Arbus's frequently charming production ofMuch
Ado About Nothing has cast Jonathan Cake as Benedick, and his agile, gleeful performance drives out any
possibility—any thought ... abound in Shakespeare's Messina. In an atmosphere rife with masquerades and love tricks,
Benedick's friends, the prince Don Pedro (Graham Winton) and Claudio (Matthew Amendt), are gulled ... plot" rests on these machinations, but you'll barely notice. As the marriage-hating
Benedick and his sparring partner, Beatrice (the always-magnetic Maggie Siff), turn inevitably toward love