March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 48 F

Much Ado About Nothing

annapolis shakespearrThe war is over. Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, with his followers Benedick and Claudio, visits Leonato, Duke of Messina, father of Hero and uncle of Beatrice. Claudio falls in love with Hero and their marriage is agreed upon. Beatrice and Benedick despise love and engage in comic banter. The others plot to make them fall in love with each other, by a trick in which Benedick

will overhear his friends talking of Beatrice’s supposed secret love for him, and vice versa. Meanwhile Don John, the prince’s misanthropic illegitimate brother, contrives a more malicious plot with the assistance of his follower Borachio: Claudio is led to believe that he has witnessed Hero in a compromising situation on the night before her wedding day –in fact it is her maid Margaret with Borachio. Claudio denounces Hero during the marriage ceremony. She faints and on the advice of the Friar, who is convinced of her innocence, Leonato announces that she is dead. Beatrice demands that Benedick should kill Claudio. The foolish constable Dogberry and his watchmen overhear Borachio boasting of his exploit and the plot is exposed. Claudio promises to make amends to Leonato: he is required to marry a cousin of Hero’s in her place. When unmasked, she is revealed as Hero. Beatrice agrees to marry Benedick.

The Annapolis Shakespeare Company, an emerging professional theatre company founded in 2010 to bring Shakespeare’s timeless masterpieces and other classics to the local community while providing pre-professional theatre training to area youth, has delighted audiences this past season with Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Cymbeline as well as Jon Jory’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Upcoming productions include Moliere’s Tartuffe and Shakespeare’s classics A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Tempest. The company, led by founding artistic director Sally Boyett-D’Angelo, presents three full-length productions each season in residence at the Bowie Playhouse, offers theatre education for youth and young adults in their studios at 111 Chinquapin Round Road in Annapolis, provides

theatre education for Anne Arundel County public schools performing and visual arts magnet schools, and will present free Shakespeare in the Park at Annapolis City Dock beginning June 2014. The Annapolis Shakespeare Company is a grant recipient from the Maryland State Arts Council and the City of Bowie, and is a member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association, an international association of Shakespeare-producing theatres.

Performance Dates and Times

August 2-18, 2013
Thursdays at 8pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 2:00pm and 7:30pm.

Tickets

$18-$24 (discounts for students and seniors).

Box Office

Tickets may be purchased online at AnnapolisShakespeare.org or by calling the box office at (410) 415-3513.

Location

The Bowie Playhouse (16500 White Marsh Park Drive Bowie, MD 20715).

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