Too often in modern Shakespeare adaptations, the real heart of the story gets buried under excessively complicated stagings or unnecessary shifts in setting. Pen, Paint and Pretzels' new production of "Much Ado About Nothing," however, comes prepared with refreshing dashes of creativity and ingenuity.
The director, junior Molly Yarn, has taken a well-known plot and set it against a distinctly vibrant, storybook-like backdrop. It is a late 16th-century romantic comedy and serves as the basis for much of how we think of the genre today. Now it is enjoying a pleasantly stylized interpretation on the Balch Arena Theater stage.
The set is immediately striking as a Technicolor pastoral scene, a sort of "cartoon-like, pop-up book" feel, stage manager and senior Dana Peterson said. The large ensemble has helped piece together Yarn's vision of imbuing this traditional romantic comedy with a sense of magical realism. Shakespeare's tangled web of unrequited love, pretentiousness and misunderstanding is "a play a lot of people are familiar with," said senior Elizabeth Harelik, who plays Beatrice, but as is necessary, it is presented here "in a somewhat different take."
To that end, light touches have been added both to familiarize the play in a modern context and to enhance its natural sense of whimsy. Some very non-Elizabethan set pieces pop out on separate planes, establishing a fairy-tale effect. The show is introduced and concluded with the accompaniment of "music we associate with romantic comedies today," said senior Brian Raphel, who plays Claudio. Everything is highly energetic and occasionally suggestive, uncovering Shakespeare's subtly lascivious touches.
The cast is large but seems to have found ways to work well together, playing off of the show's jovial tone. The actors engage in dynamic warm-up exercises and maintain that level of enthusiasm throughout the play. One major selling point for the actors was the play's vitality. Raphel called it "much more light-hearted, providing a good balance with what we've done recently." Harelik was excited by her first chance to do a Shakespeare show, and Raphel's experience with "Much Ado About Nothing" in high school was positive enough that he chose to revisit it. He is also "a big fan of the work Molly [has] done in the past."
Seemingly everyone's connection with this play can be attributed to its status among Shakespeare's comedies. From its two pairs of confused lovers to the snappy dialogue and chaotic atmosphere, the play remains highly relevant to modern comedy. Yarn described her experience of choosing it as almost a subconscious attraction to its good-natured warmth. She continually went through her collection of plays and kept returning to this one for its "big cast, sense of fun and lots of opportunities," calling "Much Ado About Nothing" a "very accessible" piece. According to Yarn, she continually cycled through these plays to the point that her housemates intervened, telling her, "Look at you, you love this show!"
For all the trappings of Shakespearean language, this production remains relatable and viscerally energetic. The bright, expressive colors do their job of drawing the audience into the scenery, but the show's best feature is the cast's ability to bring these words to life. The play is not without its heavily dramatic moments, but as the title suggests, it is all a series of misunderstandings: eavesdropping, misplaced anger and the like. At the very least, as Raphel put it, the play is "a very good break from midterm studying."
"Much Ado About Nothing" opens Thursday at 8 p.m. with shows at 8 p.m. on Friday and at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday.
This article has been amended from its original version.
