Meera Syal, who plays Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon, on what Shakespeare means to her
I was asked to play Caliban in The Tempest at school. I didn't understand it and played the role for broad comedy, as one would at 14.
I still remember that speech: "The isle is full of strange noises." I was standing there on the stage in a brown sack, barefoot, and I think I had mud on me.
Making my professional Shakespeare debut at the RSC is scary. You're surrounded by people who know everything about him, but on the other hand, where better to do it?
The role of Beatrice has changed profoundly over time, along with society's perception of women. She was written as having the wit of a man, but critics hated her. Now she's modern, the staple romcom heroine.
I think there are some people who are touched by the finger of God, and Shakespeare was one of them. He had such foresight and prophecy.
The clues to making the comedies funny are all in the text. You will end up saying the lines only the way he wrote them, with rhythmic, comic sense.
Shakespeare definitely knew how to keep the groundlings happy – that's something we all strive for as writers. Very few of us get to write something which is both well-reviewed and populist.
You have to be very clever to plant a subversive political message in a script and get away with it. Shakespeare knew how to toe the establishment line while undercutting it.
Shakespeare has a very pragmatic view of love. I think he believes in romantic love, despite what experience has told him. He knew giddy, mad love, definitely.
Much Ado About Nothing is at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 26 July, and at the Noël Coward Theatre, London, from 22 September to 27 October
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jul/01/meera-syal-shakespeare-and-me-much-ado-about-nothing
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