Much
Ado About Nothing
by
William Shakespeare
Directed by Bonnie J. Monte
Director's
Message
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| Donna Bullock and Sherman Howard in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Photo © Gerry Goodstein. |
The title MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is brilliantly apt, both
in the literal and paradoxical senses. Its plot revolves around,
and is fueled by, an event that never happened -- resulting
in "much ado" and a near-tragic outcome over what is ultimately
revealed as nothing. On the other hand, the play is, like
all of Shakespeare's greater works, concerned with human issues
of tremendous weight and import. The play is about growing
up and the critical aspects of that process, including the
acceptance of responsibility, the allowance of trust, and
the willingness to love. It is certainly not about nothing.
I truly believe that each and every one of Shakespeare's
plays is based on one core formula. As he lived his life,
the many and varied issues that became of concern or interest
to him would inspire and form the basis for his stories, but
the essential construct or framework was constant. He would
take his characters and their dilemmas and place them in a
world that was out of balance. The journey of each play then
becomes a series of events, which lead to a restoration of
balance, or at the very least, the hope or promise of such
a restitution.
We watch the events that shape the comedies with a sense
of joy, with laughter, and with delight. In the tragedies,
we watch the plots unfold with sadness, dread and horror.
The romances inspire awe, wonder and much pleasure; but no
matter whether comedy, tragedy, romance or history, in all
of them, we witness a kind of miracle. We see universes out-of-whack,
radically-tipped societal scales and dangerously-tilted planets
all right themselves. In some plays, the catalyst for restored
balance comes from powers beyond mankind; but most often,
as in MUCH ADO, the "restorative" comes from within the human
spirits who inhabit the world of the play. Their response
to the seminal events of the action prompts change, and ultimately,
the scales of their world sway back into equilibrium.
In MUCH ADO, the seemingly golden and privileged world of
Messina, Sicily is seriously out of joint. Under its gaiety,
witty repartee and chivalric codes, it is a society ruled
by mistrust and suspicion, and the characters are, almost
without exception, woefully immature. It is, ironically, the
youngest of them, Hero, who has attained the highest level
of maturity, although this is never even noticed by the other
characters. It is a society where relations between men and
women are ruled by fears of betrayal and cuckoldry to the
point of paranoia, and yet they hang onto to over-romanticized
notions of male and female ideals that are not only onerous
but also ridiculously unrealistic. In the affairs of love,
the behavior of the core characters resembles that of fourth-graders
more than that of mature adults. Fears of vulnerability and
of private and public humiliation by the opposite sex have
resulted in a culture desperately out of balance, and the
walls or facades that the characters have erected to protect
themselves are seemingly impenetrable. It is, of course, the
infamous Beatrice and Benedick who construct the most brilliant
and stalwart psychological battlements, and in the hands of
great actors, we take great delight in watching those walls
come tumbling down.
That metaphorical deconstruction, however, cannot occur without
the horrifying coil created by the villain Don John and his
cohort Borachio (those two characters later seem to meld under
Shakespeare's pen into Iago). When the younger of MUCH ADO's
two heroines, Hero, is accused of an infidelity she never
committed, all the characters are faced with difficult moral
decisions and tests of faith. This event, in essence, "releases"
the desperately-needed "hormones" that allow the characters
to grow up. Maturation is provoked, and the characters, most
of whom are essentially good souls, rise to their various
challenges. Mistrust, suspicion, false bravado, cruelty and
resistance yield to reason, faith, forgiveness, kindness,
and the truths of the heart. Love (real love) is finally allowed
to blossom and we leave this beautiful place called Messina,
filled with the rare satisfaction and joy of knowing that
all is well and right with the world -- for now. Of course,
being human, we know that something will soon tip the scales
once again, but for one brief shining moment in time, Shakespeare
gives us the miracle of seeing, feeling and knowing what is
possible.
© Bonnie J. Monte 2003
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