While Chicago Shakespeare's current production of Much Ado About Nothing is entertaining and performed with clarity and wit by a terrific cast, director Marti Maraden misses some opportunities.
Patrick Clark's rosy golden scenic design, with perfect topiaries and a lavender sky, sets the ideal Italian stage for Maraden's interpretation — a pleasing, funny production of a familiar comedy. But Maraden has chosen to overlook the challenges presented by the play's slender plot: the roles of men and women in courtship, the expectation that women will remain pure while men may be philanderers, and the difference between romance for the young and romance for the not-so-young.
Claudio (the straightforward John Hoogenakker), a jealous, hotheaded young man, and Hero (the delicate Susan Shunk), a lovely and innocent young woman, are betrothed in a marriage hastily arranged by Prince Don Pedro (the authoritative James Vincent Meredith) and Hero's father, Leonato (the hearty Kevin Gudahl). The Prince's evildoing brother Don John (Sean Fortunato) decides to throw a monkey wrench in the works and trick Claudio into thinking that Hero has been seeing other men late at night. Claudio and the prince fall for the ruse, and at the wedding Claudio publicly shames Hero and leaves as Hero faints.
Hero's father, her uncle Antonio (Bernie Landis), and Friar Francis (David Lively) plot to teach Claudio and Don Pedro a lesson by pretending that the innocent Hero has been killed by Claudio's slander. They tell Claudio that he can make amends by paying respect at the family tomb and then marrying one of Hero's kin. But this Claudio never seems to feel the deep remorse he should after essentially murdering (he thinks) his fiancée. Nor does Leonato take it all that seriously, not even showing Hero his sorrow after having believed, and even joined in, Claudio's slander. In essence, nothing seems like a big deal.
The best part of Maraden's production is the casting of Beatrice (Kelli Fox, a highly respected Canadian actor and sister of Michael J. Fox) and Benedick (Jim Mezon, an ensemble member of Canada's Shaw Festival). Older than the traditional Beatrice and Benedick, they engage in a courtship that is all the more interesting, witty, and significant for it. Their banter is spoken with such ease and grace that the audience can relax, happily knowing the text is in expert hands. And Scott Jaeck's old Dogberry, the Keystone Kop-like sleuth who uncovers the truth with one malapropism after another, is flat-out hilarious.
Yet there's so much more that this play can do, even if it is winter. Even if, in fact, leaving the theatre with a warm, cozy feeling isn't all that bad after all.
— Katherine Burke
Much Ado About Nothing runs Dec. 10-Feb. 26 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. Tickets: (312) 595-5600. Website: www.chicagoshakes.com