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Reviewed by:
  • Much Ado About Nothing, and: The Winter's Tale
  • Nicole Stodard
Much Ado About Nothing Presented by New Theatre at the Burstein Family Stage, Coral Gables, Florida. August 3–27, 2006. Directed by Roberto Prestigiacomo. Set by Jesse Dreikosen. Costumes by Estela Vrancovich. Lighting by Doug Molash. Sound by M. Anthony Reimer. With Bridget Connors (Beatrice), Steve Gladstone (Leonato), Euriamis Losada (Claudio), Annemaria Rajala (Margaret, Constable), James Samuel Randolph (Don Juan, Friar), Robert Strain (Don Pedro), Peter Tedeschi (Benedick), Cecilia Isis Torres (Hero), and Chris Vicchiollo (Borachio).
The Winter's Tale Presented by New Theatre at the Burstein Family Stage, Coral Gables, Florida. August 3–27, 2006. Directed by Roberto Prestigiacomo. Set by Jesse Dreikosen. Costumes by Estela Vrancovich. Lighting by Doug Molash. Sound by M. Anthony Reimer. With Nicholas Alexander (Mamillius), Bridget Connors (Paulina), Steve Gladstone (Camillo), Euriamis Losada (Florizel), Annemaria Rajala (Hermione), James Samuel Randolph (Autolycus), Robert Strain (Leontes), Peter Tedeschi (Polixenes), Cecilia Isis Torres (Perdita), and Chris Vicchiollo (Clown).

Originally scheduled to run in June, The Shakespeare Festival presented by New Theatre of Miami was delayed when New Theatre's founding artistic director Rafael de Acha announced his retirement in May after twenty years at the helm. Fortunately, the festival—The Winter's Tale in repertory with Much Ado About Nothing—was worth the wait. The festival, now in its fifth year, took place in an intimate 100-seat theatre nestled in one of the quieter side streets of Coral Gables. The cast made optimal use of the small space, performing both on stage and in the aisles amongst the audience. The set was virtually the same for both plays: neutral in color and adorned with only a few props (a table, chairs), which were changed as needed in the audience's view. The plays themselves proved an interesting pairing, allowing viewers to see clear parallels between the two in spite of their generic differences: their thematic preoccupation with insecurity, jealousy, and infidelity, for example, and their use of plot devices such [End Page 82] as the feigned deaths of Hermione in Tale and Hero in Much Ado. The festival also served as a positive case study of repertory casting and acting, with James Samuel Randolph beguiling as both the waggish Autollycus and the deceptive Don Juan, Bridget Connors confident and convincing in the protofeminist roles of Paulina and Beatrice, and Euriamis Losada endearing as the lovestruck lads Florizel and Claudio. Sadly, Peter Tedeschi disappointed as Polixenes and Benedick, delivering his lines so stiffly and awkwardly that he sounded more like he was reading them than performing them; this posed a particular problem for his portrayal of Benedick, a role that demands a bold and agile tongue.

For this year's festival, New Theatre brought in two out-of-town directors whose distinct artistic dispositions resulted in two very differently staged adaptations of Shakespeare. Italian native Roberto Prestigiacomo offered a fairly well-conceived and entertaining production of Much Ado set in modern day Miami instead of Messina. The women were appropriately costumed in colorful floral-patterned sundresses, and the men donned guayaberas (traditional Cuban shirts) and straw fedoras. This Miami-style Much Ado worked particularly well during the dance scene in act two. Actors wore exotic animal masks while dancing to salsa music. This festive scene as well as the final act of the play concluded with the whole cast's forming a conga line. Ultimately, the success of Prestigiacomo's staging hinged on locality; it would not have had the same salience were it performed elsewhere.

Foregrounding the importance of eavesdropping in the play, Prestigiacomo's production began with a woman (Annemaria Rajala) dressed in typical incognito attire—dark shades, a hat, and a trenchcoat—stealthily planting wiretaps on Leonato's kitchen terrace to the accompaniment of a detective soundtrack reminiscent of the Pink Panther. As this female Clouseau—a new take on the role of Constable Dogberry—Rajala allowed her Finnish accent to come through in the few lines she had. What laughter she evoked was achieved nonverbally by peering slyly over the rim of her glasses and tiptoeing exaggeratedly around the stage in an effort to avoid discovery by anyone in Leonato...

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