‘Much Ado About’ adapting Shakespeare

‘Much Ado About’ adapting Shakespeare

Published 9:15 am Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Setting out to do an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” is no small thing, but that’s exactly what husband-and-wife team David and Anna Purkey has done for Meadow Sky Production’s presentation of the comedy, performing Friday through March 22 at High Desert Music Hall in Redmond.

“Shakespeare’s mastery of the written word has stood the test of time, so adapting one of his scripts is an intimidating task,” director David Purkey told The Bulletin.

The story follows two pairs of lovers through a whirlwind week in their lives. Classic Shakespearean hijinks ensue: confusion, misdirection, deceit, eavesdropping and the good-hearted naivete of youth. Some of those tropes are pretty eternal, still turn up in modern comedy, but some potential audience members might struggle with the language of Shakespeare’s time.

“The challenge is to entertain and hold the focus of a modern audience while preserving the magic of Shakespeare’s original plot. Additionally, the original setting of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ features cultures and individuals from Italy and Spain, and we did not have the proper representation of actors auditioning to appropriately represent individuals from Spain,” Purkey said. “These two challenges were our primary obstacles when beginning script adaptation.”

The two decided to let their imaginations loose and change the setting of their show completely.

“Our creative team adores adventure fantasy classics like ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Princess Bride,’ and our script adaptation is joyfully inspired by that genre of stories. Elves and fairies live alongside humans in a rich tapestry of medieval fantasy, and our characters display custom armor, fairy wings and swords.”

People with modern — that is, shorter — attention spans will be as merry as the day is long by the pared-down script.

“One of the chief critiques from modern Shakespeare audiences is the length of his stories, particularly lengthy monologues with flowery beauty and prose,” Purkey said. “While we adore the artistry of those moments, we also recognize that audiences aren’t thrilled about a three to three-and-a-half-hour performance runtime these days, so we delicately removed roughly 20% of the total word count from our script adaptation. Of course, the story and plot remain unharmed in our adaptation, but we anticipate audiences will be joyful at our two-hour runtime, including an intermission.”

Performances are at 7 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 7 pm. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through March 22 at High Desert Music Hall, 818 SW Forest Ave, Redmond.

Tickets are $30 at meadowskyproductions.com/purchase-tickets.