Much Ado About Nothing

So many mixed messages! No wonder everyone is confused. Much ado about nothing also means much ado about noting, and many people “note” the wrong thing in this play. Benedick and Beatrice love one another, but neither seems to “note” it. Their friends play tricks on them to make them think the other has declared their love, but they don’t recognize that they have been tricked. Claudio loves Hero, but allows himself to be deceived by the evil Don John, forcing him to “note” the wrong thing. A conceited policeman thinks himself grander than he is and barely catches the criminal. Benedick and Beatrice literally write (and conceal) secret love notes to one another. And the innocent Hero, disguised as herself, dupes Claudio into thinking she is dead. The result of it all? Two happy couples, so the noting turns out to be nothing after all. What else to do but dance!