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Bicker sweet
Friday, June 01, 2007 | No comments posted.
A battle of wits leads to romance in ‘Much Ado About Nothing,' OBT's first Shakespeare play, opening tonight at the Egyptian
By Chip Dombrowski, Entertainment Editor
COOS BAY - Like many a romantic comedy heroine, Beatrice is completely opposed to the idea of falling in love.
Unlike most, she didn't take this position as the result of a bad breakup, and it's not a thin cover for unhappiness at being without a man.
If it's an act, it runs pretty deep, as her uncle explains: “She is never sad but when she sleeps, and not even sad then; for I have often heard my daughter say she hath often dreamt of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing.”
That's not to say she can't be tricked into falling in love. Of course, she will in “Much Ado About Nothing,” the first Shakespeare production of the On Broadway Thespians, which opens tonight at the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” said co-director Jeff Roberts, adding that taking on Shakespeare was a challenge that excited many members of the group since it was first proposed.
Roberts said he wanted to do a comedy because he feels they're often overlooked in favor of Shakespeare's tragedies and settled on “Much Ado” because of its many dimensions.
“There's comedy, romance, tragedy, a little bit of everything,” he said.
Indeed, you could add to that list wit, naiveté, virtue, villainy, matchmaking and unmaking. A little of everything except wit, which there's a lot of, especially in the lines of Beatrice (Sabrina Gonzalez).
Two things most often bring it out of her: Benedick (Michael Gonzalez), the prime target of her barbs who is equally cynical about love, and the romance of her cousin Hero (Mindy Freeman) and Claudio (Brandon Vos), a young nobleman and close friend of the prince Don Pedro (co-director Federico Gonzalez) and Benedick.
Like many couples in Shakespearean comedies, Claudio and Hero get engaged on their first date. It seems they've at least met before - he says he liked her before going to the war he's just returned from - but still things happen fast, considering that the arrangements are made before they exchange their first lines.
It could have been even faster: When asked to set a date, Claudio suggests tomorrow; but Hero's father, Leonato (Ben Carter), insists on waiting a week.
That's just enough time for the prince's brother, Don John (Nolan Hofferber), to try to break them up. John is the sort of villain who doesn't have anything to gain but someone else's misery, and his victim of choice is Claudio. John hates his brother, who just defeated him in the war, but the prince doesn't have any obvious weaknesses to exploit in the way that a lovestruck teen does.
Meanwhile, the prince has a mischievous plot of his own: After witnessing the sharp exchanges between Beatrice and Benedick, he realizes they're perfect for each other and schemes to get them to get them to fall for each other by leading them to believe the other already has such feelings.
He, Claudio and Leonato have little trouble swaying Benedick, who doesn't need to rationalize flip-flopping on love. At the news of Beatrice's crush, he admits his tastes have changed.
Charged with performing the same trick on Beatrice, Hero enlists the help of her uncle Antonio (Roberts) and her waiting-gentlewomen, Margaret (Leatha Lewison-Gonzalez) and Ursula (Tasha Gonzalez). With little explanation, Beatrice flips just as easily.
Before Beatrice and Benedick admit their feelings to each other, John and his entourage, Borachio (Joe Vos) and Conrad (Josh Carter), set in motion their plot to make Claudio think Hero is cheating on him.
Bragging about it, Borachio is overheard by a watchman (Kellen Freeman) who reports it to the constable Dogberry (Dave Jordan) and Verges (Audrey Osborne). But with the wedding only hours away, justice moves too slowly to prevent Claudio from leaving Hero at the altar with Friar Francis (Bob Berry).
As both Hero and Claudio leave devastated, Beatrice and Benedick are too busy helping to pick up the pieces to notice they've stopped bickering. But they may yet find a way to show their friends that love isn't supposed to be as easy as Claudio and Hero thought they had it.
The show runs through June 17. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $10 and $7 for children.
By Chip Dombrowski, Entertainment Editor
COOS BAY - Like many a romantic comedy heroine, Beatrice is completely opposed to the idea of falling in love.
Unlike most, she didn't take this position as the result of a bad breakup, and it's not a thin cover for unhappiness at being without a man.
If it's an act, it runs pretty deep, as her uncle explains: “She is never sad but when she sleeps, and not even sad then; for I have often heard my daughter say she hath often dreamt of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing.”
That's not to say she can't be tricked into falling in love. Of course, she will in “Much Ado About Nothing,” the first Shakespeare production of the On Broadway Thespians, which opens tonight at the Egyptian Theatre in Coos Bay.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” said co-director Jeff Roberts, adding that taking on Shakespeare was a challenge that excited many members of the group since it was first proposed.
Roberts said he wanted to do a comedy because he feels they're often overlooked in favor of Shakespeare's tragedies and settled on “Much Ado” because of its many dimensions.
“There's comedy, romance, tragedy, a little bit of everything,” he said.
Indeed, you could add to that list wit, naiveté, virtue, villainy, matchmaking and unmaking. A little of everything except wit, which there's a lot of, especially in the lines of Beatrice (Sabrina Gonzalez).
Two things most often bring it out of her: Benedick (Michael Gonzalez), the prime target of her barbs who is equally cynical about love, and the romance of her cousin Hero (Mindy Freeman) and Claudio (Brandon Vos), a young nobleman and close friend of the prince Don Pedro (co-director Federico Gonzalez) and Benedick.
Like many couples in Shakespearean comedies, Claudio and Hero get engaged on their first date. It seems they've at least met before - he says he liked her before going to the war he's just returned from - but still things happen fast, considering that the arrangements are made before they exchange their first lines.
It could have been even faster: When asked to set a date, Claudio suggests tomorrow; but Hero's father, Leonato (Ben Carter), insists on waiting a week.
That's just enough time for the prince's brother, Don John (Nolan Hofferber), to try to break them up. John is the sort of villain who doesn't have anything to gain but someone else's misery, and his victim of choice is Claudio. John hates his brother, who just defeated him in the war, but the prince doesn't have any obvious weaknesses to exploit in the way that a lovestruck teen does.
Meanwhile, the prince has a mischievous plot of his own: After witnessing the sharp exchanges between Beatrice and Benedick, he realizes they're perfect for each other and schemes to get them to get them to fall for each other by leading them to believe the other already has such feelings.
He, Claudio and Leonato have little trouble swaying Benedick, who doesn't need to rationalize flip-flopping on love. At the news of Beatrice's crush, he admits his tastes have changed.
Charged with performing the same trick on Beatrice, Hero enlists the help of her uncle Antonio (Roberts) and her waiting-gentlewomen, Margaret (Leatha Lewison-Gonzalez) and Ursula (Tasha Gonzalez). With little explanation, Beatrice flips just as easily.
Before Beatrice and Benedick admit their feelings to each other, John and his entourage, Borachio (Joe Vos) and Conrad (Josh Carter), set in motion their plot to make Claudio think Hero is cheating on him.
Bragging about it, Borachio is overheard by a watchman (Kellen Freeman) who reports it to the constable Dogberry (Dave Jordan) and Verges (Audrey Osborne). But with the wedding only hours away, justice moves too slowly to prevent Claudio from leaving Hero at the altar with Friar Francis (Bob Berry).
As both Hero and Claudio leave devastated, Beatrice and Benedick are too busy helping to pick up the pieces to notice they've stopped bickering. But they may yet find a way to show their friends that love isn't supposed to be as easy as Claudio and Hero thought they had it.
The show runs through June 17. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $10 and $7 for children.
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