Much Ado About Nothing Brings Joy to Complicated Relationships
A fun final romp into Shakespeare before director Genevieve Barlow departs.
Saltfire Theater’s opening week of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing was completely sold out. Their second week only has a few tickets left.
“Is forgiveness linear and how do we make peace with someone choosing something we don’t want?” Director Genevieve Barlow, the artistic director and a founding board member of Saltfire Theater wrote, “At the core this play is about relationships—how complicated and beautiful and challenging they are. Between friends, between lovers, between family, and especially the relationship we have with ourselves—or the ideas we create about ourselves.”
In a few months, Barlow will be departing Port Townsend for New York City, where she’ll be completing an MFA. It seems appropriate for her last show directing her fellow theater folk of Saltfire to be about the nature of relationships.
The 2 hour and 30 minute play is the third production the company has put on in the JFK building at Fort Worden. They offered concessions on a donation basis, including tea, coffee and the now locally famed brown butter rice crispies. The amount of seating is limited, but the full audience on Saturday night was fully accepting of the heightened comedic choices.
Choreographer Kerry Christiansen developed group dance pieces in both acts that encompassed the mystery and joy of interpersonal relationships, allowed for all movement levels to be showcased, and elevated the production with grace.
Every live musical interlude brought life to the show with several clear and strong singing voices weaving in acoustic tenderness. Sixteen year old Ben Shafer carried the acceptance for love’s imperfections with humility as the prince’s musical attendant, playing guitar and singing with simple, clear, and heartfelt acting choices.
Founding Saltfire board member, Michelle Hensel, played Leonata, a matriarchal change from the play’s original patriarchal Leonato. Her 25 years of local theater informed her ease, well timed humor, and sensitivity on stage.
Rose Hatmaker was excellently cast in a pants role as Don Pedro, embodying the wide-chested grandeur of a well meaning prince who loves love. Her choices held energetic stability in a world of chaos and confusion.
All together the show was a buoyant thread of joy, crashing into despair yet pulling up at the last minute back into celebration. The cast had a handle on the Shakespearean language, delivering it in a clear and understandable way. Like most Shakespearean plays, it was an act of endurance the audience fully benefited from.
