Shakespeare Kelowna 2014 Season presented William Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedy, Much Ado About Nothing.
This was Shakespeare Kelowna’s third outdoor summer Shakespeare play at the spectacular Okanagan Villa Estate Winery open air stage in the heart of East Kelowna’s wine country.
Director’s Notes:
I think Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s best comedies: it is hilarious but it also has themes of honor, shame, politics and a lovely well-rounded story line. I like the way it bounces from zany romantic comedy to drama in a matter of seconds.
The plot revolves around two intertwined love stories: one caustically funny, between Beatrice and Benedick, and, the other, between Claudio and Hero, poignantly sweet. These loves play out with an explosion of witty banter as victorious soldiers returning from war set their sights on the peacetime pleasures of merrymaking and romance . The villain Don John spends the play trying to drive apart Claudio and Hero, while most of the other characters spend the play trying to bring together Beatrice and Benedick, two witty, bright individuals who swear they will never fall in love and trade insults in their “merry war” of mutual disdain.
Shakespeare makes you laugh, but also breaks your heart – and then magically puts it back together again as if it were all “much ado about nothing.”
So, enjoy with me, a glass of wine, a summer’s evening and a colourful theatre spectacle on the open air stage!
Stephen Jefferys