The lighting dimmed and on the stage was a courtyard with a beautiful staircase, painted to look like it was made of stone blocks. There were a few red plants dangling from the rails on the stairs.
On Nov. 4-8, Carlmont put on a production of William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.”
“I love that we had a chance to do Shakespeare. It gave me a chance to appreciate the text in a different way than in English class,” said senior Claire Gonzalez.
Since “Much Ado About Nothing” was one of Shakespeare’s comedies, the tone of the play was laughable, with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor.
The entire play was based off of the idea of “noting” which in old England meant gossip and rumors.
This “noting” came into play when soldiers Benedict and Claudio, played by senior Denis Yudin and senior Alex Holmer respectively, were swept up into a large plot to get them married to the maidens Hero and Beatrice, played by seniors Dana Reynolds and Annie Klups.
The play was directed by Carlmont’s Drama teacher, Nancy Martin, and her daughter, Emily York.
There was also an aspect added to the production, commonly seen in musicals but not usually in plays: choreography. York, the assistant director, choreographed the two scenes that had dancing written in the script.
“Considering that I danced with two people at the end, it was pretty fun. But I wish they had two different dances for the scenes,” said senior Shayan Mandegarian.
Some of the genders of the characters were also changed including the part of Leonata, played by senior Lauren Young, and the part of Conrade, played by senior Sophie Haddad.
“The last time Carlmont did Shakespeare was 2011, and before my time, so I really appreciated the experience,” said Gonzalez.
