Performance Evaluation on Southern Connecticut State University's Production of "Much Ado About Nothing"

To begin, I attended the showing of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” performed by Southern’s Crescent Players. I saw the show twice, and each time was just as wonderful. The second time, I brought my boyfriend along, and we discussed it a lot afterwards. We both really enjoyed it a lot! I definitely feel that the Crescent Players put on an amazing performance.

            When I entered the theatre space, it was nothing new to me. I have been in the Lyman Center plenty of times. I’m familiar with the half-circle thrust stage, and the inclined rows of seats. I really love the setup of the Lyman Center, because there really isn’t a bad seat in the whole theatre. On the stage, there was what appeared to be the front of a building or house. I feel that this was very useful to the play because there were parts where people would listen from the balcony, or they would secretly listen to conversations from the windows. Also, the actors either entered the stage through the front door way of the home, around the side of the home, or through the entrance of the theatre. I also liked this set because it was big and took up a lot of the stage, and they never had to change it, they only had to add a few props for every scene. It all worked together extremely well.

            The thing that most caught my eye was the fact that the lights were on for the entire play. Obviously, there were lighting changes when the mood changed or the weather changed, but the whole theatre was illuminated the whole time. At the beginning of the show, the actors told us that when Shakespeare put on plays, the lights were always on in the theatre, so they wanted to do it the same way. They did this so that we could see them, and especially so that they could see us, and so that we could get involved with the singing, and so that they could see our emotions.

            I feel like the story was definitely really clear. I’m not an expert on Shakespeare, and I’ve never heard about Much Ado About Nothing prior to seeing the play, but I feel like I fully understood the play. Even when there were words that I didn’t understand, the actors showed what they meant through their body language and their emotions. So, even though this play was written by Shakespeare and there are plenty of words that I don’t use in my everyday vocabulary, I feel like the Director of this play really worked to make everything easy to understand. The only part of the play that confused me was when Hero was accused of cheating on Count Claudio, and she died. But, afterwards, she was alive but it was her pure form. I feel like it wasn’t this showing of the play that made it confusing, but it is just the general play that is confusing. I feel like if I had this part explained to me, then there would be nothing in the play that was confusing.

            I was very engaged in the play for several reasons. One of the reasons is that they incorporated popular songs into the play, and they made it work really well. Also, the actors had told us before the play started that they wanted us to sing along to any songs that we knew, which I thought was very unique and fun. I think that what engaged me was how the play was done, and not by the content.

            I feel like the elements of design enhanced the play, and they did not distract me at all. Out of both of the times that I went, I feel like there were no malfunctions in the elements of design, and everything flowed perfectly. I liked the light changes, and I liked how the actors strategically took the props on and off of the stage without being distracting at all.

            Also, I thought that the costumes were very realistic, and they suited each actor very well. Especially Beatrice and Benedick. Beatrice has a dress that accentuated her features, which I feel were a big part in the play. And Benedick had a tighter costume than any of the other man in the play, which I felt suited him because he seemed quite conceited. Also, I like how the actors had to project their voices because there were no microphones. That made everything feel very real.

            Overall, I really enjoyed the play, and I’m very happy that I had the chance to go see it. If I had to pick either design or performance that had a greater impact on my experience, I would definitely have to choose performance. The actors were amazing, and they really put themselves into their characters. They never once came out of character, as that would’ve ruined the whole experience for me. Also, I feel like I was at a play that was done on Broadway because every single little thing was thought out very well. And I can tell because there were virtually no mistakes. There definitely isn’t anything I would’ve done differently, but, both times I went, I sat in the same spot. So, if I were to see it again, I would try to sit somewhere else so that I could get a different perspective.