On Thursday, January 27th, Seniors and Juniors in AP Lit and AP Lang had the amazing opportunity to see a professional performance of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing performed by the Actors from the London Stage on Notre Dame’s campus at Washington Hall. Students enjoyed a night full of laughs as they watched the pristine performance. 

Senior Daniel Pries reflected on the performance saying, “I think my favorite aspect about the play was how creatively the actors switched between different characters, as there were just five actors performing the entire play. They really built on the play’s themes of putting on different appearances quite nicely, serving to emphasize how quickly the characters themselves went under complete personality changes.” 

Upon viewing the performance, Saint Joe students had already read the play and were in the process of abridging the text themselves to perform it in small groups for their class. Students’ performances will be going on all this week. 

The talent of the Actors from the London Stage was evident in virtually every element of their production. The comedic timing of each actor was impeccable, and each line was said with intentional emphasis and gestures of comedy. This allowed the complex text to be much more digestible and entertaining. As Pries noted, the switching between characters was done so smoothly that it actually added a lot of comedic effect. The actors’ unreserved nature to be silly and rambunctious made the whole performance seem natural and effortlessly hilarious. The performance was also extremely dynamic, as the actors would abruptly sing and dance and were constantly running about the stage. 

Seeing Much Ado About Nothing was surely one of the standout events of the year for these Saint Joe students.