Much to Say About Much Ado

On Friday, Feb. 10, I had the opportunity to see the Cornell Shakespeare Troupe’s rendition of Much Ado About Nothing. This production was originally stated to debut on Dec. 2, but several unforeseen circumstances pushed the opening night back by a little over two months. The wait was worth it.

For those who are unaware of this classic Shakespearan production, as I was, let me explain what this play is about. This is a comedy wherein friends and allies try to set their other friends and allies up with one another romantically. It was an ironically appropriate play to watch the weekend before Valentine’s Day. The most important facet of any comedy is the most obvious one: it has to be funny. This cast had humor in spades. Not only was the dialogue itself humorous, but the way in which the cast played with their characters’ interactions with said dialogue is what made the entire two hour long production hilarious. One of the most prominent moments occurred when Don John, Mallory Esponda ’23, and Borachio, Joaquin Rivera ’25, entered the room snapping their fingers in order to show their malicious intent. Furthermore, the expression on Beatrice’s,Ruby Trujillo ’24, face when she was eavesdropping on those who were conspiring against her was downright hysterical. At times, even the cast themselves couldn’t refrain from laughing, as evidenced by the delightful performance of Serena Duncan ’26 on the recorder. She laughed while playing her instrument and we all laughed along with her because everyone had so much fun both on stage and in the audience. What could have been seen as hindering the performance actually served to enhance everyone’s experience and make it a uniquely wonderful experience for all of those involved.

Perhaps this is a byproduct of my time as an English major, but I truly believe that the work of William Shakespeare is timeless. With each passing generation, the language of the Bard becomes more archaic, and yet the messages continue to shine through. For better or worse, we all have been subjected to reading Shakespeare in our English classes at some point in our education. And even beyond the classroom, names such as Romeo and Juliet and phrases such as “Et tu,

Brute” have made their way into our everyday lives. Yet, despite the oversaturation of Shakespeare in popular culture, it is always exciting to see how modern renditions can bring these classics to life. One of the ways that this show felt like such a perfect blend of 16th century drama and 21st century adaptation was the costumes. The standout costume for me was Prince Don Pedro, portrayed hilariously by Sophia Gottfried ’25. The decision to go with a Miami Vice-inspired look for the mischievous, yet good hearted, Prince worked so well because it didn’t detract from the novelty of a Shakespearean play, but rather it enhanced the comedy of appearances. The set itself remained minimalistic, as is custom in a black box theater such as Risley. Under the direction of Joseph Lang ’25, this production made the most out of its budget and location, and I feel confident in saying that these fine performances could not have been better than the ones that I had the privilege to watch last Friday night.

The simple fact of the matter is that this play worked. And not only did it work, but it entertained in such a complete way that one hardly noticed the two hour runtime of the show. I commend all of the members of the production, whether on stage or behind the scenes, and I certainly look forward to the next Cornell Shakespeare Troupe production. Job well done, everyone.

DE WAARD ’24

JIWOOK JUNG ’25

’24

RUHL ’24

KEVIN CHENG ’25 Newsletter Editor

’23

HANNAH ROSENBERG ’23

JYOTHSNA BOLLEDDULA ’24

Isaac Chasen Cut to the Chase

Cut to the Chase runs every other Sunday this semester.

Forgive Your Friends

Our time at Cornell is not infinite. This is a concept that has been drilled into our heads ever since we opened our college portals and read our acceptance letters during senior year of high school. From being told that these will be the best four years of our lives, to being told that college is the best place to learn solely for the sake of learning, the idea that the Cornell experience is something to be treasured is not a new one.

But oftentimes, there’s something that gets omitted from the Cornell experience, something that’s more important than all the rest. It’s the people — from the friends you meet during your first week to the longtime Ithaca residents in chief Angela Bunay ’24 desker Sofa Rubinson ’24 opinion desker Lili Mkrtchyan ’25 news deskers Jonathan Mong ’25 you meet on campus and around town who have seen generations of Cornellians come and go. The people are what make the Cornell experience what it is.

Why do I bring this up? Because sometimes the people around you will make you question this simple truth. This has been especially true in these last few years, where the pandemic has called into question many of the social customs we had all previously taken for granted.

Maybe you perceived your friends as being too stringent with certain COVID19 guidelines, beyond when you viewed it as necessary. Maybe you didn’t think they were being careful enough. Maybe someone insinuated that you studied too much, or not enough. Maybe someone made a passing remark you found disparaging for whatever reason. It could be any number of perceived slights.

First of all, don’t diminish those feelings. It’s perfectly okay to feel slighted, and to be upset for a little.

But second, and more importantly, don’t let those feelings turn into grudges. Our time in Ithaca is too short to hold grudges. Instead, try to address issues immediately, because most times the per- son didn’t mean to offend you and will be more than happy to work things out.

In my experiences, these conversations can be as short as 5 or 10 minutes, or as long as a couple hours. And over the course of those discussions, you may discover that they may even be dealing with something on their own, and did not even realize you were hurt.

Of course, there are caveats to this, just as there are caveats to everything. When someone demeans your background or ethnicity, or goes beyond the pale with respect to your personal values, take time to think about whether that person is worth having in your life.

I’ve been in this position before, and it was one of the more difficult points of my Cornell experience. If you think you can reconcile and forgive this person, then go for it. But if not, that’s okay as well, and those around you should not force you into a position where you would be badly hurt again.

But with most people, this is not the case. Most people mean well, especially at an amazing institution like Cornell. If you are clear and concise about what is bothering you, I’d bet you could resolve any issues right then and there.

Finally, I want to go back to the idea that the Cornell experience is not an infinite one. The friends you make here will be the ones you take with you for the rest of your life. Therefore, grudges become more and more costly as you slowly approach graduation and can ultimately deprive you of friends, connections and even romantic interests.

So if you have an opportunity to resolve issues or grudges with friends, take it. Being a Cornellian is a special thing, filled with special experiences and special people. It is too valuable to simply discard those that have helped make it that way.

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Sundoku Puzzle 1922

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name. (Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)

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