A Little Help from Your Friends
Shakespeare's Take on Community
The song “With a Little Help from My Friends” was released by the Beatles on June 1, 1967, nearly 57 years ago to the day. It’s a sweet song with a message of acceptance, encouragement, companionship, and unconditional love.
That languidly optimistic tune would have been the perfect theme song for William Shakespeare’s revealing comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. Both focus on the themes of friendship and community, told through a lens of quippy banter and double meanings.
Shakespeare is generally regarded more for his individual genius than his membership in a theatrical gang - how he invented over 1,700 words still in use today, created unforgettable characters like Dogberry and Falstaff, and translated emotions into poetry like a seasoned alchemist.
This myopic view of Shakespeare’s work, however, ignores what has always been evident in his plays, and is likely the bigger driver of Shakespeare’s success: his community.
Community is the overarching message of Much Ado About Nothing. Whether it’s Claudio asking his friends to introduce him to his crush; Leonato, his brother, and the Friar scrambling to clear Hero’s name; Don Pedro doffing his “boss” hat to act as wingmate for his junior officer; Benedick abandoning his tough guy exterior to move heaven and earth for Beatrice; or Dogberry and his bumbling pals acting together to capture the criminals. Even the villain, Don John, has Conrade and Borachio to share his malaise.
The notion that Shakespeare was some solitary genius is simply not true. He was not a stuffy aristocrat penning poems in his manor house while being waited on by the Elizabethan equivalent of Downton Abbey’s downstairs staff (don’t get me started on the dubious Earl of Oxford theory - you can tell where I stand). No, he was a working actor and playwright, sometimes performing multiple shows per day in different locations, from the Globe to Greenwich Palace to the Inns of Court. The visual is more like an indie band gigging for a living by running from venue to venue than the fastidious T.S. Eliot writing alone under the milky hue of a green banker’s lamp in the basement.
Shakespeare and His Buddies
To wit: On December 28, 1594, records show that Shakespeare and his acting buddies performed for Queen Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace some time during the day. They packed up all their costumes, props, and set pieces, hightailed it 6.5 miles away through muddy, rutted roads to make the next show on time. They traveled across London Bridge (the only bridge over the Thames in 1594), through the crowded streets of London Town, and arrived just in time to perform for the rowdy law students and barristers celebrating the winter holidays at Gray’s Inn that evening.
It was the Shakespearean equivalent of A Hard Day’s Night (another great song by the Beatles). If you haven’t seen the eponymous film starring the Fab Four, I highly recommend giving it a watch. Picture John, Paul, George and Ringo as Will Shakespeare, Dickie Burbage, John Heminges, and Will Kemp. (The latter four were the heart of the acting ensemble known as “Lord Chamberlain’s Men”). I would have loved to ride with them that night, giddy after a great performance for the queen, en route to entertain at one of the most raucous holiday parties of the winter season.
Because we don’t have visual records of the performances or the interactions between the cast of Shakespeare’s plays, the significance of his acting community is often overlooked. His plays were not written for people to read – they were written to be performed by a group of actors for the enjoyment of audiences all over London and the surrounding areas. If you’ve struggled to read Shakespeare, why not check out a performance instead? The actors bring Shakespeare’s words to life.
It is this synergy among fellow creatives that allowed Shakespeare’s talent to shine. If we look into the themes of his plays, the message is loud and clear: it’s all about community.
With a little imagination, we can see Shakespeare’s buddies as real people, not just black and white drawings on a Wikipedia page. Richard Burbage is Shakespeare’s best friend – a great actor trusted to play the most difficult roles (Hamlet, King Lear, and Othello, among others). John Heminges (the company’s finance manager) is the serious, studios actor, tapped to play roles such as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing. Finally, Will Kemp is the over-the-top Robin Williams-esque actor with a penchant for jigging, which ties him to the beloved comic roles of Falstaff in Henry IV, Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing. Shakespeare himself played the small parts - the King in All’s Well That Ends Well, the Ghost in Hamlet, and the Friar in Much Ado About Nothing.
These friends saw each other through the lows (being public performers during a time of plague, never knowing when or for how long their shows would be shut down) and the highs (an audience roaring at a perfectly-executed joke) of living their artistic dreams within a small community.
The Community in Much Ado About Nothing
The friends in Much Ado About Nothing experience similar highs and lows, and they are there for each other:
Claudius Confiding to Benedick that Hero is his Crush
[Hilariously, Benedick, being a good friend, says, she’s not my type, but she’s your crush, so what do you think?]
CLAUDIO I pray thee tell me truly how thou lik’st her.
BENEDICK Would you buy her that you enquire after her?
CLAUDIO Can the world buy such a jewel?
BENEDICK Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you this with a sad brow? Or do you play the flouting jack, to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder and Vulcan a rare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a man take you to go in the song?
CLAUDIO In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on.
Benedick Asking Beatrice What He Can Do to Help
[Beatrice and Benedick, who traded verbal jabs throughout the whole play, finally profess their feelings for each other and when Benedick sees that Beatrice is suffering, he shows the depths of his love]
BENEDICK By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me!
BEATRICE Do not swear and eat it.
BENEDICK I will swear by it that you love me, and I will make him eat it that says I love not you.
BEATRICE Will you not eat your word?
BENEDICK With no sauce that can be devised to it. I protest I love thee.
BEATRICE Why then, God forgive me.
BENEDICK What offense, sweet Beatrice?
BEATRICE You have stayed me in a happy hour. I was about to protest I loved you.
BENEDICK And do it with all thy heart.
BEATRICE I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.
BENEDICK Come, bid me do anything for thee.
Dogberry, Verges, and Leonato Show What it Means to Work Together
[Dogberry and Verges convince Leonato to hear the tale of their criminal investigation, and despite their comical inability to communicate clearly, Leonato treats his wacky neighbors with patience and kindness]
LEONATO Neighbors, you are tedious.
DOGBERRY It pleases your Worship to say so, but we are the poor duke’s officers. But truly for mine own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I could find in my heart to bestow it all of your Worship.
LEONATO All thy tediousness on me, ah?
DOGBERRY Yea, an ‘twere a thousand pound more that ‘tis, for I hear as good exclamation on your Worship as of any many in the city, and though I be but a poor man, I am glad to hear it.
VERGES And so am I.
LEONATO I would fain know what you have to say.
VERGES Marry sir, our watch tonight, excepting your Worship’s presence, ha’ ta’en a couple of as arrant knaves as any in Messina.
DOGBERRY A good old man sir. He will be talking. As they say, “When the age is in, the wit is out.” God help us, it is a world to see! Well said, i’ faith neighbor Verges. – Well, God’s a good man. And two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind. An honest soul, i’ faith, sir, by my troth he is, as ever broke bread, but God is to be worshiped, all men are not alike, alas, good neighbor.
LEONATO Indeed, neighbor, he comes too short of you.
DOGBERRY Gifts that God gives.
LEONATO I must leave you.
DOGBERRY One word, sir. Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two aspicious persons, and we would have them this morning examined before your Worship.
LEONATO Take their examination yourself and bring it me. I am now in great haste, as it may appear unto you.
DOGBERRY It shall be suffigance.
I first saw this play performed on the movie screen with Michael Keaton playing Dogberry in farcical Beetlejuice fashion. Leonato was portrayed by Clark Gregg (aka Phil Coulson of Marvel movie fame), and when I watched it, I wondered how the actors were able to stay in character without breaking into giggles. I think Kenneth Branagh (the director) gets the flavor of the play right. The only way for the characters to survive what is thrown at them is to rely on each other, tell each other hard truths that they don’t want to hear, and do everything in their power to support each other. The message of community is the theme that runs through all the storylines, from beginning to end.
And the message is just as relevant today, four hundred years after Will and his buddies were barreling down Holborn on their way to Gray’s Inn after a triumphant performance for Good Queen Bess:
If you’re navigating a new relationship, lean on your friends, like Claudio and Hero.
If you want the best for your children, share your hopes, dreams, and setbacks with your family, like Leonato, his brother, and his niece, Beatrice.
If you are nursing your wounds after a loss of any kind, confide in your friends, like Don John, Borachio, and Conrade.
If someone you love is struggling, ask them what you can do for them, like Benedick and Beatrice.
If you see an injustice in the world, gather up your friends and do something about it, like Dogberry, Verges, George Seacoal, and the Friar.
Shakespeare showed it to us on stage before the Beatles put it into song - we get by with little help from our friends.