Much Ado About Nothing
Mid City Civic Theatre
Baton Rouge
Through June 21
After Theatre Baton Rouge closed abruptly in the middle of 2025, the arts community mourned and then evolved. Since then, several organizations have risen to try to fill the gap for theater in Baton Rouge. Among them, Mid City Civic Theatre was born as an all volunteer theater through many of the people involved with TBR. It made its home in their old space, and their first show, “Much Ado About Nothing,” officially opens tonight, June 12.
Their adapted version of the Shakespeare play (by George Judy) is presented with modern wardrobing and sets and a mixed cast of adults and youth.
Much Ado About Nothing” is about two couples falling in love and getting together, in this iteration in New Orleans. The first couple, Claudio and Hero, fall in love almost instantly and plan to be wed until a jealous man named Don John tries to break them apart. The second couple, Beatrice and Benedick go through an enemies to lovers arc and are tricked into getting together by their friends and family.
Shakespeare can be intimidating. The language can be a barrier both for audiences to understand the work and even to want to go see it in the first place. But Mid City Civic’s production is accessible and poised to bring the comedy of the play to a new generation while preserving Shakespeare's prose.
In this production, body language is doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of storytelling. Even if Shakespeare is all Greek to you, the actors' tone and over-the-top performances can convey the spirit of the story without catching all or perhaps most of the dialogue between characters. The cast skews young and is more racially diverse than any other production that this reviewer has seen in the city. And they go for it.
In order to get Beatrice and Benedick together, different members of the cast have loud and pointed conversations while they know the would-be couple are listening that convince them that the other is in love with them. Benedick (Ricardo Mendoza) hides in the trees at the side of the stage while he’s eavesdropping and ends up tucking and rolling across the stage and all around it. At one point during the preview performance, he aggressively slid one of the potted trees on stage for cover, and it started to tip over, nearly hitting Don Pedra (Channing Hall). Mendoza held onto the plant for dear life as it sloped precariously over Hall as she delivered her lines. Hall for her part, looked right at the plant and took a generous step forward with perfect comic timing.
The stage directions, both planned and not, are what make this production joyful and memorable. The characters get in each other’s faces, roll their eyes, and, yes, hide behind various foliage in the way that sitcom characters might. Bendick and Beatrice (played by Rain Scott-Catoire) especially shine in this. Both excel in their improv skills and have genuine chemistry on stage.
If this is any indication for what Mid City Civic has in store for Baton Rouge, we’re in good hands.
