Much Ado About Nothing

The Queens Players founder, veteran director, Richard Mazda [Edward II, MacBeth, Othello, Knight of the Burning Pestle, Dr Faustus] whose Gangland Shakespeare trio of MacBeth, Othello, and Julius Caesar thrilled with a fresh cohesive approach, once again brings a unique style and concept to a beloved Shakespeare piece…

Following the visceral approach to his Gangland series, he keeps it down and dirty with a style we are calling Trash Period. Influenced by the hierarchies that one finds among the dispossessed, homeless and street dwellers, Mazda’s Much AdoWaiting for Godot lead the audience to a pinpoint sharp and reverent language; the comedy, pathos and humor of the piece are ably assisted by “clown techiniques,” which draw out Shakespeare’s merry war between Benedick and Beatrice. In our Trash Period Much Ado, the comedy duo of Dogberry and Verges somehow ludicrously manage to apprehend the conspirators and assist the not-so-smooth passage of true love between our two pairs of lovers, Hero and Claudio and B and B. Don John and henchmen Conrade and Borachio are thwarted by the most inept but much beloved characters of Dogberry, Verges and the Watch.