Much To Review
Hailey DePoto (12) and Becca Bogdonavic (12) star as cousins in the romance mystery Much Ado About Nothing. The Shakespearan language of the play challenged the Actors’ Repertory class, but they smoothly and gracefully portrayed the characters to the audience of the Black Box Theater.
March 17, 2017
The Stallion Theatre Company’s latest production, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, was just as good as the numerous plays and musicals that SJHHS has hosted in the past.
Nestled in the quaint space of the Black Box Theatre, the production followed the multiple love stories of the couples portrayed by Shakespeare. Although his writing style of old English may be indiscernible to the common ear, the skilled Actors’ Repertory class portrayed their roles with ease.
Upon entering the few rows of chairs that sit directly in front of the floor level stage, the whole audience was abuzz with the beautiful intricacy of the set. No longer were we in the F building of SJHHS, but we were transported to the 16th century Island of Sicily, Italy. With the incorporation of live and faux vegetation, the set brought to life characters and the atmosphere that Much Ado entails.
The trouble ahead, for the many audience members who may not have heard the Shakespearean tongue since freshman year Romeo and Juliet, was the task of translating the complex wordage of the play. This was no small undertaking for the actors, but it was carried out with a graceful proficiency.
Not only were they able to master the difficult wordage, but they seamlessly communicated the storyline of love to the audience through the vast emotions of humour, hope, forgiveness, and –often times– despair and betrayal.
The complex topic of love may thought to be out of reach for mere high schoolers, but all of the actors depicted the loss or gain of love as if the relationships they acted out were ones very close to themselves. The entirety of the cast welcomed the audience into the story of heartbreak and recovery with prowess as they stood so close in the small theatre.
The viewers were left feeling personally involved by the time intermission commenced the halfway point.
After the short break that allowed the audience to pine for the relationships of the characters, like Hero and Claudio, seats were again taken with eagerness. The watchmen, led by Dogberry, provided comedic relief to reopen the show. Although characters like Don John and Benedick had provided easy laughs in the previous act, the watchmen and their effortless humor gave the audience a chance to invest in yet another storyline.
Without spoiling the entire plot, the watchmen gave way to uncovering the big mystery of a cheating scandal before the young nuptials of one of the couples in the story. The happy ending, although predictable, was happily welcomed by the audience.
Again, the viewers were personally invested in the story, and the fate of the new loves of each actor was crucial to be resolved before the end of the play.
Much Ado was not entirely saturated with romance; the laughter of the audience reflected that tenfold. The slapstick comedy of characters “hiding” behind small bushes and eavesdropping was a repeated joke line that would, in the end, connect two lovers.
The watchmen, with their accidental stumbling sort of comedy, portrayed an almost overly professional group of policemen that were insulted on the regular. One comment throw to Dogberry, as atrocious as it sounds, was that he was “an ass.” This small insult seemed to hit Dogberry as if was the most insulting phrase of all time.
Actors’ Rep. produced the show so quickly after their last production of the musical Into The Woods, that is seems almost impossible to have delivered in such eloquence and skill. And to add to the difficulty, the actors also double cast many of the roles, due to the sheer number of actors and small number of roles. Comedy and romance were elements that the actors enlivened and brought in the audience with.
Like with every show, Much Ado was not a disappointment to say the least, and the next show, Fiddler on the Roof, is expected to be just as great.
