DIRECTOR: MALITH MUNIDASA - SET DESIGN: LINDA CAO - COSTUME DESIGN: AMY VANG - LIGHT DESIGN: DAVID LONGVILLE

MUCHADO ABOUT

NOTHING

Director

• Malith Munidasa

Casting• Hero- Kristen Dunst, beacause of her role in spider-man she have better feel for the

role since, she falls in love fast and also experiences troubles that happen during the relation. Also she fits the role as a young, good looking noble.

• Beatrice- Jennifer Lawrence, because she comes off as a independent woman and she is witty with what she says and could play a loving character that tends to also mess with people close to her.

• Claudio- James Franco, because he is young and can play a character that isn’t trusting of others. Also in previous movies he’s in, he plays unstable characters just like Claudio so it’ll be more natural for him to play out the part since he’s done performances which are similar to that.

• Don Pedro-, Ian Mckellen, because he is a well respected person in the acting world, his role as Don Pedro would make a greater impact and him being a older figure he would fit more as the father of Hero.

• Leonato- Patrick Stewart, because also since Leonato and Don Pedro are old friends in the play it would work well having Patrick Stewart play with Ian Mckellen since they already have worked with each other in x-men and its very successful.

Casting Cont.• Don John- Richard Griffiths, because of his role in harry potter, he could

play the part of a older villain, someone who would scheme against everyone else.

• Margaret- Gwyneth Paltrow, because of her role in Iron man, she could be seen playing a role where she has to assist one of the main chars. while having problems with her love life as well. She also would fit the part of playing a honest character.

• Conrad- Jet Li, Li would fit well in a role where he would be working under someone and is dedicated to the other persons goals and needs.

• Dogberry- Kevin James, He would be someone who could play a role that involves a lot of dedication towards a job but can have some faults resulting in humor.

• Verges- Tobey Maguire, a minor role but would fit as deputy to Kevin James

Casting Cont. (2)• Antonio- Jack Nicholson, Would fit a

elderly father role, and someone that would probably have a witty daughter.

• Balthasar- Jack Black, because he is a very outgoing actor and has personal experience in music he would fit in well playing the role of Balthasar. Also as someone that would assist in getting people together.

• Ursula- Emma Watson, minor female role, but would work well as the lead female actors assistant.

Spine

• “Main Action”, This would be when Claudio rejects Hero at the altar.

Theme in Design Elements• Set- Should be bright and look like a

room in a upper class home, while giving off a feel of a home.

• Costumes- Need to match the social class of the characters, rich roles need to be dressed more fancy and the poorer roles need to dressed poorly.

• Lights- Needs to be bright and warm, and set a pleasant mood for the audience. Until parts like the climax the lights need to be darker

• Sound- Needs to be gentle and calm, can be soothing but in times where dishonesty comes into play it needs to become a bit more dramatic.

Style

• For this play I would say Realism would work in nicely with the spine of the play as well as the play as a whole. The characters are ordinary people falling in love in a home setting something we can all relate to. So it would make a big impact on the audience to have it as close to being real as it can.

Directorial Concept• The play needs to strongly emphasize the love

conflicts and the relationships between all the characters to avoid confusion among the audience. Visuals need to appear warm at first and at the end, but as the play gets to the spine, the mood should change to something a bit darker to correspond to the insecurity of the characters. The play should also take place in a blackbox theater to make it easier for the actors and to have a bigger impact on the audience since they will be very close to the actors themselves.

Set DesignA thrust stage space would be a good fit for the whole play

because this stage was very popular during the Shakespearean period. The play is set in the sixteenth century

so the backdrops and props will be aged.

By Linda Cao

Act 1, Scene 1

I would put a backdrop of Leonato’s house for this scene and then add bushes and paths on the ground to show that this scene is taking place outside of his house.

Act 1, Scene 2 & 3

For these 2 scenes I would change the backdrop to the photo below

and bring in couches and a table to have a more inviting feel.

Act 2, Scene 1, 2, & 3

For these scenes I would not have any props on stage because it takes place in a hallway. I will just have a black

screen backdrop.

Act 3, Scene 1

For this scene I would present a brighter atmosphere by presenting a sunny background because the characters move out into the garden.

Act 3, Scene 1 (continued)

Having flower pots on the ground will help make the stage feel more like a garden.

Act 3, Scene 2

This scene moves back to inside Leonato’s house so for this scene I will make the setting in a office like space because the characters or scheming. I would also bring in chairs for the characters and a table.

Act 3, Scene 3

Since this takes place outside, I will have a dark backdrop of buildings and lamps will be given to the performers as their props.

Act 3, Scene 4 & 5

This scene begins with the servants so I will set the scene in a large room where they get together. This scene leads on to scene 5 where the maids will exit and the next scene can continue.

Act 4, Scene 1

This scene takes place in a church so I will have a backdrop inside a church.

Act 4, Scene 2

The scene changes to a prison theme so the backdrop will change to the photo above.

Act 5, Scene 1

This scene takes place in front of Leonato’s house again so I will have the same presentation as the first scene of the play.

Act 5, Scene 2

The scene moves into the garden so I will bring back this backdrop

However, I will not put flower pots like the scenes before and just have a backdrop

change.

Act 5, Scene 3

This scene takes place in the church but I will change the backdrop to a different one to show a different angle of the church.

Act 5, Scene 4

The play ends up back in Leonato’s house

Costume Designer

Amy Vang

What the characters should be wearing most of the play

• Benedick: Since he is a lord and soldier, his clothes should be of an upper class with bright colors and such, at the same have some medals, some gold accents and things to show that he is a soldier, but he should be unkempt at the same time.

• Don Pedro: He is a prince, so his clothing should be the best of the best, the one with that shows that he is a prince. Possibly with even more gold accents than Benedick. It must be extremely extravagant and made with a brightly colored material.

Costumes Cont.

• Don John: The brother of Don Pedro and also the bastard prince. His costume should be similar to Don Pedro’s maybe just in a different color, a dark color to show that he’s a bastard prince.

• Claudio: A count and friend of Benedick’s. A count is a sort of noble person, but not as high ranked as a lord, his costume should be subpar to Benedick’s. It should contain more neutral colors such a beiges and browns.

Cont.

• Leonato: He should have formal clothes since he is a governor, the clothes should be fatherly looking, as in the clothes older men wore in the 16th century.

• Antonio: He should have similar clothing to Leonato since they are brothers.

• Balthasar: Is a singer, he should have middle class clothing. His clothing should be something an everyday person in the 16th century would wear.

Cont.

• Borachio and Conrade: They are both the followers of Don John. They both should have similar costumes. It should look like it is a higher class than the middle class and under royalty clothing, such as Don Pedro and Don John.

• Innogen: A ghost. The costume should be white and flowing on the ground to signify that she is a ghost. Possibly full white makeup with a smoky black filled circle around the eyes.

Cont.

• Hero: She should have two costumes. One of them being a dark smoky gray dress and another crème/white dress. The gray one tells us that her reputation has been tainted and the crème/white one should be for when the reputation is pure.

• Margaret and Ursala: They are the women in waiting for Hero. Their outfits should have some sort of apron and a normal, middle class dress.

Cont.

• Dogberry: Since they are basically guards, they should have some sort of weapon on both of them. Perhaps a gun slung over their shoulders and their clothing should be dark so it would be easier for them both to hide in the dark and keep watch undetected.

• Friar Francis: The priest. He should have an all black robe with a white collar and possibly facial hair, a balding spot and a bible and cross most of the time.

Cont.

• Sexton: The judge. Should have a hat from the 16th century and have the character dress in a very formal robe possibly colored, but perferably all black or white. Also with a cross and bible.

• Beatrice: The niece of Benedick. She should have a bright dress with very girly features, such as ruffles and lace.

Lighting

By: David Longville

Act 1 Scene 1 and 2

• The setting of the first two scenes in Act 1 is in a house so to portray the lighting we would use lights set at a 45 degree angle from the top

• We would place a Fire lamp to portray the year that the play took place

• We would make the lights feel warm by making them bright

• We would also place a dim blue light behind the window to show that it is night out and the moon is shining in

Act 1 Scene 3

• This act also takes place in the house but the mood of this scene is different from the rest

• To help the mood we would dim the lights to help the “cold” mood

• We would also use a spotlight on the character speaking to show his emotions

• The spotlight would not be to bright though that way the audience is not confused on the mood

Act 2 Scene 1

• During this scene the characters are in a ball room waiting for a dance to start

• We would use a dim light do set the mood for a dance

• The light would be covered in a blue gel to enhance the dance floor

• Using a spot light we would show Hero and Beatrice talking to each other before the dance starts

• When more people show up we would dim the spotlight

Act 2 Scene 1 Continued

• As the scene goes along different characters have conversations and to emphasize they are talking would move the spotlight to them as they converse

Act 2 Scene 2 and 3

• During scene 2 we would use dim lights to resemble the evil plot that is being devised

• We would use a dark blue gel to show evil• During scene 3 The characters are outside in the

garden so we would use bright lighting to show they are out in the sun

• As Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato walk towards Benedick we would move the lights to focus them on the moving characters from one side of the stage to the other

Act 3 Scene 1 and 2

• In This scene we would d the same as scene 3 in act 2 because they are based off the same thing just different characters

• Scene 2 is a few of the characters plotting out a fake scene of Hero cheating on Claudio

• The Lights will be covered in blue gel to make sense of the dark plot that is being made

Act 3 Scene 3

• Scene 3 is long but during the course of the scene the character are outside at night which means we will have dim lighting while the characters will hold lamps

• In order to show the “flame” we will emphasize the characters by putting a medium bright spotlight with a yellow gel on them to show the fire

• As the characters move around we will follow them with this spotlight and when the watchmen hide we will shift the spotlight to Borachio and Conrad because they will be become the main focus

Act 3 Scene 4 and 5

• During scene 4 Hero and her maids are in the house again early morning

• This means we will have bright lights to show that the house is being lit up by the sun

• We will use a light behind the window like before but this time it will be bright

• Scene 5 takes place outside the church so we will have bright lights to represent the sun and maybe have trees to portray shadows on the stage to get a better feel for the day

Act 4 Scene 1 and 2

• Scene 1 is in the church and to make the feeling of this we will use lights with bright colored gels such as yellows and oranges to light up the stage

• As the scene turns though from a happy wedding into an anger fest we would switch the gels to dark colors such as blues and purples to show the mood changing

• Scene 2 is in an interrogation room so the lights will be dim and cold to set a dark and misty feeling

Act 5 Scene 1 and 2

• Scene 1 takes place back at Leonato’s house but this time we make the lighting a deep red

• We use the red to show the sorrow that he is feeling as well as to show death

• When showing the windows we will use a bright light again because it is during the day

• Scene 2 is outside the house in a field so we will use bright lights again and add some green into it to show the grass in the field

Act 5 Scene 3 and 4

• Scene 3 is at the gravesite of Hero and in order to show the sorrow that Claudio is feeling we will use dark colored gels like grey and purple

• We will also use some green gels as well because the gravesite is in a cemetery

• Scene 4 is back in the church as well as outside in some parts• We will use the same gels as before when the mood was happy

in the church with the bright gels and use bright lights with shades of green to depict being outside

• In order to switch from one to the other we must use two side of the stage with one staying dark while the other being lit up by the appropriate lighting