The opening night of The Academies’ performance of Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, held November 2nd and 3rd, successfully brought out both the serious issues and lighthearted tone of the play. The play was adapted and abridged by the director, Mr. Rich Johnson, who obviously filled the actors with confidence for this challenging task.
“The cast put out an equivalent of two years of academy school days into the show,” Mr. Johnson told the audience before the performance. The cast compressed all of that rehearsal time into less than two months.
The play, which takes place in Messina, Italy, revolves around the love lives of four characters, Benedick, Beatrice, Claudio, and Hero. Benedick and Beatrice love to hate each other until they are finally tricked into admitting their true feelings for each other. Claudio and Hero are seemingly a match made in heaven until their relationship is temporarily severed by a misunderstanding. The villain, Don John, does his best to disrupt the couples’ happiness, but ultimately, after several twists and turns, the play ends with a double wedding ceremony.
There were many highlights of the performance. Benedick, played by Tommy Bowden, and Claudio, played by George Miller, engaged in a nail-biting sword fight. Balthasar, played by Will Ware ’13, sang a melody directed by Matt Streifert. The other leads Miranda Hart ’13 playing Beatrice, Abbie Stasior ’13 playing Hero, Jake Lahut ’13 playing Don Pedro, Michael Druker ’13 playing Leonato, and Peter Cho ’16 playing Don Jon all captured the very essence of their characters. Page Moynihan, as Dogberry, was a comedic force to be reckoned with anytime she was in the scene.
Playing Much Ado on the floor of the Chapel, for the most part, made the play seem more intimate but also required that the actors be on top of their game, as they could not escape the audience’s close scrutiny. They all rose to the occasion and made the characters three-dimensional people that the audience could actually care about.
“I personally enjoyed the play. It helped me to generally understand Shakespeare better!” Miranda Hart exclaimed after the production. Certainly the audience members both nights shared Miranda’s enjoyment and enthusiasm.