The document provides an overview of research conducted for a production of Much Ado About Nothing set in the 1920s. It includes background information on art, fashion, culture, and politics during the 1920s to help designers and actors understand the period. Sections cover topics like painting, music, theater, film, women's and men's fashion, military uniforms, and the political landscape to encapsulate the styles and ideas of the 1920s for the production.

1. Much Ado About
Nothing
Period Research by
Paul Rycik

2. Overview Of Much Ado About Nothing
Date written: approximately 1599. Published 1600.
17 scenes, 5 acts17 scenes, 5 acts
1,062 lines (uncut)(uncut)
23 characters23 characters
Sources: Sources:
1.1. Castigiliogne:Castigiliogne: The CourtierThe Courtier (1561)(1561)
Repeated WordsRepeated Words
Love (over 100 times)Love (over 100 times)
Heart- 32 timesHeart- 32 times
Nothing- 22 times (Note 11 times)Nothing- 22 times (Note 11 times)
Fool- 20 timesFool- 20 times
Mask/face- 21Mask/face- 21
Repeated ConceptsRepeated Concepts
Battle of the SexesBattle of the Sexes
MasksMasks
SpyingSpying

3. Notable 21st
Century
productions

4. Director’s Concept
Our director has chosen to set this production in the
1920s, a period known for high fashion, multiple artistic
revolutions, and great improvement in the status of
women.
To begin his research for this play, the dramaturg has
examined the history, art, and fashion of the 20s to try and
encapsulate the styles and ideas of the time, in order to
give the designers and actors ideas on how Shakespeare’s
play and the period inform the world of this production.

5. Timeline of the 20s

6. Period Research Sections
Overview
Art- Video:
Fashion
Upper Class Men and Women
Military
Old Men
Poor men
Officers
Politics

7. The 20s in a nutshell
The 1920s was in many ways a decade of rapid, frenetic,
and unrepentant change. In politics, art, philosophy, and
in theatre, old ideas were not just being challenged, they
were being replaced! This created a jubilant, noisy, heady
atmosphere where the art world gasped in wonder and
shock at a Hemmingway novel, a Picasso sculpture, or the
bloodbath of the Communist Revolution. Benedick and
Beatrice would certainly be jiving to this tune, because
their rejection of marriage, and determination to do things
their own way!

8. Art of the 1920shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJYDcBOfw2A
Painting
Music& Dance
Theatre
Movies- Jazz Singer

9. Painting
With the invention of photography in the 19th
century,
painting moved away from accurate representation
and into the world of the abstract. Painting became a
means to express the artists’ inner world, not an
accurate capture the physical world.
The term “Avant Guarde” came into being at the start
of the 20th
century. It means literally fighting the old
traditions of art. Instead of follwing the old rules of
painting or classical myths as sources of inspiration,
artists began to take new ideas such as psychoanalysis
to create new and unprecedented forms of art.
On the right is a painting called “Nude Descending a
Staircase” Notice how the image of the woman actually
multiplies and fractures as your eye follows her from
left to right. The painting is an example of “cubism,”
an artistic form pioneered by Pablo Picasso, that
breaks down the way we see the world.

10. Music and Dance

11. Dance (Continued)
Jazz was a very popular form for
dance music, used in such dances as
the Charelston. These dances were
especially popular among young
people; with their fast rhythms,
closer physical contact between
couples, these dances filled the
nightclubs parties, and later the
silver screen with a powerful
subversive energy.
For more information on dance
etiquette, please visit: http://1920-
30.com/blog/category/dance/

12. Theatre of the 20s
In the 20s, there was an explosion of
theatrical movements, almost too many to
count. These movements, from symbolism
to dadaism, to the new modernist theatre
of Ibsen, Checkhov, and O’Neill, centered
around two basic philosophies- the
introverted, psychologically based theatre
of the self, and the socially conscious
movements that were popular in Europe,
especially in the wake of World War I.
American theatre goers in the 20s saw the
birth of the modern musical. Composers
like Gershwin, Porter, and later Rogers
and Hart, fully integrated American Jazz
music, along with dance and stories to
create a new form of entertainment that
brought the age of vaudeville to a close.
Now audiences could see a fully-
dramatized musical play that wasn’t just
an excuse to see a line of showgirls kicking
their legs.

13. Fashion
Upper Class Men and Women
Military
Poor men

14. Women’s Fashion
The general trend in women’s fashion
in the 1920s was short hair, form
fitting dresses, and a thin silhouette.
The most famous female fashion was
the “Flapper,” a style so popular, that
for many young women in the 20s, it
became a way of life. Click here to see
a description of flapper fashions, and
how this look became a statement of
defiance for young women in the 20s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=VPCh1x9mLd4&feature=related

15. Men’s Fashion
Men wore short suit jackets, the old long jackets
used merely for formal occasions. In the early
twenties, men's fashion was characterized by
extremely high waisted jackets. Trousers were
relatively narrow and straight (never tapered) and
they were worn rather short so that a man's socks
often showed. Trousers also began to be worn
cuffed at the bottom at this time. During the late
1920s, double-breasted vests, often worn with a
single-breasted jacket, also became quite
fashionable. During the 1920s, men had a variety of
sport clothes available to them, including sweaters
and short trousers, commonly known as knickers.
For formal occasions in the daytime, a morning suit
was usually worn. For evening wear men preferred
the short tuxedo to the tail coat, which was now
seen as rather old-fashioned and snobby.

16. Military Fashions- WWI
Left to Right- Trench infantry men, officers, and generals.

17. Servants and Working Class People

18. Politics
WWI ended in 1918. After the war,
Germany’s economy crumbled and
many countries became totalitarian.
In the US however, the great relief
at the end of the war might have
contributed to the levity and
carefree atmosphere of “The Roaring
20s.”
In 1920, the 18th
Amendment made
the brewing, selling and distributing
of alcohol illegal. The law
encouraged illegal bootlegging,
secret “Speak Easies” and the
growth of organized crime,
including the empire of the
notorious gangster, Al Capone.
Also in 1920, the Supreme Court
voted to approve the 19th
amendment, granting women the
right to vote.

19. Image File: Movie Greats

20. Wedding Pictures from the
20s

21. Image Research: Comic Actors