Coronado Playhouse’s Annual Free Classic celebrates its 21st year with Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing opening Friday, July 21st and running until Sunday, August 13th, 2017 at Coronado Playhouse. Kit Fugrad, seen recently on stage at Coronado Playhouse in Avenue Q and A Little Night Music, directs Shakespeare’s comic romance.
Mr. Fugrad sets his production amidst the high spirits of a post-war house party in the present day. Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick and their troops, recently returned to Coronado from deployment in Afghanistan, are able to relax and enjoy the company and hospitality of their friend Leonato, his daughter Hero and niece Beatrice. Mr. Fugrad has drawn upon his own military experience as inspiration for this setting and is employing colleagues as military advisors on the production to work with the actors. “Much Ado was the very first of Shakespeare’s plays I was involved in twenty years ago,” states Mr. Fugrad. “In 1997 that production was set in the 1940s, featuring soldiers returning from World War II to a place easily described as ‘Hometown, USA’. In that vein, the language lends itself nicely to a modern setting, proving that the Bard’s words are equal parts classic, timely, and universal. It is my hope that our audiences fall in love with the characters Shakespeare penned in ways they hadn’t thought of before, and that they share that love like an unending, all-encompassing brushfire of joy and positivity in a time when we need it most.”
Claudio loves Hero and Hero loves Claudio. Nothing seems capable of tearing them apart. Benedick loves Beatrice and Beatrice loves Benedick, although neither will admit it. Nothing seems capable of bringing them together. However, these warring rivals forge a partnership in order to defend truth and honor, and salvage the true love of Hero and Claudio after deceptions wreck the lovers’ wedding day. This is a different kind of battlefield altogether.
Driven along by a romance all the more charming for being unacknowledged, and played out with an explosion of schemes, strategies and antics Much Ado About Nothing is a miracle of comic and dramatic suspense and gives us, in the bantering Beatrice and Benedick, two of Shakespeare’s wittiest, most lovable pair of lovers.
Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s most frequently produced plays around the world and has inspired at least five widely differing film adaptations including award-winners by Sir Kenneth Branagh (1993) and Joss Whedon (2011). Josie Rourke’s 2011 witty and inventive stage production in London’s West End starring Dr. Who favorites David Tennant and Catherine Tate, won no less than six Broadway.com awards (including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Play!) and brought Shakespeare to new audiences in a fun, original and tangible way. Coronado Playhouse aims to do the same.
Tickets are free but should still be reserved through Coronado Playhouse’s Box Office at (619) 435-4856 or online at www.CoronadoPlayhouse.com. Grant-funded, patrons may select up to six free tickets for this production.
About Coronado Playhouse
Coronado Playhouse is the oldest, longest-running community theatre in San Diego County. The intimate 100-seat, cabaret-style theatre, overlooks beautiful Glorietta Bay and is part of the beautiful Coronado Community Center. The venue opened in 2006 with state of the art equipment and a full-service bar. Season ticket holders can reserve tables a year in advance for each show. The Playhouse is dedicated to providing quality entertainment, with a mix of classic and modern comedies, dramas and mysteries, dazzling musicals, colorful free classics, theatre for young audiences, concerts, cabarets, and exciting original works by local authors. These programs, along with our education outreach, theatre classes and other community events, are only possible because of your continued support and charitable donations.
Coronado Playhouse is a qualified 501(c) 3 non-profit organization as San Diego County’s longest running community theatre.
