[Baker]

So we're doing a Shakespeare this year at my high school. Last year we did Romeo and Juliet outdoors, in which I was Romeo. The options this year are either Much Ado About Nothing or A Midsummer's Night Dream and it has not yet been announced. However, knowing our drama teacher, we can easily persuade her either way if we want to.

So. I've done Midsummer before as an extra fairy and I would absolutely LOVE to do it again as a lead. (The drama teacher loves me and we have practically no guys, so I'm pretty much guaranteed a lead in whatever we do.) The thing is, I hardly know anything about Much Ado, except for reading an online synopsis.

So I was wondering which of the two plays would you rather perform? And what parts for guys do you recommend? I'm thinking along the lines of Lysander or Demetrius, as it seems to me that the part Oberon seems to fade in the shadow of Titania (in terms of size of the role). I also thought of Puck as well, but I can't recall exactly how big he is... I know he has an important part in the story, but does he have a lot of lines and such? (I was only 10 when I did it last time, going on 7 years ago, so I don't remember a whole lot...) Also, what male roles would you recommend for Much Ado?

[Jenko]

I recently did Much Ado (adult cast) and im not a fan of shakespeare but it was really good fun. It's a situation comedy rather than jokes etc.
Here are some of the male roles:

Claudio - Romantic lead. Soldier. Falls in love with Hero. This guy really has an emotional rollercoaster. Good, but deep character. [our claudio was good to start but ended up not being that good... the director said I could have been better - i just cant learn it lol!]

Benedick - Jester. Soldier. Best friends with Claudio. He's a man's man, he believes that he will never love a woman and would rather die than get married, but he falls in love with Beatrice (Hero's cousin) but hates it. He's a bouncy, sarcastic guy. Good for physical actors.

Those are the 2 main characters. There's also, Leonato (Hero's father), Don Pedro (A Prince - leader of the troup of soldiers), Don John (the villian).


I don't know Midsummer that well, I did it about 9 years go (when i was 9) and I played Puk and my memory isnt that great lol.

Hope that helped a little.

[Gwen]

Puck has a load of lines, but in productions I've seen is played by a girl. Oberon does seem shadowed by Titania, but I guess it depends. If I were a guy, I'd go for one of the two leads in A Midsummer's Night Dream.

But, Puck is a really awesome role. In my opinion he's probably the most memorable character from the show.