Photo credit: Heidi Hodges
Door Shakespeare presents a rotation of Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors at the Garden at Björklunden in Baileys Harbor
Former Milwaukee Repertory Theater Artistic Director Joseph Hanreddy emphasizes universal themes of love and rivalry in his production of Much Ado About Nothing on an outdoor Door County stage this summer. Door Shakespeare presents a seasoned cast in a staging of William Shakespeare’s classic set in Wisconsin in the 1860s. Soldiers have returned to a place far from the battlefields to deal with matters of intimacy and animosity back home.
Next Act Producing Artistic Director David Cecsarini plays romantic hero Benedick with the rugged swagger of a man who seems to have had as much experience onstage as his character has had on the battlefield. His romantic foil is played by longtime Milwaukee Rep resident actress Deborah Staples with the substantial charisma of a world-weary wit about her. That Staples and Cecsarini have been married for a great many years adds to the emotional weight of both comedy and drama that feels perfectly at home in the outdoor intimacy of the peaceful stage in Door County. Milwaukee theater favorite Mark Corkins brings a reassuring gravity to the stage as Don Pedro—chief conspirator attempting to bring Beatrice and Benedick together. Two rivals are brought together in love in a Civil War setting echoing the divisions within the country which echo into the current political climate.
The show runs rotation with a brisk, dynamic production of a The Comedy of Errors. Drew Shirley mixes clever physical humor with rapidly comic dialogue and a depth of genuine emotion in the role of Antipholus of Syracuse. He is a man lost in a land where every stranger seems to recognize him. His hopes of running away to some form of sanity are complicated when he falls in love with Luciana—the sister of the woman claiming to be his wife—played with a wide-eyed and inventively playful sense of humor by Elyse Edelman. Staples plays her sister Adriana with a delicate mix of vulnerabilities. Adriana is concerned about the strange apparent transformation in the one she thinks is her husband, who is actually the long-lost twin brother of her actual husband played with steely intensity in more serious moments by Todd Denning.
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Through Aug. 18 at the Garden at Björklunden, 590 Boynton Lane, Baileys Harbor. For tickets, call 920-839-1500 or visit doorshakespeare.com.
