Much Ado About Nothing

Recently I went to Stratford-Upon-Avon for a few days to have a look around the area and see ‘Love’s Labour’s Won (Much Ado About Nothing).’ The production was put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Before the show, I’d gone on a guided tour around the area and seen places such as Shakespeare’s birthplace and where he was buried. This put me in the mood, and there is a surprising amount of interesting history surrounding the area.

I didn’t know much at all about the play before I went, but Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is about love and marriage, being humorous and light-hearted as it is a comedy, and there are no deaths which is always nice.

The main part of the plot focuses on Benedick and Beatrice being tricked into falling in love with each other, thinking that the other loves them and is too shy/embarrassed to admit it. The scenes where they overheard deliberately staged conversations about them by the other characters were incredibly funny, and Benedick and Beatrice reacted in humorous ways which had the whole audience laughing.

Claudio and Hero are the other main focus, as Claudio is in love with Hero but is tricked into believing that she is unfaithful. You take a disliking to Claudio here for being a fool and being rude to Hero, refusing to marry her. Nevertheless the problems are resolved at the end, and who doesn’t like a happy ending?

The sets were brilliant, and they included a Christmas theme, which was nice as it was only a few days before Christmas (also being suitable because of the month the war ended). Towards the end, there was a slight problem with one of the sets as it stopped working and didn’t go into the floor properly, so there was a short break while it was fixed. This didn’t really matter though, and the show was brilliant.

The actors were convincing and well suited to their roles, and the music accompanying it was beautiful and also Christmassy in places. Different moods and feelings of the characters were portrayed brilliantly.

This play was the second of two plays (‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ and ‘Love’s Labour’s Won’). I feel as though it would have been good to have seen all of them as they include the same actors and it would be interesting to see more development of the characters.

Epica and DragonForce, Concert

Last week I went to see the bands Epica and DragonForce perform at The Forum, London, along with the support act Neonfly. It was an absolutely brilliant evening, and exciting to see two bands I really like (Epica and DragonForce) co-headlining together.

I waited outside for only 2.5 hours, despite originally planning to get there 4 hours early, and I’m glad that I didn’t come any earlier as there was hardly any queue.

By the time I got to enter The Forum, I could barely feel my feet – it was so cold outside! Then we waited by the standing area and observed how empty it was. However, this didn’t really matter as it meant that we were very near the front. The crowd gradually built up.

First of all the support act, Neonfly, who I’d never heard of, performed. They were pretty good, although the sound balance was very odd all the way through and you could hardly hear the vocalist, so I didn’t hear a word of their songs. Also, the ‘Neonfly’ sign in the background was difficult to see and the DragonForce sign was more prominent, which was surprising. They played for around 25 minutes and then we waited for DragonForce.

DragonForce were amazing! I mean, no-one could disagree with me when I say that they were impressive. Being a power/speed metal band from London, their songs are all full of complicated, quick solos. Lots of people on the internet seem not to like DragonForce, but I love their sound, with fantasy-based lyrics and a video-game sound to many of their songs. They suit their image and seem to know what they’re doing.

And all aspects of their performance were brilliant – the high energy, Marc Hudson’s spot-on vocals, and the impressively played guitars, keyboard and drums. I haven’t known about DragonForce for very long, and I was annoyed with myself for not knowing all of their older songs. However, all of their songs were thoroughly enjoyable, and they played with great energy for 1 and a half hours. I also got to admire Herman Li’s ring, which looks pretty cool and seemed to light up. I’ve heard that it helps him play and create the ‘video-game effect’.

And then it was Epica’s turn! For an hour and a half, I listened to and watched the brilliant Dutch symphonic metal band.

I love their most recent album, ‘The Quantum Enigma,’ as the songs have a beautiful balance of clean vocals by Simone Simons, growls/ unclean vocals by Mark Jansen, as well as their recognisable ‘symphonic’ sound, and impressive instrumentalists. I hadn’t known about them for long before their album was released, and I listened to it on repeat when it came out, so it was really exciting seeing them perform live.

It’s always a great moment when you join together with other people with similar interests and sing along with people at concerts. The keyboard was also very interesting (shown in the image above), and I’d never seen an instrument that looks quite like that before.

Their setlist was:
1. Originem
2. The Second Stone
3. The Essence of Silence
4. Unleashed
5. Storm the Sorrow
6. Fools of Damnation
7. Victims of Contingency
8. The Obsessive Devotion
9. The Fifth Guardian
10. Chemical Insomnia
11. Sancta Terra
12. The Last Crusade
13. Design Your Universe

Encore:
14. Cry For the Moon
(Drum Solo Outro)
15. Unchain Utopia
16. Consign To Oblivion

Epica’s lighting was also really cool, with different panels on the walls used to create different patterns, as well as the other, more traditional coloured lighting.

So it was a thoroughly entertaining night, and great to be so close to the front. The show overran, which meant that I just missed my train and so got back home rather late, but it was worth it!

‘Tis a bit of a shame that you can’t see me in the group photo they took at the end, as I would have been close enough to be in it but am covered by some of the members. It doesn’t really matter though.