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A Review Of Carol Feiertag's 'Much Ado About Nothing'

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Wichita State University put on a production of Beatrice and Benedict from October thirteenth to the sixteenth twenty sixteen directed by Carol Feiertag. The production was based on William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and was performed as an opera. The opera was full of bright colors and elaborate sets to represent the time of the play. The overall production helped enhance features of the play making the experience more enjoyable for the audience. The set, comedic tones, and seeing the production gave me more clarity compared to reading the play, all helped make the play a more enjoyable experience for the audience and add to the text of the play.
The set that the Wichita State theatre constructed was beautiful and full of bright …show more content…

The overall production helped clarify the plot of the story for me and gave me more clarity for concepts I did not fully grasp. Certain scenes I did not understand as well while reading such as the scene when Benedict is hiding from Leonato and Pedro was confusing as I read it, but seeing it be performed helped me see how the scene worked and also the comedic elements in the scene. I also struggled to understand that Beatrice and Benedict’s friends were tricking them into liking one another. I struggled understanding the deception that takes place in the story such as the scene in which Don Pedro discussed tricking Hero into falling in love with Claudio in Act one, Scene one:

Tis once, thou lovest, And I will fit thee with the remedy. I know we shall have revelling to-night. I will assume thy part in some disguise And tell fair Hero I am Claudio, And in her bosom I’ll unclasp my heart And take her hearing prisoner with the force And strong encounter of my amorous tale (14).

However, this opera did not help clarify it as well for me and I still struggled to understand this scene. I was not expecting trickery in this play. Nevertheless, having a villain is necessary in every story, but the villain in the opera did not seem as prevalent to me. The overall performance gave me much more clarity on the on story compared to reading

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