Summer 2021 - Much Ado About Nothing

July 8-August 8, 2021

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Shakespeare Under the Stars is back, in person, on San Juan Island!

Island Stage Left re-opens to live audiences this summer with Much Ado About Nothing, July 8-August 8 on the outdoor stage. Actors from all over the country have arrived in Friday Harbor to create this new production.

Shakespeare’s wittiest comedy takes place in a world emerging from wartime, eager for sunshine and laughter. Benedick, one of the returning military officers, engages in bouts of mocking repartee with Beatrice. They claim to hate each other, but their friends see something different under the surface. Meanwhile Claudio, a heroic junior officer, falls head over heels for Hero, a sweet, innocent young heiress.

But a series of sly tricks – some well-intentioned, some thoroughly vicious – throw this little world into doubt and confusion. Who can you trust? Your lover, your friend, your brother? Sophisticated aristocrats, or a dim-witted constable and his poor-but-honest assistants? Shakespeare piles deception on deception, the comedy increasingly tinged with regret at how easily people can be made to believe almost anything. By the time Shakespeare finally unmasks all the plots, we’ve laughed a lot but we’re a touch more thoughtful, too.

Director Helen Machin-Smith has chosen to set the story in the English countryside, during the summer of 1919. The costumes, music and manners of that era give special zest to this tale of trust and suspicion at work in human hearts. Come celebrate re-opening, with Shakespeare!

The show runs Thursdays through Sundays, July 8-August 8, at Island Stage Left, 1062 Wold Road, San Juan Island.

CURTAIN TIME 8pm.

Bring blankets and/or warm clothes (even parkas) for when the sun goes down.

Admission is free, donations gratefully accepted.

All ISL cast and crew are fully vaccinated. For updated COVID-related restrictions, call (360) 378-1928 after July 1.

www.islandstageleft.org (360) 378-5649