Much Ado About Nothing to usher in spring

The UCFV Theatre department celebrates the coming of
spring with its tenth annual Shakespeare production: the
delightful romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing.

The department’s first Shakespeare production, A
Midsummer Night’ s Dream, was also a romantic comedy which
sold out all performances during its
run in the fall of 1982. Since that first
successful presentation, the
department has gone on to produce
some of Shakespeare’s most popular
and challenging works, including: As
You Like It, Twelfth Night, Romeo
and Juliet, Hamlet and The
Merchant of Venice.

In Much Ado About Nothing,
Beatrice and Benedick, two of
Shakespeare’s wittiest characters,
engage in a captivating duel of
words that culminates in a loving
truce. Meanwhile, the amorous plans
of the young lovers are dashed by the
treacherous Don John. Can
Dogberry, the cretinous but comical
master of the watch, save the day?
Romance, intrigue, and duplicity
abound in this Shakespearean treat
for the whole family.

Much Ado About Nothing is
directed by department head Ian
Fenwick, who also directed last
season’s hit production of The
Merchant of Venice. Fenwick has set
the play in the early nineteenth
century Romantic period, when male .

- attire was elegant and well tailored and female fashion was soft,
flowing and feminine. Costume design for this production is by
Christine Newsome, with costume construction by wardrobe
mistress Yvonne Krehbiel and her team of seamstresses. Set
design is by resident technical manager Jim Wenting, a former
UCFYV theatre student who recently graduated from the National
Theatre School of Canada’s technical production program.
Props mistress and mask maker is Cathy Krahn. lighting design
is provided by Patti Walker and sound design by Alan Davis.

Sharon Wallace & Bruce Edwards as Beatrice and-Benedick.

Headlines/Feb. 24 1992

The roles of Beatrice and Benedick, the feuding lovers, are
played by Sharon Wallace and Bruce Edwards. Wallace, a
second year theatre student, recently appeared as Pierrette in the
department’s production of Les Belles Soeurs. Edwards, an
experienced performer, has appeared in leading roles with
several Fraser Valley theatre groups. This will be his third role

for the department, having

previously appeared in As You Like

It and The Two Gentlemen of
Verona.

Department regulars Crispin
Elsted and Rick Mawson take on
the respective roles of Don Pedro
and Dogberry; Sam Dunbar plays
Leonato, with John Ayris as
Antonio. Kevin Jones, who
recently directed the department’s
production of The Road to Mecca,
takes the role of the villainous Don
John. Hero and Claudio, the young
lovers, are played by theatre
students Glynis Heather and Ken
Hildebrandt.

Other roles in Much Ado About
Nothing are played by a
combination of theatre students and
community performers, featuring:
Jason Beauchene, Taylor Brown
Evans, Rod Cooper, Glen Gordon,
Jeff Meadows, Karena
MacAllister, David Merkley, Tim
Morris, Victoria Nowell, Jeremy
Osborn, Tricia Pederson, Gillian
| Perry, Jennifer Rhodes, Tony Sam,
Ken Smith and David Wallace.

Much Ado About Nothing opens Friday, March 6, at 8 p.m. in
the Chilliwack Arts Centre, with two reduced rate previews
March 4 and 5, and continues March 7 and 11 to 14. Tickets are
now on sale at the box office of the Chilliwack campus and the
Chilliwack Arts Centre. For information and reservations call
795-2814.

International communication

Some international mail has been arriving at the Abbotsford campus ... with a rather different address. Gary Karlsen, coordinator
of Instructional Media Services, is a member of the International Association of Distance Education (ICDE). The head office of
ICDE is in Oslo, Norway. Karlsen recently received some mail from there, promoting an international conference in 1993. The
letter was addressed to UCFV, Abbotsfjord, B.C.!

"T also received letters with the Abbotsfjord address from distance education agencies in Hong Kong and Brussels," said
Karlsen. "They must be using the mailing list that originated in Norway. I can only surmise that the Norwegians thought
Abbotsford was a typo and corrected the spelling. After all, it is common knowledge in Norway that all Karlsens live by fjords."

If this keeps up, we should move either the campus or Karlsen closer to salt water.