MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Comes to Long Beach Shakespeare Company

The Long Beach Shakespeare Company will present a new staging of Much Ado About Nothing this summer, blending Shakespeare’s romantic comedy with the tone and texture of a Norse saga. Directed by Zion Aguilar and produced by Holly Leveque, the production runs at the Helen Borgers Theater in Long Beach, California.

The play retains Shakespeare’s original text while leaning into darker, stormier thematic elements. The Norse-inspired framing adds a mythic quality to the familiar tale of mistaken identity, romantic misunderstandings, and social scandal.

The play follows two couples: Hero and Claudio, whose relationship is threatened by deception and public disgrace, and Beatrice and Benedick, whose sharp-tongued exchanges mask deeper feelings. The production emphasizes the volatility beneath the humor, presenting the comedy as a battleground where affection, betrayal, and pride intersect.

In this version, the tone is both heightened and grounded—the verbal sparring between characters is cast in a new light, with stakes that feel both epic and emotionally intimate. The added Norse flavor is not meant to overshadow the original work but to bring out its elemental tensions, underscoring the thin line between comedy and catastrophe.

Long Beach Shakespeare Company, known for its classical focus and accessible productions, continues its mission with this reimagined Much Ado, offering a take that explores the emotional undercurrents of one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays.

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