Review: 'Much Ado about Nothing' performed at Lexington's Icehouse Amphitheater

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Much Ado about Nothing. Photo by David Frantz.

For the last two summers, George Dinsmore has strutted around the stage of Lexington's Icehouse Amphitheater as a jaded headbanger in live productions of Rock of Ages. This time around, he's brought his friends from the South Carolina Shakespeare Company with him, for "Much Ado About Nothing," a gentle yet still rockin’ celebration of attraction, flirtation and the vagaries of love.

As Benedick, a noble officer in service to the Prince of Aragon, Don Pedro (Tracy Steele), Dinsmore creates a three-dimensional characterization of a slightly world-weary, somewhat cynical yet nevertheless decent chap who is as renowned for his wit and congenial nature as his intention to remain a bachelor. He admires and respects women, yet he's not going to settle for just anyone, and as a soldier, he assumes he may not live long enough to find his perfect match.

That's a potential set-up just begging to be taken down, which Pedro and young officer Claudio (Charlie Goodrich) set out to accomplish, with some help from the family and friends of Leonato (Ripley Thames), the Governor of the beach resort-like Messina. Their machinations shape much of the broad comedy of the first act — director Linda Khoury has condensed the original five into two — while a darker sub-lot about lies spread to disrupt Claudio's wedding commandeers the second.

Scholars speculate as to the backstory of the play's central characters, which is only alluded to in the text. For clarity, director Khoury has used blocking, stage business and her actors’ body language to suggest a likely narrative: the gentlemen dallied with the local ladies before setting off for war, and having returned victorious, now resume pre-established relationships.

Mutual attraction between Benedick and Leonato's independent niece Beatrice (Katie Mixon) was likely thwarted by pride and long-maintained barriers of self-protection, leading to what Leonato calls "a kind of merry war" of words between the two; Claudio surely courted Leonato's daughter Hero (Caitlin White), with the understanding that should he return alive, a match might be made via the appropriate channels, like the girl's father and the boy's liege nominally make all arrangements for what would be an important political alliance as well.

Meanwhile, boy-crazy Margaret (Becky Hunter) welcomes the troops back home — especially hard-partying Borachio (Kashaad Kraus) — as only a saucy lady in waiting can. Kraus takes top honors for making the most of a smallish character, suggesting and facilitating most of the villainy that transpires, then getting caught after his drunken boasts are overheard, then remorsefully confessing all when led to believe that he had caused an actual death.

Thames as Leonato wins the prize for sounding most conversational while navigating tricky, 500-year-old vocabulary and sentence structure. He also executes a classic spit-take with precision. Dinsmore balances acerbic repartee with maintaining his character's fundamental appeal, and gives an added physicality to Benedick as he dodges, ducks and leaps to and from the stage in efforts to remain unseen.

Shakespeare's spunky comedic heroines are often perceived as interchangeable ingenues, but Mixon, using a brash, almost shrill tone about an octave higher than in previous roles, portrays Beatrice as a confident, self-assured, modern woman who's happier to eat ice cream from the carton than be stuck in an unfulfilling relationship.

Her assertive feminism is ostensibly at odds with some potentially dated and sexist plot developments about Hero's chastity or lack thereof, with Leonato at first prepared to disown his daughter on her wedding day. Yet thanks to Khoury's direction and to the acting of both White and Goodrich, it's clear that Claudio deeply loves and respects Hero, until deceived into thinking she was unfaithful on the very night before her wedding, almost like the sort of scenario that once played out daily on Jerry Springer.

Khoury has wisely combined two smaller roles (a priest, and Leonato's brother) into one, leading to a more solid representation of family. Don Pedro, however, has a bastard brother, Don John (J.B. Marple), whose resentment precipitates much of the titular ado. While Marple projects a persona of aloofness and isolation, his motivation seems murky, making his actions and their results less easy to follow.

Appearing as comic relief are members of Messina's Neighborhood Watch; Khoury has inventively cast them as women (Lonetta Thompson, Malie Heider, Ruth Glowacki and Mary Jeffcoat, veteran performers all), rendering the group into a sort of posse of "Karens" who stumble upon actual wrongdoing.

It's been suggested in lean funding years that the Shakespeare Company has the ability to do no-frills shows on a virtually bare stage without sacrificing quality; that is what has happened here. Easily as many patrons filled the Icehouse on the night of June 3 as ever attended the SCSC's customary performance space in Finlay Park and hospitality tax funding enabled the show to be presented free of charge. Additionally, Lexington officials are allowing folding chairs, picnic baskets, and outside food and drink in an effort to make this event as accessible and enjoyable as possible.

Free performances continue June 8 through June 10 at Icehouse Amphitheater and June 14 through June 16 at the Hampton-Preston Mansion Gardens. More information at icehouseamphitheater.com.

"It's been suggested in lean funding years that the Shakespeare Company has the ability to do no-frills shows on a virtually bare stage without sacrificing quality; that is what has happened here," our contributor August Krickel writes. Read moreReview: 'Much Ado about Nothing' performed at Lexington's Icehouse Amphitheater

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Review: 'Much Ado about Nothing' performed at Lexington's Icehouse Amphitheater