Doc Yoder's Notes
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (1598-1599)

• After a battle, Don Pedro and company are welcomed by Leonato.
• Benedick and Beatrice flirt, pretending to hate each other, or at least not to love the other sex.
• Claudio confesses to Benedick and Don Pedro his interest in Hero, Leonato's daughter, who is short, quiet, but not "unhandsome."
• Don Pedro offers to disguise himself as Claudio to woo Hero and see if she is interested.

• Antonio reports to his brother, Leonato, that a servant has overhead Don Pedro tell Claudio that he loves Hero and will approach her to see if she will have him, and then he will ask Leonato for her hand.
• Leonato says that he will give Hero advance notice so she can be ready.
• Leonato does not know that it is really Claudio who loves Hero and that Don Pedro plans to disguise himself as Claudio.

• Don John is revealed to be hostile to his brother, Don Pedro.
• Conrade reports that he has overheard that Claudio (something of a rival to Don John) likes Hero, and that Don Pedro plans to woo her for himself and then give her to Claudio.
• Conrade does not know about Don Pedro's plan to pretend to be Claudio.
• Don John decides to work some mischief against Claudio.

• Leonato, Beatrice, Hero and Antonio chatting; John was not at dinner; Beatrice says that no man is right for her, but that someone halfway between Benedick (too merry) and John (to melancholy) would be perfect.
• Don Pedro goes off with Hero.
• A sort of line dance in which the couples come forward by turns, each talking as they dance: Balthasar dances with Margaret; Antonio dances with Ursula; Benedick dances with Beatrice.
• In the banter between Benedick and Beatrice, he knows her, but she apparently doesn't know him; she speaks ill of him. He takes offence.
• John talks to Claudio who is pretending to be Benedick; John is not fooled; John tells "Benedick" that Pedro is in love with Hero.
• Claudio in soliloquy laments enlisting Pedro's help and assumes he has lost Hero.
• Benedick enters to confirm to Claudio that Pedro has wooed Hero; exit Claudio; as Benedick did not hear Pedro and Claudio's plan, he confirms by misunderstanding what John had said out of malice
• Enter Pedro who assures Benedick that he has only been prepping Hero; Benedick reveals how much he has been offended by Beatrice; exit Benedick, so he does not know about the resolution of the Claudio / Hero affair that follows.
• Enter others; B&B seem to have a past; Pedro says that he has won Hero for Claudio; Pedro sweet-talks Beatrice, but recognizes that Benedick would be a good husband for her; Pedro plans to be matchmaker, with the support of the others.

• John and Borachio plan to breakup Claudio and Hero; they'll use Margaret to make Pedro and Claudio believe that Hero is a whore, and that Claudio is being duped.

• Benedick in soliloquy laments the change in Claudio now he is in love, and swears that he will never be in love.
• Enter Pedro, Claudio and Leonato; Benedick withdraws, but they know he is hiding there.
• Musical interlude by Balthasar, ending with a plan to serenade Hero tomorrow night.
• Pedro, Claudio and Leonato talk about how Hero has told them that Beatrice is madly in love with Benedick, but is loath to reveal her love; they know Benedick is listening, and they are hoping for some good sport; they also plan to play such a trick on Beatrice, with Hero's help.
• In soliloquy Benedick decides that he is in indeed in love with Beatrice and that he willingly will suffer all the jokes at his expense for talking against love.
• Beatrice calls him to dinner, and he now interprets everything she says as having a double-meaning of love for him.

• Hero arranges for Beatrice to overhear her talking to Ursula about how Benedick is in love with Beatrice; they also accuse Beatrice of being over proud and scornful of even worthy men.
• Beatrice, in soliloquy, forsakes this vision of herself and decides that she shall requite Benedick's love.

• Benedick is melancholy, claims to have a toothache; Claudio, Pedro and Leonato taunt him about perhaps being in love; Benedick goes off to talk to Leonato.
• Enter John, who sets his trap, telling Claudio and Pedro that Hero has lots of lovers and that they may see for themselves tonight when her room is entered by a lover the night before her wedding.

• Dogberry in a comic scene apparently to set the watch before Leonato's door.
• The watch overhears Conrade and Borachio talking about how Claudio and Pedro were duped by Borachio and John into thinking that Hero was untrue, and that Claudio plans to defame Hero at the wedding Conrade and Borachio are arrested.

• Hero preparing for the wedding; Beatrice seems to have changed her attitude and is more pliable; Margaret keeps running her mouth with jokes and word play.

• Dogberry and Verges report to Leonato that they have captured two knaves, but Leonato is in a hurry to get to the wedding and tells them to interrogate the prisoners themselves.

• The wedding; Claudio accuses Hero of promiscuity; she faints; Claudio, Pedro and John exeunt.
• Leonato believes the slander, laments having a child and wishes her dead; Friar defends Hero.
• Benedick suggests that John may be behind the accusation; Leonato plans revenge on those who falsely accuse his daughter.
• Friar suggests a plan that word be circulated that Hero has died; he expects this to affect Claudio mightily, and expects that the truth will out.
• Left alone, Beatrice and Benedick confess their love for each other; Beatrice asks that Benedick kill Claudio; after some resistance, he agrees.

• At the prison, the interrogation of Borachio and Conrade by Dogberry -- a comic scene, but the authorities learn of the plot and the Sexton goes to report what has happened to Leonato.

• Leonato and Antonio meet Pedro and Claudio; Leonato challenges Claudio, some generational insults; Antonio, who apparently does not know that Hero is not dead, picks up Leonato's challenge until Leonato leads him offstage.
• Enter Benedick; Pedro and Claudio expect jollity, but Benedick takes Claudio aside and challenges him to a duel; Pedro continues the banter concerning Beatrice; exit Benedick; Pedro realizes that Benedick is serious about challenging Claudio.
• Enter Dogberry and the villains; Borachio reveals the plot against Hero to Claudio and Pedro; Claudio's love for Hero returns.
• Re-enter Leaonato and Antonio, who have heard about the subterfuge; Borachio claims that Margaret was not in on it; Claudio and Pedro beg forgiveness of Leonato, and offer any redress; Leonato offers Beatrice's hand to Claudio instead of Hero; Leonato and Antonio go to interrogate Margaret.

• Benedick arrives to see Beatrice, but first some witty banter with Margaret.
• Benedick and Beatrice exchange love talk, but Beatrice wants to know if Benedick has dispatched Claudio; he tells her of his challenge to Claudio.
• Enter Ursula who tells them of the subterfuge against Hero; they go to inquire.

• Claudio puts a notice on Hero's grave that she was unjustly accused; a song and then off to change for his wedding to Beatrice.

• Leonato has a plan to surprise Claudio; the ladies will enter masked.
• Benedick requests Beatrice's hand and is granted.
• Enter Claudio and Pedro; Claudio pledges to marry "Beatrice" who is then revealed to be Hero.
• Beatrice and Benedick banter until they agree to wed.
• Benedick tells Claudio that since they will be relatives they can forget the challenge; he tells Pedro to get a wife.
• Dancing.