"Much Ado About Nothing" : performed in Keats Garden 6th July

Returning from the wars Don Pedro’s men are invited to stay at Leonato’s for at least a month... events may detain them longer.

A passionate tale of young and mature love, battling wits, and two explosive sub-plots in a compelling and witty drama suitable for all the family.

The show is preceded with a Director’s talk on the play and an exciting fun interactive session with the audience.

Tickets from £12 available  now on Keats House agent Eventbrite.co.uk  - Click HERE for link

From its earliest performances Much Ado About Nothing was a hit with audiences and was Þrst published in 1600. The first performance is thought to have been in 1598 and its success accounts for its early publication and owes much to the witty banter of Benedick and Beatrice. This was celebrated in Leonard Digges's poem of 1640 which includes the lines; "Let but Beatrice/And Benedick be seen, lo in a trice/The Cockpit, galleries, boxes all are full."

The play's title is a play on words Nothing and noting were apparently pronounced similarly and the play is full of observations and characters overhearing of one another, nothing could also be a word for virginity.

Shakespeare took the Hero and Claudio plot from Bandello's "Novelle" which includes the characters of a King of Aragon and Linato of Messina. Benedick and Beatrice are Shakespeare's own invention. The same is true of Dogberry and the Watch, though he may have based this on personal experience. In Grendon, Buckinghamshire there is a local legend that Shakespeare would stay overnight on his way back to Stratford-upon-Avon at the Ship Inn. On one such journey there were norooms available so instead he spent the night in a the church porchand provoked the ire of the local constable. Shakespeare laterlampooned him in the character of Dogberry.

The story maybe nonsense to please tourists but it is appealing to think thata night of sleeping rough and a run in with a self-important constableinspired Shakespeare in the writing of Much Ado About Nothing.

Cast & Crew

Benedick David Houston

Beatrice:Joanna Nevin

Hero:Niamh Handley-Vaughan

Leonato:Christopher Poke

Don Pedro/Dogberry:Richard Lewellyn

Don John/Verges:Harry Harding

Claudio:Rich Watkins

Borachio/Friar/Messenger:Nick Benjamin

Margaret/Sexton:Jenny Kilcast

Producer/director:David Houston

Assistant producer:Niamh Handley-Vaughan

Assistant director:Richard Lewellyn