Much Ado About Nothing

Beatrice and Benedick are surely Shakespeare’s most appealing pair of lovers. They don’t even grudgingly admit their love for one another until the end of the play, after five acts of delightful, fast-witted insults that they both clearly enjoy giving as good as they get. The ‘kind of merry war betwixt’ them is an obvious forebear of later ‘screwball’ comedies that shone a light on the playful, private world of jests and arm-jabs that lovers create when their wits and spirits complement one another. Benedick and Beatrice are the anti-Romeo and Juliet. I would like to tell you that these two have always reminded me of a pair of friendly bees, buzzing about one another with sharp, slightly dangerous energy, that leads to sweet honey – and that is why I have chosen to show the bee-bearing foil and cap from a couple of bottles of mead. Alas, that is not why I chose the bee motif – in truth, it was a lowly pun; Beatrice and Benedick – the ‘B’s – get it? ‘B’s / Bees? I was also trying to think of some reason to use the bee images because I liked them so much and sadly, this unworthy pun was the best rationale I could come up with. Better to think of the characters buzzing around each other like bees. Forget everything else I’ve told you.