Out, About: Much ado about… something

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Every summer, I look forward to Summer Shakespeare with a nostalgia that’s not exactly my own. I’m not sure if you can inherit wistfulness or if it’s a learned trait, but mine is certainly my mother’s.

She’d take me to the park in our small Florida town growing up and tell me how the summertime was the only tolerable weather in Buffalo, New York — where she was from — and how she’d spend it laid out on a picnic blanket watching the city’s Shakespeare in the Park programming.

We had nothing of the sort in Florida — perhaps because of the summer heat — and it always made me feel like we were missing an opportunity for the open-air performances Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote his plays.

Thankfully, Nashville takes advantage.

Summer Shakespeare

Let’s get to the real news of the matter here:

It’s the last weekend of The Nashville Shakespeare Festival‘s run at ONEC1TY this season. (The production moves on to Franklin next week.)

I’m a procrastinator about many things (for those who heard me pitching on air last night, you know I was writing this an hour before deadline — sorry, Mack!). But I’ve never waited this far into the season to see the summer show. My mom just got to town for her big just-retired trip though, and it only felt right that I waited for the arrival of the woman who first introduced me to this concept.

What are they performing?

Much Ado About Nothing comes to the outdoor stage this year.

I’ve only read it, not seen it performed. But it’s a Shakespearean “comedy” he wrote at the tail end of the 16th century — I put that in quotes because, of course, there are elements of tragedy. Also in typical Shakespeare fashion, it centers on two romantic relationships, plenty of misunderstandings and some honestly silly situations because of it.

I’m trying my best to avoid spoilers here for my fellow procrastinators going to see it this weekend — or next in Franklin — for the first time. But I will say, if you’re pro-spoiler, SparkNotes is a savior in explaining the humor in dated lines like Romeo and Juliet‘s “I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.” (Thanks for helping me always get the joke in Honors English.)

How much does it cost?

It’s free! Isn’t that lovely?

But speaking from one nonprofit for another here, just because the service is available to the public doesn’t mean it costs nothing. Someone is taking on that cost, and for a performance like this, the suggested $10 donation is a steal.