June through August
The Plays
DOOR SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
& THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
June 28-August 18
in the Garden of Bjorklunden, Baileys Harbor, in Door County Wisconsin
William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing
Directed by Joe Hanreddy
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 7:30
A group of soldiers return from the war. The world-weary Benedick and his friend Claudio find themselves reacquainted with Beatrice and Hero. As memories of conflict give way to a life of parties and masked balls, Claudio and Hero fall madly, deeply in love, while Benedick and Beatrice reignite their own altogether more combative courtship. [Courtesy of Royal Shakespeare Company]
William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors
Directed by Leda Hoffmann
Tuesdays & Thursdays at 7:30 and Saturdays at 5:00
Set in the city of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors concerns the farcical misadventures of two sets of identical twins. Many years earlier, the Syracusan merchant Egeon had twin sons, both named Antipholus. At their birth, he bought another pair of newborn twins, both named Dromio, as their servants. In a shipwreck, Egeon lost his wife, one of his sons, and one of the Dromios.
Egeon’s remaining son, Antipholus of Syracuse, and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, come to Ephesus, where—unknown to them—their lost twins now live. The visitors are confused, angered, or intrigued when local residents seem to know them.
Similarly, Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus run into puzzling reactions from the people they know—who have been dealing, unwittingly, with the Syracusans. Antipholus of Ephesus’s wife bars him from his house; he is jailed after a jeweler claims he owes money on a gold chain he never received.
When the four twins come together, all is finally resolved. In one last twist, their parents reunite as well. [Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library]