If you are a William Shakespeare nerd like me or a favor Teenage Ron-Coms then you need to give this retelling or should I say mashup a try. Take Shakespeare’ Much Ado About Nothing and Tina Fey’s script Mean Girls.
So I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t study the play in school and I still haven’t watched the movie. I studied Much Ado in my Second Year at university and honestly, reading Ian Doescher‘s interpretation took me back to that module.
I love being a Shakespeare nerd.
Cady Heron’s life has turned upside down since returning to America. Having spent time in Africa and having been homeschooled, the hallways of North Shore high school is a shock to her system. Quickly she goes from a jungle freak to a popular queen when she makes it into the ‘in’ crowd.
From what I understand it is the same as Tina Fey’s original script. There are asides from the classic Mean Girls characters such as Janis, Damian, Gretchen, Keren, and more. The clicks of friendship groups, teen dating, and jealousy certainly match the themes of the Shakespearean play; admittedly I can’t speak for the movie.
I kept finding similar characteristics to Bertice with Janis and Cady at the beginning is more like Hero; I can’t remember the quote but I think Cady has a copy of the original Much Ado line (there’s the text from other Shakespeare works).
Who would have thought the 2004 Rom-Com Mean Girls could pair together so well with a now over 500-year-old script like Much Ado About Nothing? In my opinion, it does surprisingly work, and I can’t wait to read more from Ian Doescher.