performance analysis
winnietingguo
PerformanceAnalysisSamplePaper.pdf
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Nicholas Kim
Mrs. Fanton
THTR 5 (Section 300)
11 April 2020
Performance Analysis #1
Shakespeare in the Park’s rendition of Much Ado About Nothing features a cast of
immensely talented actors. Foremost among them is Danielle Brooks who, in playing the
character of Beatrice, masterfully responds to physical and emotional circumstances, makes
creative use of space, and fittingly employs both representational and presentational acting
styles, with an emphasis on the former.
Near the play’s beginning, after Claudio and Hero commit themselves to each other, Don
Pedro suddenly drops to his knee and proposes to Beatrice. Responding to this unforeseen
physical and emotional circumstance, in rapid succession, Beatrice violently flinches, lets out a
high-pitched “Oooh!”, holds her hand to her stomach, murmurs “Uh-uh!”, closes her eyes, turns
her head away from Don Pedro, holds her hand to her face, looks back at Don Pedro, shrugs,
cringes, and confusedly replies, “No, my lord.” Here Brooks engages her whole body to
demonstrate Beatrice’s astoundment at and total rejection of Don Pedro’s proposal. She responds
to this puzzling circumstance by immediately putting Don Pedro in his place and shutting him
down. Eventually Beatrice regains her composure and, assuming a more confident body
language, explains her decision to Don Pedro by appealing to difference in social class. Having
done this, she faces the audience and, with wide eyes, lets out a much needed comic sigh of
relief. When Don Pedro once more attempts to reason with Beatrice, Leonato wanders into the
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scene. Embracing him both as an uncle and a means of escaping from this profoundly awkward
scenario, with a booming voice she exclaims, “Oh cousin! God give you joy!”
Around the middle of the play, when Hero and Ursula are allowing themselves to be
overheard by Beatrice in an attempt to manipulate her into falling in love with Benedick, Brooks
heavily relies on movement about the stage in order to express Beatrice’s psychological response
to Hero and Ursula’s plot. In the process of “evading” Hero and Ursula while eavesdropping,
Beatrice hides behind a fountain, runs into the audience, takes an audience member’s programme
to cover her face, crosses through an aisle of seats, takes a lady’s seat, makes her way below the
stage and goofily sidesteps across it, runs up the opposite aisle, leans on the railing, and when
Hero and Ursula leave, dashes back onto the stage and collapses on the floor in a spasm of
emotion. Throughout this endeavor, whenever Beatrice was criticized or perceived threat, Brooks
would literally, in a physical sense, be taken aback with a disbelieving scowl on her face;
whenever Benedick’s love for Beatrice was mentioned, however, she would lean forward and
listen intently. For instance, when Beatrice is listening to Hero and Ursula’s conversation while
leaning on the railing, upon hearing that Hero plans to slander Beatrice, Brooks turns around and
shakes her fists in exasperation, but when she hears Ursula’s listing of Benedick’s various
virtues, Brooks furrows her eyebrows and slides down the railing, getting closer to the stage and
making her interest in the conversation clear. Just as a fish is given slack in a line before it is
reeled in, so do Hero and Ursula give Beatrice “slack” in insulting her, and then “reel her in” by
fawning over Benedick. Brooks’ extensive reliance on movement throughout the stage not only
makes evident her true and embarrassed interest in the conversation, but also demonstrates the
psychological consequences of Hero and Ursula’s manipulation, allowing the audience to relish
in the absurdity of the situation.
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Throughout the play Brooks mainly utilizes a representational style of acting to highlight
Beatrice’s larger than life and cheeky personality. This is especially apparent when, at the start of
the play, she is quarreling with Benedick. In this banter, she uses exaggerated facial expressions,
hyperbolic gesticulations, and a usual inflection. For instance, in rebutting Benedick, Brooks
widens her eyes, furrows her eyebrows, clenches her fists, and throwing her body forward with
every syllable, exclaims, “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swears he loves
me.” This overblown acting style establishes Beatrice as a straight-shooter and a force to be
reckoned with. Such representational acting is also apparent at the end of the play, where
Benedick, after being too cowardly to admit his love for Beatrice, asks Beatrice if she loves him,
to which Brooks contorting her face and shaking her head, obviously flustered, delivers her line
with a shriek: “No! But truly, in friendly recompense.” This representational acting is further
epitomized moments later when Claudio gives Beatrice a note written by Benedick expressing
his affection for her. Brooks reads this note while giggling loudly, raising her eyebrows, rocking
forward, sticking her tongue out, and shaking her head in excitement. This explosive reaction is
juxtaposed to her prior and obvious repression of her feelings for Benedick, and thus is used for
comedic effect. Though Brooks largely relies on a representational style of acting, when the
scene calls for it, she gracefully transitions into a presentational style. Such is the case when, at
the play’s climax, Hero is publically humiliated by Claudio at the altar. Beatrice, suspecting foul
play, is outraged at this. In an outburst of realistic passion, as opposed to the aforementioned
contrived but humorous reactions, Brooks weeps, storms about the stage, screams in agony and
frustrations, and vows, “Oh, God that I were a man, I would eat his heart in the marketplace.”
When the situation calls for serious passion as opposed to passing hilarity, Brooks cleverly and
powerfully invokes the presentational acting style.
