| (l. to r.) Hero, Claudio, Beatrice and Benedick
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| The policeman with some pupils
| Much Ado About Nothing
In December 2011 the White Horse Theatre came to Michaeli-Gymnasium and performed “Much Ado About Nothing”, a famous comedy written by William Shakespeare.
The story is about two young noblemen called Claudio (Angus Templeton) and Benedick (Hamish Stansfeld) and begins at the house of Leonato, the governor of Messina. While Claudio is falling in love with Leonato’s daughter Hero (Amanda Madison-Claire), Benedick has a heated discussion with a young and witty lady, Beatrice (Kate Winter). But Don John, a dark nobleman, tricks Claudio, assisted by his servant Borachio, and makes him believe Hero is in love with another man. After Claudio abruptly rejects Hero at their wedding, Hero makes him think she is dead. Benedick and Beatrice, however, fall in love with each other at last. Before Benedick can challenge Claudio, a policeman proves Hero's innocence and arrests the real criminal Borachio. Now Claudio feels sorry for Hero's death so that Leonato offers him to marry a niece of his who looks exactly like Hero. She actually is Hero, but Claudio does not know that at first. Beatrice and Benedick decide to marry too and finally the villain Don John is captured.
The four actors did really well, they were interacting with the pupils and teachers and tried to make the play as funny as possible, including some irony, like an actress playing a male character (which was the other way round at Shakespeare's time). The exaggerated performance of the policeman with his huge bottom and the creepy, servile Borachio (both played by the two actresses) made me laugh. The stage design was quite simple but worked very smoothly. All actors changed costumes amazingly fast and spoke loudly and clearly, so the whole story was presented fluently and easy to follow.
Director: Kenneth Michaels
Costume designer: Harriet de Winton
Scenery designer: Zoe Squire
Music composer: Rebecca Applin
Yeshe Hoffmann Q12
(Ec)
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