Shakespeare's romantic comedy "Much Ado About Nothing" is transformed into a delightful jaunt through Spanish-controlled California in Brown Theatre's adaptation of the play.
Messina, the Italian city in which Shakespeare set the play, becomes the Northern California town Yerba Buena in 1846, when Hispanic Californian land barons ruled the region. Although the setting may be different, Shakespeare's heady mix of hilarity and frivolity still ensues.
Written shortly after the success of "Romeo and Juliet," "Much Ado about Nothing," recasts many of the earlier work's themes in a new light. Rather than a tragedy about forbidden love, the play weaves comedy and lightheartedness into a story about romance, deceit and treachery.
"It's almost as if he starts with the same characters as 'Romeo and Juliet,' as though Mercutio were the lead," said John Emigh, professor of theater, speech, and dance and the play's director.
From the delightfully dense Dogberry (Austin Campion '06.5) to the stoic and honorable Don Pedro (Andrew Fox '06.5), a stunning ensemble invigorates this oft-produced play. Tying together the dynamic cast is a guitarist, played by Aviad Haimi-Cohen '09, whose sweet minor chords evoke the complexity of Shakespeare's prose: seamlessly fluctuating in tone from fanciful and dance-like to foreboding and sad.
A wealthy landowner, Leonato (Michael Ennis '08), invites three war veterans to his home. Immediately, his daughter Heroe (Charlotte Graham '07) and one of the visitors, Claudio (Ross Cowan '07), fall in love, while their two best friends, Beatriz (Leighton Bryan '08) and Benedicto (Jon Magaziner '07), bicker playfully. As the play continues, the villain, Mr. John (Douglas Benedicto '08), conspires to break apart the lovers as the rest of the house devises a way for Beatriz and Benedicto to fall in love.
"It's a romantic comedy that carries within it a critique of romanticism," Emigh said.
Indeed it was this mélange of comedy and thwarted romance that intrigued Sock and Buskin, the student group in charge of selecting the material for main stage productions.
"It had been a few years since a faculty member directed Shakespeare," Emigh said.
The content allowed for the play to be re-invented in a milieu that holds contemporary significance. In light of the current debates over immigration rights, "it may be useful to look at Mexican-American history as intertwined, not just the encroachment of one upon another," Emigh added.
"I looked for a society in which questions of honor are still significant, duels still exist and class stratification is still present," Emigh said. He also considered setting the play in South America during wars of independence or in Italy during unification but felt that pre-Gold Rush California held the most resonance.
"This is a look back in time when Anglos were border crossers and there was a different clash of cultures," he said.
