MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Comes To The Playhouse Theatre 8/22-9/6

Much Ado About Nothing By William Shakespeare runs 22 August - 6 September 2009 at Playhouse Theatre

Director Kate Cherry, Set & Costume Designer Christina Smith, Lighting Designer David Murray, Sound Designer Ash Gibson Greig, Featuring: Elizabeth Blackmore, Austin Castiglione, Brendan Ewing,Brendan Hanson, Stuart Halusz, Luke Hewitt, Kirsty Hillhouse, GeoffKelso, Michael Loney, Kenneth Ransom, Tim Solly, StEve Turner, Irma Woods and Shubhadra Young.

Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's great comedies.This joyous romp celebrates brave soldiers returning triumphant from the battlefield only to find themselves bewildered by love. At amasked ball, heroic warrior Claudio falls for beautiful Hero, while Benedick engages in verbal sparring matches with feisty Beatrice. Will Claudio and Hero be happily married, or will scoundrels successfully conspire against them? Could Benedick and Beatrice's aversion transform itself into affection? Join us for a feisty celebration involving some of Perth's most loved performers.

Leonato, a kindly, respectable nobleman, lives in the idyllic Italian town of Messina. Leonato shares hishouse with his lovely young daughter, Hero, his feisty, clever niece, Beatrice, and his elderly brother,Antonio. As the play begins, Leonato prepares to welcome some friends home from a war. The friendsinclude Don Pedro, a prince who is a close friend of Leonato, and two fellow soldiers: Claudio, a well-respected young nobleman, and Benedick, a clever man who constantly makes witty jokes, often at theexpense of his friends.

Don John, Don Pedro's illegitimate brother, a sullen and bitter man, is part of thecrowd as well.When the soldiers arrive at Leonato's home, Claudio quickly falls in love with Hero. Meanwhile, Benedickand Beatrice resume the war of witty insults that they have carried on with each other in the past. Claudioand Hero pledge their love to one another and decide to be married. To pass the time in the week beforethe wedding, the lovers and their friends decide to play a game.

They want to get Beatrice and Benedick,who are clearly meant for each other, to stop arguing and fall in love. Their tricks prove successful, andBeatrice and Benedick soon fall secretly in love with each other.But Don John has decided to disrupt everyone's happiness. He has his companion Borachio make love to Margaret, Hero's serving woman, at Hero's window in the darkness of the night, and he brings Don Pedroand Claudio to watch. Believing that he has seen Hero being unfaithful to him, the enraged Claudio humiliates Hero by suddenly accusing her of lechery on the day of their wedding and abandoning her at thealtar.

Hero's stricken family members decide to pretend that she died suddenly of shock and grief and tohide her away while they wait for the truth about her innocence to come to light. In the aftermath of therejection, Benedick and Beatrice finally confess their love to one another. Fortunately, the night watchmenoverhear Borachio bragging about his crime. Dogberry and Verges, the heads of the local police, ultimatelyarrest both Borachio and Conrad, another of Don John's followers. Everyone learns that Hero is reallyinnocent, and Claudio, who believes she is dead, grieves for her.Leonato tells Claudio that, as punishment, he wants Claudio to tell everybody in the city how innocent Herowas.

He also wants Claudio to marry Leonato's "niece" - a girl who, he says, looks much like the deadHero. Claudio goes to church with the others, preparing to marry the mysterious, masked woman he thinksis Hero's cousin. When Hero reveals herself as the masked woman, Claudio is overwhelmed with joy.Benedick then asks Beatrice if she will marry him, and after some arguing she consents. The joyful loverscelebrate their double wedding. Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/muchado/summary.html

BLACK SWAN State Theatre Company is Western Australia's FlagshipTheatre Company and one of Australia's foremost theatre companies.Since its inception in 1991, BLACK SWAN has earned both critical andpopular acclaim for its world premiere productions and highly distinctive(re)interpretations of interNational Theatre classics - all of which are infusedwith the unique culture of Western Australia.

These have included such landmark productions as Bran Nue Dae, Sistergirl, Tourmaline, CorrugationRoad (winner of the prestigious The Age Critics' Award), The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea, Cloudstreet (Perth, Sydney, London and Dublinseasons) and The Odyssey.As State Flagship Theatre Company, BLACK SWAN presents a broad rangingprogramme including the creation of new work, contemporary international works and reinterpretations ofclassic plays that reflects life in Western Australia. Under the leadership of Artistic Director, Kate Cherry, BLACK SWAN has also created the Rio Tinto BlackSwan Commissions, a new commissioning programme investing into WA's creative future and showcasing Western Australian stories. The company also runs a professional development program for emerging Western Australian artists, The HotBed Ensemble (supported by the RAC). Both Rio Tinto BLACK SWAN Commissions and The HotBed Ensemble are initiatives that are unique amongst Australian state theatrecompanies. BLACK SWAN State Theatre Company will be the Resident Company in the new State TheatreCentre of Western Australia, to open in 2010.BLACK SWAN is presenting six mainhouse productions in 2009 - the first season program created by Artistic Director Kate Cherry.

The season includes The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion as part of theUWA Perth International Arts Festival, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Yasmina Reza'scomedy God of Carnage, The Memory of Water, written by UK playwright Shelagh Stephenson, MuchAdo About Nothing by William Shakespeare, and Kate Mulvany's The Web.

Web: www.bsstc.com.au

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