The Oxford Dictionary of Plays

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Much Ado about Nothing

Much Ado about Nothing (Much adoe about Nothing)

Author: William Shakespeare

First Performance: c. 1598–99, London

Published: 1600

Genre: Com. in 5 acts; prose and some blank verse

Setting: Messina, Renaissance period

Cast: 14m, 4f, extras

Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, helps Claudio woo Hero, daughter of the Governor of Messina. Don Pedro's villainous bastard brother Don John tries to prevent the match by faking an assignation with Hero, casting doubt on her chastity. Claudio confronts Hero at the wedding. She falls in a faint, and is later reported dead. Meanwhile, two courtiers, Beatrice and Benedick, who claim to despise each other, are manoeuvred by their friends into discovering their love for each other. Finally, the repentant Claudio weds Hero, who has been ‘restored to life’, and Benedick...

[The entire page is 268 words long]

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