my brother. You know, the, this next one I, I’m sort of rushing us through. But what’s fun about this is the EE equivalent of comparing the steps and the journey to three separate dances. And it’s really fun to do because you get to watch her splint or spin plates. So she’s got, I got the jig, got this, and I got this. It’s just like dancing kid, it’s gonna be fine. 

You know, it’s, it’s the fault will be in the music cousin if you be not wooed in good times. She’s doing the pun on time. 

Good in, in good time. Being like fast enough for getting it in on time and good time turns into syncopation and the rhythm of music. 

Tell ’em there’s measure and everything. And so dance out the answers or hear a hero. I mean, just think of the a wooing wedding and repenting is as grab it, grab it, grab scotch jig, I, you know, not a synco paste, a measure and then a synco paste. 

And I, I actually sort of danced them out a little bit with her, sort of like also for the sake of the audience, understanding the difference there. But 

cousin, you have an apprehended passing shrewdly. I have a good eye uncle, I can see a church by daylight. I always took that to mean also a no, no, no, no, no. I see what’s going on. 

I I see all of this, the system, the whole, the the, there’s a slight bite to it. 

It’s not just, you know, I have clear vision. 

I can, you know, do, does that make sense Kat? 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. It, yes. I think it’s also like two things and I totally understand that as an option. I think it’s a great option. I think it’s also modest in a way. Like she’s just saying, like I could see the church was the biggest thing in a town. I can see a church in daylight as kind of a, a funny, you know, but yeah, I mean I can see a church with daylight. But again, I think in, again, in the context of the play where people are gonna not see accurately and even the title right. Much do about noting seeing, right? 

So it’s kind of an interesting line. I think there’s a lot of possibility there with where you want to take it. Yeah. She also is, to me, this scene, this this last two bit, the thing about the dancing and the comments to hero, like to me this is her most kind of fool like scene in the sense of, and maybe that’s also anticipating the party, right? Where like, I mean the rhythm of that dance thing reminds me of, of Festi in 12th Night when like, 

Erika Rolfsrud

what’s a 

Cat Sheehan

drunken man like, right. That or the three degrees of drink. You know, it’s a very, it’s typical of those very witty, perceptive fools and Shakespeare and the social criticism, right. And support of hero. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I would, I would love to, to like do deep dive into what the people of the Elizabethan era thought about a character like Beatrice. 

Cat Sheehan

I Know I have a fun fact for you. I actually have two fun facts for you, although we’re 

Erika Rolfsrud

Hello? 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. But 

Erika Rolfsrud

it until Nathan jumps in. 

Cat Sheehan

Okay, So Charles, the first king Charles the first who became king of England in 1625. So you know, Shakespeare died, but he and he had a copy of the folio of the second edition of the Folio and he crossed out the title of Much Do About Nothing. And he wrote Beatrice and Benedict. 

Isn’t that fun? Oh My God. That’s my one of my favorites. And then the other one you might know is, is the, the Latin meanings of the name of Benedict Benedict and Beatrice, you know this So, so Beatrice means to give a blessing and Benedict means blessed. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. And then what is Benedict? 

Cat Sheehan

Benedict is, is a receive like blessed who receives the blessing. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Ah, yeah. Like what is the, the bene benediction 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

benediction 

Cat Sheehan

at 

Erika Rolfsrud

the end of the service. Yeah. 

Cat Sheehan

That’s Not sweet. But yeah, that Charles, the first thing I was like going to town on that One. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I love that 

Juls Hoover

I get his own notes. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Hey Nathan, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

real, Real, real quick before we end. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah, yeah can 

Nathan Agin

of course. Yeah. 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Can someone speak real quick to repentance and passing because I was a little confused. Repentance from what is, is she talking about death? Yeah. Or 

Cat Sheehan

like 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

repentance from being wayward and then apprehend passing. Shrewdly is that passing as in passing like you, you apprehend the meaning of life or the pace of life? 

Cat Sheehan

Good question. So rep repentance, I mean she’s again, she’s kind of leaning on this medieval morality play thing and it was sort of accepted that at the end of your life you repented, that was sort of your final chapter was repentance with a capital R. I mean it’s kind of interesting ’cause I also kind of hear it as are you repenting the marriage? ’cause the first two are so much, right? The first two are so much about courtship and marriage. And then do you regret it? And then passing shrewdly passing just means very, so very, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

okay. 

Cat Sheehan

But shrewdly can also mean satirically, which is kind of interesting to me. So, you know, again, he is saying, you know, you understand things very, 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

Very well. 

Cat Sheehan

Well, or very satirically. And then she comes back with this. I have a good eye, which 

Erika Rolfsrud

is 

Cat Sheehan

great ’cause you know, I apprehend because I, because I see, 

Erika Rolfsrud

I see. I make observations. 

Cat Sheehan

Yeah. 

Erika Rolfsrud

Yeah. She’s, oh yeah. Oh, love her. Okay. There’s so much more to do anyway. Yes. 

Nathan Agin

Yeah, no, it was, it was a wonderful session. It would be hard for me to pick out any particular thing. ’cause you, you guys just explored so much, even in, in the, the scenes that you did. So just a great week. So, so thank you so much for all your work this week, everybody. 

And yeah, we will, we’ll pick it up again next week and keep, keep going. So yeah, 

Erika Rolfsrud

We will get through all the scenes and then, then we will actually get into the play like playing it. All right? So get those words in your mouth, get those meanings in your head, make a couple of choice decisions or whatever and we’ll just keep plowing forward. It’s my 

Cat Sheehan

favorite part, I just get to listen. 

Shannon Clair

Hmm. I 

Cat Sheehan

get to be the audience. 

Erika Rolfsrud

I love it. Okay. 

Nathan Agin

Alright 

Erika Rolfsrud

everybody have a good Week. 

Nathan Agin

Have a great week everybody. Bye you and thank you all 

Anu “UN-u” Bhatt

for tuning 

Nathan Agin

in. Enjoying it. I hope you check out the other sessions, support us on Patreon, subscribe and, and all that. So thanks everybody. And yeah, we’ll catch you next time