If you’re puzzled by relationships, Shakespeare’s your playwright. Especially in “Much Ado About Nothing,” his brilliant comedy about love, friendship and family connections. And, just to make a play about love, family and friendship believable, the Bard makes everything goes south before heading back up toward a crackerjack happy ending. That’s Shakespeare.
Durango Theatreworks is currently staging “Much Ado” at the Busby Outdoor Amphitheatre on the Fort Lewis College campus. There’s no better place to watch the sun go down along with human entanglements. The central complication involves Beatrice (a winning Isabelle Herringer) and Benedick (a forthright Holden Grace). They’ve met before, and on sight, they start arguing again and continue their “merry little war.”
Several other connections spark and sputter. Claudio (an earnest Kiedis Begaye) falls hard for lovely Hero (a beguiling Linda Stephenson). But Claudio is so gullible, he’ll believe planted rumors and bluntly backs out of his wedding. Leonato, Hero’s father (a loyal and fierce Jay Hall) helps orchestrate a solution along with his old friend, Don Pedro, the young men’s superior officer. Ably portrayed by Kieron Peck, he and Leonato are the grownups in the room. To round out the cast, Kira Guillon adds four characters, a servant, a friend, a messenger and a friar, who keep the plot moving.
If you go
WHAT: Durango Theatreworks, Fort Lewis College, “Much Ado About Nothing,” a comedy by William Shakespeare, directed by Robert Faires.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday (July 8), Saturday and Sunday.
WHERE: Busby Outdoor Amphitheatre, FLC,1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $15 to $30, available online at https://bit.ly/3NPNfUF. Plenty of free parking.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.durangotheatreworks.org and www.durangoconcerts.com.
Director Robert Faires and his creative team have created some theater magic to give life to the Ryan Crowder adaptation. Seven actors portray 14 characters, and with Linann Easley’s costume additions, it’s clear who is who, a military jacket here, a pair of glasses there. Set and lighting designer Andrew Brackett builds on the handsome stone amphitheater with minimal props and furniture to create the illusion of an estate with gardens, a ballroom, a church, a street and even a prison.
Music from the 1940s streams World War II songs from a radio, enhancing both the mood and the period. Faires lets the music underscore some introspective and/or romantic scenes. Nowhere is this more effective than when a remorseful Claudio walks up into the audience and silently absorbs the meaning of “Till the End of Time.”
‘Heathers: The Musical’ opens
On Wednesday, Durango Theatreworks also opened its production of “Heathers: The Musical” at the Mainstage Theatre at Fort Lewis College.
WHAT: “Heathers: The Musical.”
WHEN: July 8, 7:30 p.m. Friday (July 8), July 14-16; 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and July 17.
WHERE: Mainstage Theatre, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: Adults: $25 general admission, $32 reserved seating. Student (college and younger): $20 general, $25 reserved. Available online at https://bit.ly/3apUKE7.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://bit.ly/3uwiCNi.
From the soldiers’ jaunty audience entrance at the beginning to the comic pronouncements of Constable Dogberry and Verges (a self-important Hall and befuddled Peck) in the grassy well, to the high-spirited ending on the main stage, every bit of playing area has been accounted for.
If possible, sit close to the stage as some lines may be lost in the open air or if the players turn away from the audience. The stone structure helps acoustically.
Three performances remain in what has to be the most spectacular setting for Shakespeare in our area. There’s plenty of free parking, and the amphitheater is a short walk into the center of FLC’s beautiful and very green campus.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
