Much Ado About Nothing (1984 TV) - Act I, scene 1

Shakespeare's play from start to Benedick's exit. Cherie Lunghi is such a fine Beatrice!.

If only we could have the cast of this TV broadcast with the sumptuous production and costumes of the Kenneth Branagh film version...

Lee Montague ... Leonato
Tim Faulkner ... Messenger
Cherie Lunghi ... Beatrice
Katharine Levy ... Hero
Jon Finch ... Don Pedro
Robert Lindsay ... Benedick
Robert Reynolds ... Claudio



cut and pasted from various websites:

Cherie Lunghi was born April 4, 1952 in London. She is the mother of Nathalie Lunghi (full name Nathalie Kathleen Lunghi-Joffé, born 26 August 1986). Her father (Alessandro Lunghi) was Italian, who abandoned the family, and her English mother and aunts raised the kids in west London.

Leading ingénue at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the late 70s (Perdita, Cordelia, Viola), then left to portray Guinevere in Excalibur (1981) and pursue a film career.

In 1995 she was placed 92nd in the "100 Sexiest Women in the World" by the publishers of FHM magazine.

In addition to her varied film and television work, she is perhaps best known for appearing in a long-running advertising campaign on British television for Kenco coffee in the 1990s.

Went to America in 1995, and came back in 1999.

Presenter of Green Apple Environment Awards at the Café Royal, London 1 August 2000

Appeared at the King Arthur Exhibition Edinburgh, November 2001.

Now married to Simon Woodroffe founder of the Yo! Sushi food chain

........

questions from the audience on BBC Radio:

Question from Judy Barnett: Did you go to drama school, and if so, which one?

Cherie Lunghi: Yes I did go to drama school. I went to the Central School of Speech and Drama for three years, but I did start earlier than that. I went to stage school, and worked as a child actress in radio and television.

Question from Andy Smith: What made you want to act?

Cherie Lunghi: I started wanting to be a ballet dancer. I studied very hard to be that until I was 11. Then I went to a stage school, which offered ballet and drama, and I sort of switched horses. I preferred acting.

Question from Jay Tungsvik: Your credits include the film Excalibur. How do you feel, looking back on it, now, with its status as a cult film?

Cherie Lunghi: Hello Jay. I'm very proud to have been involved in Excalibur. Apart from the fact that it's gathered the reputation of being a cult film, I also had a great time in Ireland filming it and it was my first movie role. Which means a lot. Thank you John Boorman.

Question from Emma: Hi Cherie. Do you have any advice for young actresses trying to break into the business, like myself?

Cherie Lunghi: Hello Emma. Well, I wish you a lot of luck. Luck has a lot to do with it. Equally, talent is important, as is determination.

Question from Elin Owen: How did you first get into TV and drama?

Cherie Lunghi: At a very early age. When I was 11 I went to a stage school, and attached to the school was a theatrical agent. From about the age of 13 I started auditioning for, and with luck getting, parts in television, radio and ballet. So I was working in the profession from a very young age.

Question from Lee Robbins: Being naturally well spoken, were there any problems with the eastend accent?

Cherie Lunghi: I don't think so! I think I have an ear for accents. I've had a fairly mixed background. I started in a council school, and then progressed into a grant-assisted secondary education, which would be considered more posh.

Question from Shazz King: Do you get nervous when you're performing?

Cherie Lunghi: Yes I do sometimes. My confidence levels vary, and having worked with many established actors, it seems to be a common factor. We're often insecure, and wonder how well we've performed.

Question from Kathryn Gadsden: What is your best movie that you have starred in?

Cherie Lunghi: Well I've done a handful of movies. I think the best part was Excalibur. Filming in Ireland with that cast and crew was probably the most memorable among my movie experiences. Although a runner up to that would be The Mission, in which I had the great honour of working with Robert De Niro, who happened to be an idol to me and working in Columbia in South America, with a tribe called the Guarini. They were interesting people who used the money they were paid by the movie company to provide their tribe with doctors, dentists and education. This was a very educated experience for me.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Shakespeare
• Much-Ado-About-Nothing
• comedy
• Cherie-Lunghi
• Robert-Lindsay

[dorica91]

does someone has the version with Derek Jacobi??? PLEASE!!!

[ShakespeareAndMore]

Derek Jacobi played Don Pedro in a television adaptation of "Much Ado about Nothing" for the BBC in 1967. The BBC archives would probably be the only source for a copy of this production.

Derek Jacobi alternated Benedick onstage with Cyrano de Bergerac with the RSC (and Sinead Cusack as Beatrice/Roxane) in the early 80s. The "Cyrano" was filmed for TV, but the "Much Ado" wasn't. I'll upload the "Cyrano" to YouTube in a few weeks.

[ishtarg8]

Not completely true. Cherie Lunghi is working her ass off, as are Robert Lindsay and Lee Montague. They're let down by many of the others , who seem disinterested at best. The messenger seems to be suffering from sleep deprivation, or brain damage. My recollection of this version's Don John (Jon?), is that he was actually worse than Keanu Reeves, by some margain.

In summary, less fun than Branagh's version, with some redeeeming features.

[way2musical]

Cherie Lunghi is superb..... Wow.

[24moskito]

Wich I could speak English like them

[Burtiehen]

hark at all these televisual experts rant their opinions. I'm sure Shakespeare would be thrilled to see such in depth analysis of his wonderful comedy.

But it is wonderful :D

[NoName21234]

so after watching this version a couple times... I'm pretty in love with this benedick, haha! anyone else? he's just so sincere. ther's so much going on in his eyes

[MrMucas]

@ishtarg8 Though our perception of smiles, gestures, and nods may be ultimately incommensurable, I would like to think that our assessment of the acting situation could be reasoned out. I would proffer that nearly everyone in the cast is under a light sedative (Leonato, Claudio, etc.) and that this is not only a valid acting choice but more profitable than the Branagh direction (really quite giddy). Would REAL people laugh out loud at EVERYTHING that Beatrice says?

[MrMucas]

@ishtarg8 Yah, that to me is more than a fair assessment of the character. And I think your characterization of his manner as ophidian more than hints at your complete acceptance of this interpretation. Ophidian is most certainly what he is.

[ishtarg8]

@MrMucas I have to disagree here. The messenger is terrible. I think the confusion you're seeing is just the poor guy's default setting. He's clearly under the influence of some powerful sedative, or severe head trauma.

Ultimately, I just prefer the energy and joie de vivre of Branagh's, over the rather more sober presentation here.

Of course, "Taste is a matter of taste," as Tad Allagash tells us, and is ultimately inarguable.

[ishtarg8]

@MrMucas

Keanu nails this line as well. And Richard Briers' reaction is wonderful. Mr. Broodingly Handsome isn't going to spoil the fun! Phew! I just think Keanus' dynamism is a better reading than this guy's rather ophidian immobility (not to say torpor) though I do admit, now, that it... may, possibly, be a valid choice.

I have a friend who thinks the whole John/Conrade exchange is charged with sexual tension, at least in the Keanu version, which may also add interest, if you agree.

[ishtarg8]

@MrMucas For such an essential character (he's the plot's catalyst; without him we have a bunch of rich folks partying at a villa) Don J. is rather underwritten. My own assuption about him is that he's a sort of proto Edmund, from Lear. He's a guy who, because of an accident of birth will never have the position he feels he deserves. This is the " limitless occasion" that breeds "sadness without limit ". It also makes him the least hypocritical character in the play.