REVIEW OF “MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING” by Dorothy Velasco March 31, 2015 There is much to enjoy in the production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” now playing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Bowmer Theatre. There is just as much to criticize. Shakespeare’s comedy about a love that grows slowly between witty, mature skeptics as compared to the pitfalls of impetuous young love, is a mixture of sophisticated sparring, slapstick and near tragedy. As directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, the play is set in the present. Don Pedro, who has been fighting a war, brings his soldiers for a little R & R at the home of Leonato, the governor of Messina. Among the soldiers are Benedick, who has visited often, and his young friend Claudio, who quickly falls in love with Leonato’s innocent daughter Hero. A couple of characters have been deleted, which is not unusual, and some have been adapted. Dogberry the constable, humorously played by Rex Young, rides a Segway on his rounds, and his assistant has been
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