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You may ask: why is Danielle Brooks so good as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park? I'll tell you! https://twitter.com/EW/status/1138651654193131520
1. She has the training. Juilliard is an insanely rigorous drama program. They study voice and movement and masks and combat and dance and singing and verse and scene analysis. She is an absolute technical monster.
While she was at Juilliard, she was in productions of Macbeth and Merchant of Venice, and also plays by Lorraine Hansberry and Arthur Miller. When she got out, she was in a friggin' commedia dell'arte show. She was in a Broadway musical. She has the experience.
2. She knows how to internalize her training. You don't see all the years of work and effort - they're just there underpinning everything she does. So when she does great physical comedy and effortless wordplay in her Beatrice, it feels of the character, not laid on top of it.
3. She can be herself on stage. I'm very glad that this production lets her bring her whole self to the part - that's what makes the performance feel so lived-in and authentic.
No matter how archaic the language, it feels like these are her words that she's coming up with in the moment. When she delivers those words in a modern way, it doesn't feel out of place. Because she's Beatrice, and that's how this Beatrice talks.
I've seen so many "correct" Shakespeare performances. My lord, the correctness. Every iamb is perfectly iambed. And they feel exquisitely empty, because there's no person inside the character suit. What she's doing is putting on a Beatrice costume without losing Danielle.
Which is to say: I'm pretty stoked they're filming this for PBS.
