ABOUT THE PLAY

Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare
Additional Text by Erin Shields
Directed by Chris Abraham

House Program for Much Ado About Nothing

Grade Recommendation 7+

Content Advisory

Please see the show page for a detailed audience advisory.

Synopsis

Much Ado About Nothing has been an audience favourite for centuries. Brimming with wit, romance and pageantry-there is a masked ball and a wedding-Shakespeare's beloved romantic comedy engages the heart and the mind, posing serious questions about love and honour while trusting in its audience to craft their own answers. 

The war is over, the battles won, and Don Pedro and his brothers in arms follow a leisurely route home. When they are invited to spend a month at the estate of Leonato, the governor of Messina, the promise of fine wine, good food and friendly banter is too good to pass up. Soon one of the guests, Claudio, is smitten with Leonato's daughter Hero, while another, the avowed bachelor Benedick, triggers a merry war of wits with Hero's cousin, Beatrice. Hero is quick to return Claudio's affections, and even Beatrice and Benedick seem to be falling under love's sway. But Don Pedro's half-brother, Don John, is so plagued by jealousy and bitterness that he tricks Claudio into believing that Hero has cheated on him. Plots and counter-plots are hatched, and with a little help from their friends, both couples may just make it to the chapel on time. 

The language in Much Ado About Nothing provides an excellent introduction to the Bard's work. Such comic tropes as the overheard conversation, the case of mistaken identity, and the cynical bachelor who secretly pines for love will be familiar anyone who has ever watched a romantic comedy or classic TV sitcom. Director Chris Abraham's vision for Much Ado About Nothing retains the play's buoyant humour while highlighting Shakespeare's revolutionary (for the time) interrogation of patriarchal conventions and gender roles. Codes of sexual morality and honour are unfairly placed on the women's shoulders. Even the play's male villain, Don John, is marginalized for being "illegitimate," his suspect lineage a permanent stain on his honour. The rigidly gendered world of Much Ado About Nothing is both shocking and familiar to contemporary audiences, but Hero's resourcefulness, strength and integrity make her a hero for our times.

Curriculum Connections

• Global Competencies:
  • Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Metacognition, Self-Awareness
• Grade 8
  • The Arts (Drama, Music, Visual Arts)
  • Language
• Grade 9-12
  • The Arts
  • English
  • Health and Physical Education
• Grades 11-12
  • The Arts
  • English
  • Social Sciences and Humanities

Themes

• Communication and Wit
• Honour and Chastity
• Jealousy, Slander and Humiliation
• Love as a Force of Nature
• Marriage and Power
• Maturity and Transformation
• Mistaken Identity
• Perception and Reality
• The Performativity of Love
• Power and Gender
• Respect, Pride and Reputation
• Rumours and Deception 

DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION QUESTIONS

PRE-SHOW QUESTIONS

• How would you define a comedy? What makes something funny to you?
• What are the characteristics of a romantic comedy?
• Why do you think shows about finding love/matchmaking are so popular?
• What are three qualities of a fulfilling partnership?
• What is the impact of communication on building and maintaining relationships?
• How can you tell when communication is working well between two people?
• What might be some consequences of gossip? What do you notice about the impact of the gender binary and discrimination on gossip?
• How do you gauge if someone is trustworthy?
• Can trust be mended once it is broken? If so, how?

POST-SHOW QUESTIONS

• Which character did you most admire in the play? Why?
• Who do you think the hero of the play is?
• What do you think happens next?
• What do you think Shakespeare is suggesting about the nature of love?
• What role does language, and how it is being used, play in the storyline? Think about two distinct characters. What does their use of language tell us about the them?
• In what ways was honour explored differently based on gender in the play? Has this changed since Shakespeare wrote the play? Explain your position
• Do the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of words and actions in the play resonate with you today? Why or why not?
• As authority figures, how would you rate the leadership qualities of Leonato, Don Pedro and Dogberry? What are some of their strengths and failings?
• Dogberry uses fancy words and sayings with the intention of impressing people; however, he often says the wrong words and he comes across as nonsensical. This is called "malapropism." What effect did his use of language have on the other characters in the play? What did Dogberry bring to your experience of watching the production?
• What impact did Erin Shields' new text have on your experience of the play? If you were going to add to or change the story, what would you do and why?

MINDS ON

Objective: Students will examine the "merry war" of words between Benedick and Beatrice

Materials: Copies of excerpted text from Act 1, Scene 1, writing utensils and/or highlighters.

Directions:

• Introduce Beatrice and Benedick:
  • At the start of William Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedick have a contentious relationship, marked by witty banter and verbal sparring. Both characters are intelligent and quick-witted, and their conversations are characterized by wordplay and clever insults. They are both skilled at using language to make fun of each other and to score points in their ongoing battle of wits.
• Invite students to discuss the characters they know from television, film, etc. who use such sarcastic, even antagonistic comments, with others. What stands out to you about these characters? Why do you think audiences find them entertaining?
• Give each student a copy of the script excerpt.
  • Read as a class aloud and together (choral reading): half the class will read Beatrice's part and the other half will read Benedick's responses.
• Working in pairs, students will read the script again together. Invite students to respond to the following:
  • Which of the words stand out for you? Why do you think that is?
  • Who do you think won the battle of wits? Why do you think so?

Possible Extensions:

• Consonants and Vowels: Remaining with original scene partners, play the scene while exaggerating all the consonants to an unnatural level.
  • What did you notice? Does your character repeat any consonants in particular? Are they all over the place?
• Next, play the scene while exaggerating all the vowels to an unnatural level.
  • What did you notice in the vowels? How did it feel to explore the vowels? Does your character repeat any consonants in particular? Are they all over the place? 
• Introducing Prose: Let students know that Shakespeare worked in both verse and prose.
  • Verse: poetry, visually identifiable as the first word of each verse line is capitalized
  • Prose: written as normal sentences, the first word after a line break is not capitalized
• In the excerpt, Beatrice and Benedick are speaking in prose. Have the students choose a block of prose and speak it aloud.
• Invite students, using that same text, to mark the following:
  • Are the sentences short? Are they long? What might that indicate about your character?
  • Does your character ask questions? Are those questions answered? Is so, by who?
  • When and why does the character change the subject they are on?
• Have students speak the text aloud once again, giving focus to the sentences, questions or shifts in focus. Discuss what they noticed after reading it aloud the second time, what questions they have and what they discovered.

Debriefing Questions:

• What makes an entertaining battle of wits?
• What is your impression of Benedick and Beatrice's relationship so far?
• What are your predictions for their future in the play?

CONNECTION TO THE ARCHIVES

Maggie Smith appeared in fifteen productions at the Stratford Festival between 1976 and 1980. She has had a rich career on both screen and stage. Much Ado About Nothing is also a show that has been adapted on both screen and on stage. What do you think it is about the story that lends itself to film adaptations? Why are stories about love matches and arrangements so popular not only in Shakespearean plays, but in romantic comedies and reality television?

Maggie Smith as Beatrice and Brian Bedford as Benedick (at front), with Stephen Russell as Claudio and Diana Leblanc as Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, 1980. Directed by Robin Phillips. Costume design by Robin Fraser Paye. Set design by Daphne Dare. Lighting design by Michael J. Whitfield. Photograph by Robert C. Ragsdale. Stratford Festival Archives, GPO.1980.011.015

The Stratford Festival's Archives maintains, conserves and protects records about the Festival and makes those materials available to people around the world. Their collection contains material ranging from 1952 right up to the present and includes administrative documents, production records, photographs, design artwork, scores, audio-visual recordings, promotional materials, costumes, props, set decorations and much more. These materials are collected and preserved with the aim of documenting the history of the Festival, preserving the page-to-stage process, and capturing the creative processes involved in numerous other activities that contribute to the Festival each season.

RESOURCES

Trailer -  Much Ado About Nothing

House Program - Much Ado About Nothing

Study Guides

View past Study Guides and Study Guides for all 2023 plays, available free of charge on our website.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

The Banter of Beatrice and Benedick (The Public Theater)

The Basics: The American Shakespeare Center Study Guide (American Shakespeare Center, 2013)

Exploring Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing (Bard On The Beach)

Test Work: Blank Verse from 'Much Ado About Nothing' (National Theatre)

What are Prose and Verse? (Royal Shakespeare Company)

What is Prose? (Shakespeare's Globe)

Stratford Public Library suggested Reading List for Much Ado About Nothing

Booking Information: Tickets, Workshops, Chats and Tours

Student Matinées

You may book any available date, but selected student matinée performances for this show are at 2:00 p.m. on the following dates:

• Monday, May 29th
• Thursday, June 1st
• Wednesday, June 7th
• Tuesday, June 13th
• Wednesday, June 21st
• Wednesday, June 28th
• Tuesday, September 12th
• Friday, September 29th
• Thursday, October 5th
• Wednesday, October 11th
• Friday, October 13th
• Wednesday, October 18th
• Tuesday, October 24th 

Workshop & Chats

Pre or Post-Show Workshops and Post-Show Chats (virtual, onsite or at your school/centre) can be booked by calling the Box Office at 1.800.567.1600.

TOOLS FOR TEACHERS SPONSORED BY

Tools for Teachers include Prologues, Study Guides and Stratford Shorts.       

 PROUD SEASON PARTNERS 

 PRODUCTION CO-SPONSOR

SUPPORT FOR THE 2023 SEASON OF THE FESTIVAL THEATRE IS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY DANIEL BERNSTEIN & CLAIRE FOERSTER.

PRODUCTION SUPPORT OF MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING IS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY PRISCILLA COSTELLO, BY JOHN & THERESE GARDNER, BY THEHARKINS & MANNING FAMILIES IN MEMORY OF JIM & SUSAN HARKINS, BY THE JENTES FAMILY AND BY DR. DESTA LEAVINE IN MEMORY OF PAULINE LEAVINE.