Highly Recommended
Performed in modern dress using original Elizabethan vernacular, Much Ado About Nothing is a quintessential Shakespeare comedy that has a little something for everyone. It’s a perfect show for groundlings who might appreciate that it is not too complex and at times borders on slapstick. It’s a humorous love story with a touch of drama that pokes fun at everyone no matter their rank.
The setting is the courtyard of the estate of the Governor of Messina, Leonato (Kevin Gudahl) where Prince Don Pedro (Debo Balogun) arrives with his crew, including his right-hand man Benedick (Mark Bedard) and fellow soldier Claudio (Samuel B. Jackson) who are greeted enthusiastically by Leonato’s daughter Hero (Mi Kang) and niece Beatrice (Deborah Hay).
Claudio is immediately smitten with the beautiful Hero and soon expresses, to his comrades, his desire to “take her to wife.” He is encouraged by the worldly-wise Don Pedro but utterly derided by Benedick who declares, “That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks…all women shall pardon me… [but]I will live a bachelor.”
Hero is likewise enamored of Claudio but like Benedic, Beatrice declares her desire to remain single saying, “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.”
This sets up the dual love story whereby Hero and Claudio plan to wed while he, Don Pedro and Leonato conspire together with Hero’s maid Margaret (Tiffany Scott) and lady-in-waiting Ursula (Felicia Oduh) to set a trap that will unite the resistant Beatrice and Bendick. Hero says, “Some, Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.”
In the meantime, Don Pedro’s bastard brother, the joyless Don John (Erik Hellman) plots with his accomplice Borachio (Yona Moises Olivares) aided by Conrade (Colin Huerta) to confound the marriage of Hero and Claudio – – primarily because in his own misery he can’t stand to see anyone happy.
Two men of the watch (Suzanne Hannau and Joey Chelius) charged with keeping the peace through the night inadvertently uncover Don John’s plot.
The hilariously bumbling constable Dogberry, (Sean Fortunato) laboriously explains the plot to Leonato through a series of malapropisms and confusions, ultimately driving the resolution of the tale with the aid of Leonato’s brother Antonio (Jeff Parker) and the friar (Jaylon Muchison) who manage a scheme to make all things right.
The simple elegant two-story courtyard set design by Tom Piper was very effective in providing a range of entry and exit points that kept the action interesting and surprising.
Directed by Selina Cadell, this was a very enjoyable performance where the players and the audience all seemed to be having a great time. The inclusion of a small ensemble of musicians added to the lightness of the production by interjecting some musical merriment between scenes.
Details: Much Ado About Nothing is presented by the Chicago Shakespeare Theater Company in their Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier, Chicago through December 21, 2025. Run time is about 2 hours and 25 minutes with one intermission. For ticket and information visit ChicagoShakes.com
Reviewer: Reno Lovison
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