Rylee McDonal~Copy Editor
Photo retrieved from Lynchburg Theater Facebook account.
The University of Lynchburg’s theater department debuted their production of Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing this past weekend.
From a comedic perspective, the play did very well. However, this is where the positives ended.
The actors played their roles amazingly well, giving the audience a good laugh from time-to-time.
As well, the energy that the majority of the actors brought to their roles allowed the audience to feel engaged and enthusiastic.
Throughout the play, the actors would often look into the audience when speaking their lines or performing a motion, which made it feel as though you were a part of the story.
However, when it comes to other parts of the play, it tends to fall short.
Shakespeare’s original comedy was written at the length of two hours and 30 minutes, while Lynchburg’s rendition was only one hour.
With this in mind, much of what took place in the play felt very rushed, which left characters with little background information and crossed plot lines.
Due to the language of the play, as well as the rushed plot lines, it was extremely difficult to follow along with what was actually happening.
When it came to the villain, he stood out among the other characters as being pompous and overbearing, while also disappearing randomly at the end of the play.
Costume choices, while looking beautiful, were extremely out of place for the time period that it was set in.
The play bill stated that the play took place during the Elizabethan period, which was the late 1500s, when the costumes that the men wore were more from the early 1600s.
This set the tone of a Hamilton-esque play that was spoken in Shakespearean English.
The redeeming quality of the play was the performances done by many of the actors, yet were dulled by poor directing choices.