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Dons, Dummies and Directors

Much Ado About Nothing Directed by Peter Sellars At the Loeb Drama Center, July 11, 12, 13, 14.

BORING it might have been, if the directors and actors made no attempt to understand the characters and what Shakespeare meant when he wrote out their parts. But it would have been intelligible. At the Loeb, the traditional values of a good Shakespeare production are flung aside from the start, but replaced with nothing better than caprice and superficiality. The talents of the actors never have a chance to show themselves, because the director obviously wants to make a point about Shakespearian productions, not to present a play about human beings and their failings, the "nothings" that mean so much in their lives.

O Hero! What a Hero hadst thou been

If half thy outward graces had been placed

About thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart!

But fare thee well, most foul, most fair!

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Farewell,

Thou pure impiety and impious purity!

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