Shakespeare and a Drink (and maybe sometimes a movie, too)

This month’s play is Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s queasy, sort-of comedy about what’s on the surface and what lies below, about social forms and true feelings, about the importance of communication and the perils of miscommunication. In Shakespeare’s day, “nothing” was a euphemism for the female genitals; and the “nothing” in question in this case is Hero’s. So the title of the play could be modernised as “Everybody’s Fussin’ over Hero’s Vajayjay”. Furthermore, “nothing” was pronounced more as “noting”. The play is full of noting, false noting, and manufactured noting. Everyone’s watching everyone else, and everyone’s afraid of coming off badly. Why is Hero’s whatsamahooie in the title of the play? What kind of character is she, anyway? How do the two couples compare? How happy are these people? Why does everyone keep talking about fashion? What’s everyone afraid of? What’s Claudio like? What’s up with Dogberry? What’s behind Beatrice and Benedick’s “merry war”?