Lantern Theater Company’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ shines in its comic timing

“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.”

And we’re off.

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing looks a lot like all the rom-coms that have followed it in the past 400 or so years. The familiar setup gives us two longtime friends who will eventually discover they are so much more .

The play opens just as a group of guys return from the war — it doesn’t matter which war, it’s just that the military establishes a masculine world of shoulder punches and horsing around. They arrive at Don Pedro’s palace to be wined and dined. Once they are in female society, they find they are susceptible to a different kind of fun: romance.

The central sparring characters are Beatrice (Karen Peakes, sparkly, saucy, hands on hips) and Benedick (J Hernandez, a little too rambunctious). Both are famous among their friends for their wit and their snarky resistance to marriage. Their friends plot to trick them into believing each is madly in love with the other, and, of course, the trick works. But this is the most benign trick of a play full of tricks.

While Claudio (Trevor William Fayle) and Hero (Cheyenne Parks) are busy falling in love and planning a wedding, Don Pedro’s evil brother Don John shows up (in a black hat, natch) and contrives a fake scandal which destroys Hero’s reputation. Claudio shockingly rejects her at the altar. She seems to die of heartbreak. (The elegant, subtle Jered McGlenigan plays both Don Pedro and Don John.)

Happily, under Charles McMahon’s light-handed direction, the dark scheming is foiled, and this lively production manages to jolly over the nasty prank — perhaps too quickly. The motivations seem a bit unclear and the switch from playful to serious and back again a bit confusing. Unlike Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, Beatrice is not demonized for her independence, and we understand her murderous rage at the cruel treatment of her dear friend Hero.

Anthony Lawton as Dogberry the constable is a hoot, and the ongoing shtick involving a broom and a stuffed animal gets funnier and funnier. And it is Shakespeare’s wink to the groundlings in the audience that this illiterate self-important police officer is the one who finally exposes the ugly hoax. Similarly surprising and delightful is the maid (Alice Yorke), a comic revelation in a role that is rarely more than minor.

The spare set (Meghan Jones) is made good use of, especially when Beatrice hides behind the trellis she carries around the stage; it’s lovely that the show ends as Shakespeare’s comedies traditionally do with a dance.

With the command, “Strike up, pipers,” the company pairs off, coupled as they must be since, as Benedick tells us, “The world must be peopled!”

(Community/Arts)

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing looks a lot like all the rom-coms that have followed it in the past 400 or so years. This production shines in its comedic timing and performances.

⌚️ Through March 16,📍 923 Ludlow St, Phila., 🌐 lanterntheater.org

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