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William Shakespeare's

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Shakespeare in the (Carrollton) park

Troupe makes 'Much Ado' about free performances

Lewisville Leader, 9/8/02

By Jason Heid, Staff Writer

CARROLLTON - Free Shakespeare is coming. If that's not enticing, think of it as two free hours of sex, revenge, jealousy, misunderstanding and slapstick comedy. For those who were never inclined to shell out their hard-earned money to watch Shakespeare in a Dallas park in the heat of July, Audacity Productions is bringing the Bard to Carrollton. And it's free.

A $5 donation is requested for Audacity's "Much Ado About Nothing," which will run from Friday to October 13 at the Carrollton Amphitheatre. Brad McEntire, the show's director, said the cast is paring the play down to the basics: no set, simple black-and-white costuming, and a script trimmed to run less than two hours, including intermission.

"It flies along," McEntire said. "Eight actors play all the parts. There are lots of quick changes. In fact, it's became a real actor's piece. There's a real, underlying emphasis on actors playing… There's a definite emphasis on speed and very broad interpretations of characters."

Like much of Shakespeare's work, the play uses sitcom-simple plot, which the words elevate above the level of a "Three's Company" episode. Many may be familiar with the 1993 film version- which starred Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington- even if they don't remember it from high school English. The primary ploy of this comedy features two young lovers, who have a falling out when they are misled by a malicious conniver. But the more popular subplot focuses on Beatrice and Benedick, who battle with sharp-tongued zeal and then are tricked into admitting romantic feelings for one another.

Audacity prefers to explore new or little-known works, but McEntire said producing a classic like "Much Ado" helps the small north Dallas company build its body of work. Two years ago, Audacity brought another classic, Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" to the Carrollton Amphitheatre. But Audacity has also performed several original works, both locally and at festivals, including the New York International Theatre Festival and Austin's Mind Over Money Theatrical Festival.

Also participating in the fun will be Commedia dell 'Carte, a Renaissance-style improvisational group that has played several years at the Dallas Shakespeare Festival. They'll perform about 30 minutes before each night's show. "Really funny, fast and family-friendly foolishness," is how McEntire described Commedia dell 'Carte.

Even though the actors were encouraged to have fun with the work, McEntire said he was pleased with their dedication. "The cast has worked very hard. This especially true since every member of the cast has been engaged in other theatre projects throughout the entire rehearsal period of this play," he said. "They're an energetic, versatile bunch."

Performances will take at 7:30 PM Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Friday to October 13 at the Carrollton Amphitheatre, 2035 E. Jackson Road in Carrollton. Admission is free, but a $5 donation is suggested. For information call 214-731-8650 or visit www.audacityproductions.org .

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Cast deserves audience to feel 'Much Ado' about play

Lewisville Leader- 9/28/02

by Jason Heid Staff Writer

"Silence is the perfectest herald of joy."

So says Claudio in William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." The line seems ironic now, given the lack of an audience at Audacity Production's performance of the Bard's comedy. It's a shame, because Audacity's energetic, inventive version deserves better than the scant audience that attended Sunday evening's performance at the Carrollton Amphitheatre. Rarely has the importance of an audience to live theatre been better highlighted. An audience provides energy on which the actors can feed, taking their performances to a higher level.

But the actors carry on admirably without much laughter or applause, playing as many as three characters each. Jimmi Wright adopts very different voices and postures, as he makes several quick changes between playing noble Don Pedro and the henchman Borachio. His scene with Don John (Brendan Ahern) is one of the funniest, topping even the determined-to-be-comic relief of the constable Dogberry and his watchman. Ahern is the other stand-out among the cast of eight. His Don John wears red-tinted sunglasses, and bad-to-the-bone music plays each time he enters. As Dogberry his scenes are adept at appearing absurdly incompetent, even though the director (Brad McEntire) and cast have added ridiculous gestures by Verges the watchman that aren't nearly as funny as they are trying to be.

But the play is funny, and Shakespeare's words flow effortlessly out of the mouths of most of the cast members, even as they've added plenty of pelvis thrusting to underscore the numerous veiled sexual references. The primary plot of this comedy features two young lovers, who have a falling out when they are misled by a malicious conniver. But the more popular subplot focuses on Beatrice and Benedick, who battle with sharp-tongued zeal and then are tricked into romantic feelings for one another.

The era of the play has been made non-specific, with Balthasar and his minstrel song ("Into hey nonny nonny") removed in favor of Borachio's drunken rendition of "99 Bottles of Beer." Music also appears at the show's beginning and after intermission, accompanying strangely effective choreographed scenes of battle and apparent infidelity. These scenes are confusing, but still interesting to watch.

The weak link among the performances is Tim Shane as Benedick, whose verbal sparing with Beatrice (Valerie Hauss-Smith) is usually the real treat of this play. Shane plays Benedick with an aim towards John Wayne swagger, but ends up something like Randy Quaid.

The amphitheatre proves to be a less-than-ideal venue because of constant noise from the road directly behind the stage. But this production overcomes even the inability of actors to be heard at times.

Audacity has provided lively theatre to a city starved for an arts landscape of its own. Do them, and yourself, a favor. Go participate in live theatre. "Much Ado" needs you. Performances are at 7:30 PM Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until October 13 at the Carrollton Amphitheatre, 2035 Jackson Road in Carrollton.

Commedia dell 'Carte, a Renaissance-style improvisational group performs about a half-hour before each night's show. Their wacky version's of "Hamlet," "Romeo and Juliet," and "Oedipus Rex" are also worth mention. Admission is free, but a $5 donation is suggested. For information call 214-731-8650 or visit www.audacityproductions on the Web.

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Much Ado About Something

a play report for DRAM 1310: Intro to Theatre at Collin County Community College

by Bryan Vlastelica - 10/18/02

The Carrollton Amphitheatre was host of Brad McEntire's production of William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." I went to enjoy it on Sunday evening, October 13th 2002. It was a cold and chilly night out, but it was far too inefficient to stop the crowd from having a wonderful night. I will attempt to cover all the acting and technical elements and give the reader a colorful picture of the play.

"Much Ado About Nothing" must have been quite a spectacle when it was first shown to English aristocracy and commoners and this interpretation is no different. Never before have I seen characters that the audience can, not just relate with, but also cheer them on in their quests for good (or evil, in some cases). The characters' combined bit of old mentality with that of the modern times seemed so natural. It did occur to me that perhaps the director had combined the language of the original script with that of the twenty-first century, that is how timeless the characters were perceived.

A special praise should be directed towards the thespian Brendan Ahern. He was charged with the duty of housing three separate characters within him and not letting them come into conflict with each other. He evilly sneered as the villainous Don John, as well as he portrayed the role of the fast-talking, naïve English constable Dogberry, and last of all, he commendably showed all the qualities of a man of the clothe as the Friar. He went so far into detail that when the last formed couple of the evening, Benedick and Beatrice, embraced each other in the heat of the moment, the good Friar looked away, blushing. This goes to show that the director has what it takes to pick his cast wisely.

The stage was small in comparison to other theatres and so was very scarcely decorated with props or furniture in order for the actors to use as much of the stage as possible, to restrict grouping and over-repetitive movement. The only non-moveable objects on the stage floor were two four by four foot wood palates that were placed upstage center. They proved useful when a character needed some extra attention, but their main purpose was to hold down a large sheet of cloth that provided the backdrop. A simple black marker drawing of a wide staircase that led up to a row of Romanesque columns. The background was left open to the audience's imagination, which was not a bad idea, for the play dynamically changed scenes from indoors to various scenes outside buildings, a public garden park being on example. One other prop in use consisted of textile Romanesque scrolls that made up a three-part sign in one scene (signifying the Arbor), or were representations of letters and decrees.

The production place being the amphitheatre, it does have certain drawbacks. Lighting for instance. There were no rafters from which to hang a fleet of multicolor lights, nor was there a computer station to control them with. All the lighting was bottom-lit plain white light. It did indeed work well, for swarms of color would not have been able to keep up with the fast pace of the hilarious comedy. The director chose to substitute musical cues for diverse lighting. It did word out very well actually. Musical additions to the play indeed: Don John's entrance theme, a gangster type of melody; the "swing" dance song that was played for all the parts at a party in the performance. Which brings me to another point, when the music stopped while they were dancing, all the characters stood still while one of the couples had a 'private talk' with each other. It was very nicely orchestrated.

The costumes (by Lou Ann Cross) that were chosen didn't seem to reflect that of old Italy in my eyes. Then again, I am hardly an expert on history. It was made clear that most of the characters were part of an elite aristocracy, as they were dressed up very fancy and wore large berets along with scarves around their necks. Each person had a different color, possibly signifying various statuses of royalty.

The play was very well received and liked by all the members of the audience as they stood and applauded the freezing actors. We were given a small sheet of paper that presented itself to be the program. It was small, but none-the-less filled to the brim with information. The majority of which was reserved for the actors and their resumes. There were no notes of the playwright's vision of the play, but then again, who could understand the mind of that Shakespeare?

On the whole, I must say that even though I was colder that I would like to have been, I left the amphitheatre with a sense of satisfaction. The kind of satisfaction that only comes from witnessing the extraordinary. I greatly encourage anyone to take advantage of this wonderful stage play whenever they have the opportunity. Plays like these are well welcome and only regretfully forgotten.

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