It’s Much Less ‘Ado’ Without the Clowns

For those of you who wish that the clowns in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” would just go away because they waste time, your wish has been granted in director Kevin Cochran’s staging at the Grove Theater Center’s Festival Amphitheatre in Garden Grove.

You may find, though, that you should have been more careful about what you wished for.

Cochran’s two-hour production confirms the obvious: Deleting the antics of buffoonish constable Dogberry and his cohorts shortens the play. But it also confirms that cutting this element of Shakespeare’s comedy tilts its delicate balance in the wrong direction.

This “Much Ado”--perhaps the grimmest, soberest and most straight-arrowed version anyone is likely to see for a while--concentrates on soldier Claudio (Jamie Nations). Deceived by the machinations of jealous Don John (the impressively full-throated Brian Kolb), Claudio unjustly spurns Hero (Allison Barcott), daughter of his wealthy host, Leonato. This concentration is so complete, however, that all else recedes.

“Much Ado” eschews specific time and place and often extends three hours or more, forcing directors to use artistic editorial judgment. Still, it’s one thing--as Anaheim’s Stages Theatre once did--to set “Much Ado” in, say, Las Vegas while preserving the story elements, and another to remove one of its comic legs.

The full text of “Much Ado” is one of the Bard’s most daring experiments in tone. On the loud end is the verbal tug-of-war between Beatrice (Jane Macfie) and Claudio’s friend Benedick (Patrick Lawlor), smart, grown adults who wrestle their way toward love. On the near-tragic end is the easily manipulated Claudio and abused Hero, pawns in Don John’s game.

Relief is provided by Dogberry, the hick constable, whose foolishness masks an ability to actually nab bad guys. In this edition, Don John has one fellow conspirator--Rock Crawford’s Borachio--and he’s easily nabbed by the night watchman (Brian Reynolds).

The result is an uncommonly dark and dull “Much Ado,” especially in the Festival Amphitheatre’s outdoor setting. (The play reopens Sept. 10 at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center, also outdoors.)

The traditionally sunny garden setting of this play dramatically offsets its dominant question: Can men and women trust each other? Yet Leonard Ogden’s set and lights are washed in an unsunny, monochromatic blue with a cold-looking chessboard floor. This is a place where bad things happen, not where lovers are reconciled.

*

The saving grace is the versatile Macfie, so good in Cochran’s recent revival of “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” who brings fresh comic and emotional notes to the feisty Beatrice. Macfie suggests a young Shirley Booth in her smarts and deliberately unglamorous looks and plays the tension well against Lawlor’s free and easy ways as Benedick.

They also easily dominate a cast that largely sounds untrained in Shakespeare or, as in Nations’ case, works at it much too hard. The work, and the lack of comedy, is the thing here, which is too bad on a late summer’s eve.

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* “Much Ado About Nothing,” Festival Amphitheatre, Grove Theater Center, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Thursday-Sunday, 8:30 p.m. Ends Aug. 30. $16-$22.50. (714) 741-9555. (Resumes Sept. 10 at Muckenthaler Cultural Center Amphitheatre, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton. Thursday-Sunday, 8:15 p.m. Ends Sept. 20.) Running time: 2 hours.

Jane Macfie: Beatrice

Patrick Lawlor: Benedick

Brian Kolb: Don John

Jamie Nations: Claudio

Russ Taylor: Don Pedro

Allison Barcott: Hero

Rock Crawford: Borachio

Jack Kissal: Leonato

Brian Reynolds: Watch/Friar

Melanie Ewbank: Ursula

A Grove Theater Center production of Shakespeare’s comedy. Directed by Kevin Cochran. Set and lights: Leonard Ogden. Costumes: Don Nelson.