Act III Wellesley College Shakespeare Society Spring 2026 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING HERO Lines & Blocking.

A= aisle, Butte= Butte stairs, JB= Juliet balcony, TR= tech room, X= cross, exeunt= final exit for scene, D= down, S= stage, -->= to, U= Up, R= right, L= left, C= center

Cue or music or end of scene change.

[ENTER JB and begin.]
Good Margaret, run thee to the parlor;
There shalt thou find my cousin Beatrice:
Whisper her ear and tell her, I and Ursula
Walk in the orchard and our whole discourse
Is all of her; say that thou overheard’st us:
And bid her steal into the pleached bower,
Where briar roses, ripened by the sun,
Forbid the sun to enter, like favourites,
Made proud by princes, that advance their pride
Against the power that bred it: there will she hide her,
To listen our purpose. This is they office;
Bear thee well in it and leave us alone.

MARGARET: I’ll make her come, I warrant you, presently.

Now, Ursula, when Beatrice doth come,
As we do trace this alley up and down,
Our talk must only be of Benedick.
When I do name him, let it be thy part
To praise him more than ever man did merit:
My talk to thee must be how Benedick
Is sick in love with Beatrice.
Beatrice Enters.
Now begin,
For look where Beatrice, like a lapwing runs
Close by the ground to hear our conference.

URSULA: Then go we near her, that her ear lose nothing of the false sweet bait that we lay for it.

[X—>DSR and begin]
No, truly, Ursula, she is too disdainful;
I know her spirits are as coy and wild
As haggerds of the rock.

URSULA: But are you sure that Benedick love Beatrice so entirely?

So says the prince and my new trothed lord.

URSULA: And did they bid you tell her of it, madam?

They did entreat me to acquaint her of it;
But I persuaded them, if they loved Benedick,
To wish him wrestle with affection,
And never to let Beatrice know of it.

URSULA: Why did you so? Doth not the gentleman deserve as full as fortunate a bed as ever Beatrice shall couch upon?

O god of love! I know he doth deserve

As much as may be yielded to a man:

[begin X—> SL bench]

But Nature never framed a woman’s heart

Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice;

Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,

Misprising what they look on, and her wit

Values itself so highly that to her

All matter else seems weak: [sit on bench] she cannot love,

Nor take no shape nor project of affection,

She is so self endeared.

URSULA: Sure, I think so; and therefore certainly it were not good she knew his love, lest she make sport at it.

Why, you speak truth. I never yet saw man,

How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featured,

But she would spell him backward: if fresh-faced
She would swear the gentleman should be her sister;
If low, an agate very vilely cut:
If speaking, why, a vane blown with all winds;
If silent, why, a block moved with none.
So turns she every man the wrong side out
And never gives to truth and virtue that
Which simpleness and merit purchaseth.

URSULA: Sure, sure, such carping is not commendable.

No, not to be so odd and from all fashions
As Beatrice is, cannot be commendable:
But who dare tell her so? If I should speak,
She would mock me into air; O, she would laugh me
Out of myself, press me to death with wit.
Therefore let Benedick, like cover’d fire,
Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly:
It were a better death than die with mocks,
Which is as bad as die with tickling.

URSULA: Yet tell her of it: hear what she will say.

No; rather I will go to Benedick
And counsel him to fight against his passion.

URSULA: O, do not do your cousin such a wrong. She cannot be so much without true judgement—having so swift and excellent a wit as she is prized to have—as to refuse So rare a gentleman as Signior Benedick.

He is the only man of Italy.
Always excepted my dear Claudio.

URSULA: I pray you, be not angry with me madam, speaking my fancy: Signior Benedick, for shape, for bearing, argument and valour, goes foremost in report through Italy.

Indeed, he hath an excellent good name.

URSULA: His excellence did earn it, ere he had it. When are you married, madam?

Why, every day, to-morrow. Come, go in:

[Stand and begin and X—>UA]
I’ll show thee some attires, and have thy counsel
Which is the best to furnish me to-morrow.

URSULA: She’s limed, I warrant you: we have caught her, madam.

If it proves so, then loving goes by haps:
Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.

[Exeunt JB.]

At cue.

[Preset CDA standing in between MARGARET & URSULA.]

Good Ursula, wake my cousin Beatrice, and bid her come hither.

MARGARET: Troth, I think your other hairpin were better.

No, pray thee, good Meg, I’ll wear this.

MARGARET: By my troth, ‘s not so good; and I warrant your cousin will say so.

My cousin’s a fool and thou art another. I’ll wear
none but this.

MARGARET: I like the new tire within excellently; and your gown’s a most rare fashion, i’ faith. I saw the Duchess of Milan’s gown that they praise so.

O, that exceeds, they say.

MARGARET: ____but for a fine, quaint, graceful and excellent fashion, yours is worth ten on’t.

[Sit in chair.]
God give me joy to wear it! for my heart is
exceeding heavy.

MARGARET: ‘Twill be heavier soon by the weight of a man.

Fie upon thee! art not ashamed?

MARGARET: ___ask my Lady Beatrice else, here she comes.

Enter Beatrice.

Good morrow, coz.

BEATRICE: Good morrow, sweet Hero.

Why how now? do you speak in the sick tune?

BEATRICE: For the letter that begins them all, H.

These gloves the count sent me; they are an
excellent perfume.

MARGARET: Get you some of this distilled Carduus Benedictus, and lay it to your heart: it is the only thing for a qualm.

There thou prickest her with a thistle.

URSULA: Madam, withdraw: the prince, the count, Signior Benedick, Don John, and all the gallants of the town, are come to fetch you to church.

[Stand.]
Help to dress me, good coz, good Meg, good Ursula.

[Some acting, then exeunt.]