Chris Abraham says that the show he is directing now will be the best opportunity to see a Shakespeare classic in the hands of two masters of their craft.
Abraham is directing Much Ado About Nothing for the 2023 Stratford Festival season, starring Graham Abbey and Maev Beaty. The show begins previews today.
Much Ado About Nothing follows Beatrice and Benedick, two single individuals whose friends think would be a great romantic match. Set in Southern Italy, in a contemporary period to Shakespeare, a series of comic misunderstandings befall the would-be-couple and their friends.
“It's one of the most often produced of Shakespeare's comedies,” Abraham told StratfordToday. “Most often produced because it's one of his wittiest, funniest (plays).”
And one of his most modern. Shakespeare’s works are often praised for their longevity and their continuance to apply to the modern world. Abraham chalks that up to Shakespeare writing about a world in evolution and how parallels can always be drawn since our world is evolving too.
As one of Shakespeare’s most staged productions, Abraham said that he goes to the core of what the play is about and tries to find the best way to express that.
“Sometimes that means a radical reinterpretation or resetting it in a different period,” Abraham explained. “Sometimes it means that you want to go back to the period in which Shakespeare imagined the play.”
In this case, Much Ado About Nothing is set in the latter. Abraham and the creative team feel that the audience is going to grapple with what's poignant and funny about the story best in its original form.
The actors do a lot of heavy lifting in bringing an audience into the world of Much Ado About Nothing and Abraham said he is fortunate to have the Festival’s “most gifted comedians at the centre of it,” as he claimed.
Abbey and Beaty, playing the roles of Benedick and Beatrice respectively, take centre stage.
“For lovers of Shakespeare, this is going to be one of the best opportunities to experience two actors at the height of their powers with two of Shakespeare's greatest comic roles.”
Although his production is set in the same period as Shakespeare’s original, Abraham and the production are interested in examining one of the more demure character’s agency and shining a light on that in a new way for a 21st century audience.
When asked how that can be done while remaining faithful to the text, Abraham’s answer was short and tight-lipped.
“You’ll have to come and see the show.”
Much Ado About Nothing plays at the Festival Theatre starting today and running until Oct. 27. It opens on June 16.
To purchase tickets, visit the Festival’s website.
Director’s Notes is an ongoing series from StratfordToday, featuring interviews with Stratford Festival directors; discussing their project, their scope, and their goals for this year’s production.
Related: A Wrinkle in Time to push audience’s imagination
Related: Andrew Kushnir to stage radical compassion in Casey and Diana
Related: Jillian Keiley’s Richard II sets Shakespeare’s tragedy in 70s New York
