by AMY BARRATT

There’s something remarkable about Repercussion Theatre’s Much Ado About Nothing, currently playing in parks around the city: Virtually everyone in the cast is young enough to have been taken to see a Repercussion show as a child. Indeed, if you read the cast bios in the program, you’ll find actors recalling just that experience and citing it as an early artistic inspiration.

Granted, some parents might reconsider bringing the kids to theatre in the parks out of fear that they end up pursuing a career in the theatre. But others will see how wonderful it is to have such a positive first association with the Bard, whose works, if first encountered in tiny print in high school English, are not always so fun.

There’s something magical for kids about being up past their bedtime, out after dark on a summer night. Add to that a stage full of attractive young performers in colourful costumes, a stage that gradually lights up as the sky grows dark, and you’ve got the makings of a lifelong memory, and maybe even a lifelong romance with Will.

In its 18th summer in the parks and the first under the artistic direction of Kevin Orr, the Repercussion team has created a feast for the eyes with this swing-era Much Ado. James Lavoie’s costumes beautifully evoke the era and appear to be beautifully made—unlike the ill-fitting, stapled-together horrors we sometimes see in period plays. This look can’t have come cheap, but it was money well spent.

Another area where Repercussion didn’t cut corners was advertising. You’ve probably seen the ads featuring Catherine Bérubé, who plays Hero, in a hot pink gown, green eyes twinkling out at you beneath red Rita Hayworth waves. They’re eye-catching, as is Bérubé herself on stage. This is in keeping with director Orr’s expressed aim of bringing the focus back to the young lovers, Hero and Claudio, instead of on Beatrice and Benedick, as in the Kenneth Branagh film version. That’s not to say that B and B fade into the background here; after all, they still have the best lines. Amanda Kellock, with her slacks and Katharine Hepburn stride, is a delight as Beatrice, handling everything from slapstick to pathos.

The role of Leonato, governor of Messina and father of Hero, has undergone gender reassignment in this production, becoming Leonata. Although I’m not sure that a female governor of Messina is plausible even in 1945, Katie Stanfield inhabits this new character with such commitment, such style, that old Leonato is quite forgotten. Stanfield, like nearly everyone in this production, can navigate the Shakespearean language with ease.

I saw the show early in its run, and am hoping that by now Bérubé has been told she doesn’t need to shriek to be heard. Despite the leading lady looks, Bérubé proves herself a fine character actor, even clown, in her turn as one of the Watch guarding Leonata’s gate.

All 10 actors on stage also move well and, with a little help from choreographers Darren Bonin and Sonya Stefan, are able to swing dance at the drop of a fedora.

Shakespeare scholars may not think much of Theatre in the Parks, with its popcorn-munching audience of toddlers to grandparents, its soundtrack of sirens and car horns, but I think that old showman Shakespeare would approve.

Much Ado About Nothing runs until Aug. 15. See www.theatreintheparks.ca for locations and schedule

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