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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > May > 05 > Entry
Review: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’
In “Much Ado About Nothing,” new management and new direction grace the old Zilker Park stage for Ann Ciccolella’s *first turn at *Austin Shakespeare née Festival’s free summer performance. It’s a first step in the right direction, to be sure, but there are still plenty more to take.
Most important are pacing and attention to language. The first third of the play lags due to line problems, an unwillingness to trust in Shakespeare’s words and frequently lugubrious delivery. For example, the men’s deception of Benedick is one of Shakespeare’s finest comic moments. With built-in gags for four lovable characters, the Bard mines bit of comic gold and puts it in the hands of the actors. Unfortunately, it gets slowed down and tripped up for a fumble here.
The next scene, essentially the same joke for the play’s women, almost always suffers for its repetition. Here, though, it shines. Beth Burns is incredibly winning as the often under-served serving woman Ursula, warming up to the prank slowly and then exuding glee.
What follows — from a steady stream of smart, touching moments between Matt Radford as Benedick and Babs George as Beatrice to a Three Stooges police force led by improviser Les McGehee — goes a long way to make up for the unsteady introduction.
Here’s hoping the production’s transition is emblematic of Austin Shakespeare’s.
(“Much Ado About Nothing” continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through May 25 and 2 p.m. on May 11 at Zilker Park’s Sheffield Hillside Theater. Free. www.AustinShakespeare.org.
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