“Much Ado About Nothing”

This is a strange “Holiday” theater year, indeed. While we expect “It’s A Wonderful Life” and of course “White Christmas” and “A Christmas Carol” to be at one or many venues, who would have thought that three of our theaters would be doing Shakespeare during Christmas? They are, and they are doing it with style and class. Thanks for doing this. Our young theater patrons need the exposure. Now, on to “Much Ado About Nothing”.

This is a story that deals with love and some ego. The story deals with a soldier and his men returning after a successful battle. returning with Don Pedro ( Debo Balogun) are Claudio ( Samuel B. Jackson) and Benedick ( deftly handled by Mark Bedard). We note right away that Beatrice ( an incredible interpretation by Deborah Hay), who is loved by Benedick plays with him , letting the world know that it is Claudio that she loves. It is kind of fun to watch these two characters play off each other and under the clever direction of Selina Cadell, we get to feel as if we are part of this funfest between man and woman. Meanwhile Claudio finds love himself in Hero ( the charming Mi Kang).

During a masquerade ball, much is revealed to us, but not to the characters as under the mask, they can speak of love and lust and not be known. Many of Shakespeare’s plays have hidden stories of a character pretending t be other than they are, and if one pays close attention, one can easily follow the who’s who and how they  play into each others hands. This cast of performers, under the guidance of Cadell is amazing. The music and musicians truly add to the spectacle and I must say, that in act two, when Sean Fortunato takes on the character of Dogberry, the constable, you will find yourself in hysterics. Each scene that he had was greeted by powerful laughter and as he exited the stage, thunderous applause. I am sure that this character was never meant to be tis funny, but Fortunato has made the character his own and he is having a ball!

When it comes to casts, this is one for the books! Besides Bedard, Jackson, Kang, Hay, and Fortunato, we have Erik Hellman, Felicia Oduh, Yona Moises Olivares, Jeff Parker, Tiffany Scott,  the very funny Jaylon Muchison, Colin Huerta, Suzanne Hannau, Joey Chelius and the always powerful Kevin Gudahl as Leonato. Incredible talents. I think Gudahl has graced every stage in the Chicago area and is probably has the most appearances on this particular stage.

The players work with audience members, getting them involved in the twiste and turns of the plots and sub-plots. The Bard was clever when it came to character development and this ensemble of players takes us on the joy ride that Shakespeare created with this play, a true comedy.

On the tech side, the set ( two stories) and costumes by Tom Piper are wonderful and the lighting (Jason Lynch) and sound (Nicholas Pope) with music composed by Eliza Thompson are sheer perfection. I would like to see the theater add some microphones as I know the gentleman sitting next to me had some problems hearing some of the lines and as we know with Shakespeare every line can be of great importance to the telling of the story.. While the Courtyard  is a wonderful space, I am not sure the acoustics are as perfect as one would desire. I wear my hearing aids for theater at navy Pier , but small microphones might truly make the productions even stronger.

“Much Ado About Nothing” is a fun 2 plus hours of theater and as with most of Shakespeare’s comedies. “Alls well That Ends Well”!