Shaken Shakespeare | RTC2023

Much Ado About Bluffing

Some Cupid kill with arrows, some with traps.
Much Ado About Nothing

In her final year of formal education, Zelda Bindwood was granted the honour of being named president of the Spellsbody Academy Drama Club. For her first production as club president, she had chosen to direct a performance of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing; a decision which she was now, less than a week before opening night, beginning to regret.

Casting the play had been relatively easy. Lysander Mercury had out-performed everyone at the auditions to win himself the part of male lead Benedick, his skills as a shapeshifter only lending to his acting. Meanwhile, Zelda's cousin Ethel Hexley had written a sixteen-page-long essay on why she should be chosen to portray her favourite Shakespearean heroine Beatrice, and had proceeded to read said essay out loud to Zelda at each and every meal time until she had begrudgingly given her the role.

It wasn't that Ethel was a bad actress — far from it, in fact — but she and Lysander had never been on the best of terms, and now, both of them were getting a little too into their characters of the sparring would-be lovers, Beatrice and Benedick. Their constant bickering was getting in the way of rehearsals, and although this hadn't been so bad during the earlier scenes, they had yet to successfully get through anything that even remotely verged on romance. With only days to go until their first performance, Zelda was growing increasingly worried.

If only there were a way to ensure that they would be able to express feelings for one another that weren't disgust or hatred, she thought as she watched her two lead actors argue their way out of yet another disastrous rehearsal. Surely, there must be some sort of spell, or potion, or...

An idea struck Zelda like a bolt of lightning. It was an unorthodox strategy, certainly, but maybe — just maybe — it would work.

She packed away her notes and made her way to the Dining Hall for supper, making sure to stop on her way through the hall to talk to Carolina Merlinsdottir, who was top of the class when it came to Potions. On hearing Zelda's plan, Carolina raised her eyebrows, but she agreed to help, and at breakfast the following morning, she presented Zelda with a small, heart-shaped vial containing a clear fluid.

"What is that?" asked Jim Hexley; Zelda's cousin, Ethel's twin brother, and Lysander's best friend.

"Nothing of any consequence," Zelda told him. "Carolina is just helping me out with the play, that is all. Jimmy, would you mind terribly coming to rehearsals later today? I would very much like to discuss set designs with you."

Jim obliged, just as Zelda had suspected that he would, and arrived with Lysander at the start of the rehearsals, sketchbook in hand. Zelda led the boys over to a table in the corner of the empty classroom they were using to rehearse, where she had set up a few plates of biscuits and a tray of teacups.

"Is this normal for... I mean to say, do you usually have refreshments at the start of your rehearsals?" Jim asked.

"Not at all, this is just a special treat for today."

"Why?"

"Oh, I don't know." Zelda poured a cup of tea for her favourite cousin and handed it to him. "I have a good feeling about this rehearsal, that's all."

At that moment, Ethel arrived on the scene, her best friend Selene Fraser in tow, and the two girls immediately helped themselves to a handful of biscuits each.

"Careful, Hexley," Lysander smirked. "You keep eating biscuits like that, you'll struggle to get your broomstick off the ground."

"If you were racing, I wouldn't need to get my broom off the ground," Ethel retorted. "I could run across the floor and you still wouldn't make it to the finish line before you."