'Much Ado' Star Jonathan Cake On Shakespeare And Why Comedy Is Scary

'Much Ado' Star Speaks About Shakespeare And Why Comedy Is Scary
This theater image released by Bruce Cohen Associates shows Jonathan Cake, left, and Maggie Siff, in a scene from Theatre For A New Audiences production of Much Ado About Nothing, performing off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street, in New York. (AP Photo/Bruce Cohen Associates, Gerry Goodstein)
This theater image released by Bruce Cohen Associates shows Jonathan Cake, left, and Maggie Siff, in a scene from Theatre For A New Audiences production of Much Ado About Nothing, performing off-Broadway at The Duke on 42nd Street, in New York. (AP Photo/Bruce Cohen Associates, Gerry Goodstein)

Jonathan Cake has been preparing to play Benedick in William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" since he was 9 years old. He even earned trophies for his performance.

"I would compete against other snotty nosed young kids for trophies doing speeches of Shakespeare," says Cake, chatting before an evening performance at the Duke Theater, where Theatre for a New Audience's "Much Ado About Nothing" is currently playing. "I won quite a lot, I have to say, which is a terrible grounding in acting. I had a whole side port full of acting cups. It's just the worst way to try and figure out how to do some acting."

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