Another Ado

After an early morning drive, much of it in a light rain, I made it up to Ashland for my brief visit to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and saw my second production of Much Ado About Nothing of the summer. The staging was more basic than CoSF’s production, having a nearly bare set with a curtain of flowers descending down from above. As usual, the actors were solid in their performances. Benedick was played by the same actor who was amazing in A Streetcar Named Desire my first year here. The actress playing Beatrice was good, but I didn’t quite feel the chemistry initially. But when the drama heated up later in the play, all the leads and secondary players were great. Don John was played by a wheelchair bound woman, which actually worked. Two noteworthy aspects of this production: 1) the plot of Dogberry and the watch, which I usually find tedious, was fun with Dogberry cruising around on a Segway and not being as annoying as I usually find him; 2) interestingly in the end, although Hero and Claudio finally get to marry, it showed that there was still a lot of distance between them after her public shaming. I found that interesting, and a more realistic portrayal. Even tough I preferred CoSF’s production, this was an enjoyable way to start my visit. 125