One of the best qualities of the man considered to be the master of the English language and one of the greatest playwrights of all time is the universalness and timelessness of his work.
Despite the obvious language barrier with funky prose and somewhat backwards sentence structure — for example: “Why, i’ faith, methinks she’s too low for a high praise” — Shakespearian themes could seemingly reoccur again and again throughout the sands of time. With anecdotes to his day, the Bard wrote about human nature.
“I think this is one of those plays that’s … well it’s really timeless now isn’t it?” said Changing Scene Theatre player Gary Fetterplace who stars as Benedick in the theater’s season opener “Much Ado About Nothing.” “It’s incredible how things haven’t changed that much since 500, or 400 years ago.”
He’s right, things haven’t changed much. I mean, who doesn’t know a poor young girl who’s been seduced by a man who made her fall in love with another, then is wrongly chastised as the town whore in order to break up that relationship, then in order teach her tormentors a lesson she and her cohorts fake her death?
Cuckoldry, comedy, tragedy — it’s all there in Shakespeare and also in society.
And the cool thing about this production at Changing Scene is that it’s meshing the two.
Director Pavlina Morris adapted the “Much Ado” script both to fit the massive production into the East Bremerton theater and also to literally bring the play to Bremerton. She has set the antics of Claudio and Hero, Beatrice and Benedick, Don Pedro and Don John in 1940s Bremerton.
“As a costumer, it’s always fun to costume ‘40s,” Morris said. “And I thought that it’d be neat to bring in that local element, too.”
Methinks she’s right.
The stage is set as the boys are returning from World War II, with marriage seeming to be the thought on everyone’s mind. Beatrice, played by Judy Nichols — a shining example of Shakespeare’s strong women characters — is decked out in Rosie the Riveter digs, ready to dish out some of her biting wit.
She and Benedick have been at odds in a “Merry War” of words, the likes of which carries the comedic element of the show as they continuously and hilariously bicker with each other, swearing that neither will ever marry.
“Underlyingly, we really love each other,” Fetterplace said.
“But they’re both too full of pride to admit that someone else could bring them to their knees,” Morris added.
On the other side of the coin, there is Claudio (played by Christopher Dolan) who has fallen madly for Hero (played by Rachel Cummings) Beatrice’s cousin.
Claudio and his friend, prince of Aragon Don Pedro (Derek Niegemann) devise a plan to woo Hero at an upcoming masquerade ball, and it works. But out of spite for Don Pedro, his villainous brother Don John (played by Dray Young), enters to clip the wings of the two lovebirds by evoking rumors that Hero has been unfaithful.
With no way of truly knowing, Claudio works himself into a frenzy that builds until Hero takes the drastic measure of faking her death to get back at the men for the hurt they’ve caused.
“Much Ado About Nothing” will kick the 2007-2008 season off at 8 p.m. Sept. 28 at Changing Scene Theatre Northwest — 5889 Highway 303 NE Ste. 104 behind the Oroweat Bakery in East Bremerton. It will run at that time Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 27. Tickets are $15 general/$12 seniors, military and youth. Reservations recommended by calling (360) 792-8601. Info: www.changingscenenorthwest.org.
