Atlanta Shakespeare Company to Present MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at The Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse will stage Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Andrew Houchins. Tickets are $15 General Admission for the preview on Thursday March 10, 2022, and $20 for General Admission for the preview on Friday, March 11, 2022. The show opens on March 12th and runs until April 3rd. All Sunday performances are at 2:30pm. The production is sponsored by C. Matthew Palmer.

Regular adult ticket prices range from $24-$45 depending on the day of the show, ticket availability and the seating area. There are educator, student, military, senior, and group tickets and discounts available. Purchase tickets online and learn more about the show here. Contact the box office here 404.874.5299 x 0 by phone or email boxoffice@shakespearetavern.com. The Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse is located at 499 Peachtree Street NE, just four blocks south of The Fox Theater and directly across the street from Emory University Hospital Midtown.

Finally, after two years, three COVID variants and thousands of PCR tests, the company is proud to bring back the little show that opened the very weekend we had to close down. Will Benedick, the ever-confirmed bachelor, admit his love for the equally witty and equally independent Beatrice? Will the young lovers Claudio and Hero survive the devious meddling of others?

Leonato, Governor of Messina, is host to Don Pedro, the Prince of Arragon, who has come from suppressing a rebellion by his bastard brother, Don John. With Pedro are John, now "reconciled" to him; Claudio, a young Florentine lord, of whom John is bitterly resentful; and a Paduan lord, Benedick, said to be a confirmed bachelor and engaged in a "merry war" with Leonato's niece, Beatrice, apparently a confirmed spinster. Claudio loves Leonato's daughter, Hero; Don John swears to thwart him. After a masked ball the wedding of Claudio and Hero is planned. Borachio, Don John's follower, tells him that having seen that the Prince and Claudio are listening, he will exchange love vows by night with Hero's gentlewoman, dressed in her mistress's clothes, at Hero's bedroom window.

Pedro, Claudio and Leonato ensure that Benedick (hidden in a garden arbour) hears them discuss Beatrice's presumably passionate love for him. Hero and Ursula play a similar trick on the listening Beatrice (here the passion is Benedick's). On the night before the wedding Don John offers to give the Prince and Claudio proof of Hero's unfaithfulness. Later, Borachio heard boasting about his successful deceit to a drunken comrade, is arrested by the Watch and taken to Dogberry, the constable.

Before Leonato can know anything, the wedding ceremony is due. In the church Claudio denounces Hero, who faints. The Friar proposes that Hero be reported dead and hidden until the truth is known. Beatrice, much grieved, urges Benedick to kill Claudio. At length all is revealed and the penitent Claudio promises to marry a niece of Leonato, said to be the image of the "dead" Hero. She is, of course, Hero herself; Beatrice and Benedick, as expected, resolve their "merry war," and news comes that Don John has been taken prisoner.

The cast features Nicholas Faircloth as Benedick, Kirstin Calvert as Beatrice, Vinnie Mascola as Don Pedro, Sariel Toribio as Claudio, Alexandra Pica as Hero, Charlie Thomas as Leonato, David Rucker III as Antonio/ Sexton, Amanda Lindsey as Margaret/ Ensemble, Tyra Watkins as Borachio/Ensemble, Payton Anderson as Conrade/ Ensemble, O'Neil Delapenha as Dogberry/ Ensemble, Adam King as Verges/ Ensemble, Jasmine Renee Ellis as Don John/ Ensemble, Cameryn Richardson as Ursula/ Ensemble, and Mary Ruth Ralston as Balthasar/ Messenger/ Ensemble.

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