Much Ado About Nothing

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,

Men were deceivers ever,

One foot in sea and one on shore,

To one thing constant never."

Much Ado About Nothing is a first-rate entree to the Bard. The timeless puns, jokes, gags, and yes, misogyny, provide the ingredients for one of Shakespeare's most delightful comedies.

Misogyny is alive and well in Shakespeare and takes on a particularly vicious aspect in "Much Ado About Nothing," when a woman's virginity is prized above her humanity.

"Much Ado" has a sly, robust eroticism entirely appropriate to Shakespeare's text, which abounds in earthy wordplay.

The title itself is a dirty Elizabethan double entendre, and actors relish the naughty nuances of their dialogue.

The flirting and swooning have some heat, which goes a long way to making the play as delicious as it is.

"Much Ado" strolls into some pretty dark forests, morally and spiritually, and while I'm not sure that Hero, the betrayed heroine, would agree with the title that it all had been "much ado about nothing," the crookedness of the universe is righted gloriously in the end. The result is a marvelous mix-up of merriment and farce, all touched by Shakespeare's inimitable vision of the relationship between the sexes.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) was an English playwright poet, and actor, regarded as the world's pre-eminent dramatist, and the greatest writer in the English language. Author of such timeless works as Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet and King Lear, he is often called the "Bard of Avon," England's national poet.