“Much Ado About Nothing” at NMU
March 1 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
A Shakespeare play presented with the second week of deer camp in the Upper Peninsula as its backdrop might seem a strange combination or stretch, but Jimmy Ludwig, director of this month’s Northern Michigan University production of Much Ado About Nothing, said his adaptation is designed to make the show more relatable to local audiences.
“Shakespeare isn’t really worth doing if the audience doesn’t see themselves in it; otherwise, it’s museum theater, which is a lovely production that sort of mimics how it was done back in the day,” said Ludwig, who grew up hunting near Iron River. “It may be interesting and cool, but why do we care? The first act of the play is basically a party, which is similar to the second week of deer camp. Whether you got your buck or not, all you want to do is drink beer, play cards and just hang out.
“Also, one of the recurring themes in the play is the idea of the haves and the have-nots intermingling and often clashing with each other. We have that here to a degree with some locals’ opinions about big-money folks who buy up properties and only live here part-time, or those who fly in on private planes to stay at their private club off [highway] 550. If you can relate to the play, then the language of Shakespeare suddenly isn’t a big deal.”
The primary plot of Much Ado about Nothing centers on the courtship and scandal involving young Hero and her suitor, Claudio, but the witty banter between Claudio’s friend Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice often takes center stage. Add the slapstick of Dogberry and his absurd “forest cops” and the result is arguably Shakespeare’s funniest play, which flips from rollicking comedy to searing tragedy and back again. NMU’s production will run Feb. 20-22, 27-28 and March 1 in the Panowski Black Box Theatre.
“At one end of the stage will be a deer camp that looks like somebody’s grandpa built it,” Ludwig said. “You know the kind: no right angles, nothing matches, nothing’s level, and it’s been added onto multiple times. It’s the kind of place you can party like crazy and you don’t care, because you can be rough on it, and it will remain standing, right? And on the other end of the is a ‘cottage’ like those you might see along Lake Superior.”
Ludwig’s “dream cast” includes Maya Moreau as Beatrice. She advanced to the nationals of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival last year and earned the Classical Acting Award at this year’s regional festival. Others in leading roles are: Samuel McKnight, Benedick; Sophia Zavala, Hero; and Phillip Smith, Claudio.
“I want people to look at our characters in the play and say, ‘I know someone like that,’” Ludwig added. “He’s the bartender at Third Base, or he runs a startup and only visits Marquette for a couple months each year. There’s also a series of comedic scenes featuring a group of bumbling DNR officers. One of them speaks only Finnish. Sometimes there’s someone translating what he says; other times people just kind of pretend they know what he’s saying.”
Shakespeare plays are often perceived as elitist entertainment, but he wrote for the masses, who comprised the bulk of his audiences, Ludwig said. Nearly all of them were illiterate, so he was writing for them to hear his work performed, not to read it.
“He was really just a businessman trying to get people in his theater so he could sell tickets and make a living. He had to have widespread commercial appeal to pull that off. The reason some have difficulty with his material now is that he wrote in a particular way that was very popular 450 years ago. We want to challenge our audience, but we also don’t want to alienate anybody. The themes of his works continue to have relevance today, and we’re making it even more relevant to the community through this regional adaptation of one of his classics.”
Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m., with additional 1 p.m. Saturday matinees on Feb. 22 (a “pay as you may” Theatre for All sensory-friendly performance) and March 1. Tickets are $25 for the general public; $22 for NMU employees, seniors and military; $15 for youth; and $5 for NMU students. They can be purchased at nmu.universitytickets.com.