Much Ado About Nothing – Really Something!

Diana Trotter (Leonato), Christian Mitchell (Hero), Phillip J. Berns (Bertram), and
Mandana Khoshnevisan (Margaret) in 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Bag&Baggage Productions
Photo by Casey Campbell

By Tina Arth

I am delighted to report that Scott Palmer’s departure from Bag&Baggage seems to have had no impact on the company’s willingness to embrace extraordinary adaptations of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays.  The current production of Much Ado About Nothing, directed by B&B Artistic Director Cassie Greer, is sufficiently outlandish to thoroughly alienate Shakespearean purists – and that’s OK. Gordon Barr’s adaptation of the classic comedy may initially disorient the audience with its gender-bending fluidity (I was certainly floundering at the beginning). However, the free-wheeling disruption of the original tale’s gender assignments not only serves an important purpose, but it leaves the bones of the story intact and, at least in Greer’s production, makes it much funnier than a canonical presentation of the play.

In a conventional production, the story revolves around two complex courtships - Claudio and Hero, and Benedick and Beatrice. The first obvious change is that Barr’s adaptation substitutes Bertram for Beatrice, making one of the two couples gay.  However, it doesn’t stop there – Hero is played by a man who wears women’s clothing, while Claudio is played by a woman who wears men’s clothing. Hero’s father (mother?) Leonato is played by a woman, and two characters (Margaret and Ursula) also play male characters (Dogberry and Verges). There’s more – but long before I figured out who was playing what gender, and when, I figured out what really mattered – which is that it just doesn’t matter. The intrigue, loyalty, deception, love and lust at the core of Much Ado are all hard-wired into the human condition independent of which pronouns we adopt for ourselves – in fact, in the cast bios one can find “he/him,” “she/her,” “they/them,” “thy/thine,” and, for good measure,  one “he/him/they/them.”

The stage is simply littered with exceptional performances (and bocce balls), with some of the most outlandish and carefully crafted physical comedy I’ve seen anywhere. Norman Wilson (“Benedick”) and Phillip J. Berns (“Bertram”) are spectacularly campy throughout, but most memorable during their hilarious attempts at concealment (Wilson’s patio chaise lurk and Berns’ umbrella-roll are tied for funniest moments, despite stiff competition). As Margaret, Mandana Khoshnevisan pulls off some truly unbelievable dance moves, and she brings a muddled intensity to her Dogberry that leaves the audience in stitches.

Peter Schuyler creates a marvelously drunken Borachio, and he outdoes himself as Friar, wafting about the stage like a giant white spring moth, while Justin Charles’ affect and attire as Ursula make a comparatively minor role truly unforgettable.  Speaking of unforgettable – where else will you ever see/hear “Hooked on a Feeling” performed by a cast kazoo chorus?

Greer’s vision for the show demands costumes as imaginative and uninhibited as her actors, and costume designer Melissa Heller is, as always, up to the challenge. Tyler Buswell’s set provides a stunning and timeless visual backdrop, rooted in medieval Sicily but accommodating lighting and a host of other technical effects that liberate the show from any specific time, place, or relationship to reality.

All of these touches could easily descend into 3 Stooges level chaos, but the B&B cast and production team somehow present, instead, an intelligible and accessible comedy that preserves Shakespeare’s original themes while adding (without overt didacticism) an essential message about the role of gender norms in 2019.  With this show, Greer makes it clear that she is not just keeping Scott Palmer’s fire burning, she is fanning the flames with her own passion.

Bag&Baggage’s Much Ado About Nothing is playing at The Vault, 350 E. Main Street, Hillsboro, through July 28^th, with 7:30 p.m. performances Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinees.