The Plays: much ado about nothing

~ SETTING ~

Messina, a trail town in the American Wild West
Late 19th Century

Who's Who

Town Folk
Leonato - Owner of Hotel and Saloon 
Antonio - Leonato's Brother; Barkeep
Friar Francis - Local Clergy
County Clerk

The Law
Dogberry - Local Sheriff
Verges - Deputy; Dogberry's Right-hand Man
Hugh Oatcake - Deputy
George Seacole - Deputy

Wagoneers
Don Pedro - Wagon Master
Benedick - Trail Master
Claudio - Wheelwright
Don John - Don Pedro's Brother; Gunsmith
Borachio - Trail Cook
Conrade - Drover
Balthasar - Scout

The Ladies
Beatrice - Leonato's Niece; Manager of Hotel/Saloon
Hero - Leonato's Daughter
Margaret - Barmaid
Ursula - Hotel Maid

Summary

Leonato, his daughter Hero, and her cousin Beatrice learn from a messenger that Don Pedro has won victory in a battle and is returning home. He arrives with Claudio, Benedick, and Pedro’s bastard brother, Don John. Claudio falls in love with Hero at first sight. Claudio confesses he is in love with Hero and wishes to marry her. Benedick only teases him, but Don Pedro vows to help Claudio by disguising himself as Claudio at the masked dance and making advances to Hero on Claudio’s behalf. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice resume the war of witty insults that they have carried on with each other in the past. Claudio and Hero pledge their love to one another and decide to marry. To pass the time in the week before the wedding, the lovers and their friends decide to get Beatrice and Benedick, who are clearly meant for each other, to stop arguing and fall in love. Their tricks prove successful, and Beatrice and Benedick soon fall secretly in love with each other.

In the meantime, Don John has decided to disrupt everyone’s happiness. He has his companion Borachio woo Margaret, Hero’s serving woman, at Hero’s window in the darkness of the night, and he brings Don Pedro and Claudio to watch. Believing that he has seen Hero being unfaithful to him, the enraged Claudio humiliates Hero by denouncing her on the day of their wedding and abandoning her at the altar. The Friar, who believes in Hero’s innocence, thinks that Don Pedro and Claudio must have been misled. Hero’s stricken family members decide to pretend that she died suddenly of shock and grief and to hide her away while they wait for the truth about her innocence to come to light. In the aftermath of the rejection, Benedick and Beatrice confess their love to each other. 

Fortunately, the night watchmen overhear Borachio bragging about his deception regarding Hero. Dogberry and Verges, the local police, arrest Borachio and Conrade, another of Don John’s followers. The next morning, Dogberry brings in the villains, and Borachio confesses, leaving Claudio distraught. Everyone learns that Hero is really innocent, and Claudio, who believes she is dead, grieves for her. He begs forgiveness of Leonato, who tells Claudio that, as punishment, he wants Claudio to proclaim Hero’s innocence.

Leonato then insists Claudio marry Leonato’s “niece”—a girl who, he says, looks much like the dead Hero. Claudio goes to church with the others, preparing to marry the mysterious, masked woman he thinks is Hero’s cousin. When Hero reveals herself as the masked woman, Claudio is overwhelmed with joy. Benedick interrupts the proceedings to inquire after Beatrice. After each has denied loving the other, Hero and Claudio offer written proof of their affections, and they agree to marry. The joyful lovers all have a merry dance before they celebrate their double wedding and urge Don Pedro to “get thee a wife!”