Their view: You’re as good as your words

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Man charged on drug trafficking offenses during eviction of WB apartment building

With Benedick recently returned from fighting enemy soldiers, Beatrice is more than ready to resume the &#8220;merry war&#8221; the witty B &amp; B have long enjoyed.&#8220;I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick,&#8221; Ashley Surdovel, of Topton, said in her role as Beatrice. &#8220;Nobody marks you.&#8221;&#8220;What, my dear Lady Disdain!&#8221; Andrew Martinez, of Wilkes-Barre, greeted her in his role as Benedick. &#8220;Are you yet living?&#8221;As a recent rehearsal of the King&#8217;s College production of William Shakespeare&#8217;s &#8220;Much Ado About Nothing&#8221; got under way, director Dave Reynolds had the two actors face each other down like gunslingers in an old-time Western.Adding to the mood, the director tapped his cell phone and started to play &#8220;The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,&#8221; which sounds like an eerie coyote howl.Circling each other like prize-fighters, Benedick and Beatrice assured each other that neither expects to ever fall in love &#8212; he has that &#8220;hard heart,&#8221; after all, and she has that &#8220;cold blood.&#8221;&#8220;I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow,&#8221; Beatrice says, &#8220;than a man swear he loves me.&#8221;&#8220;God keep your ladyship still in that mind,&#8221; Benedick says, &#8220;so some gentleman or other shall &#8216;scape a predestinate scratched face.&#8221;&#8220;Scratching could not make it worse,&#8221; she responds, &#8220;an &#8216;twere such a face as yours.&#8221;&#8220;They try to one up-each other,&#8221; Martinez said of the two characters, adding that Benedick &#8220;enjoys the back-and-forth.&#8221;Ah, but perhaps they both protest too much. Underneath all these insults there just might be some kind of attraction that Beatrice and Benedick are reluctant to admit.Not so for Benedick&#8217;s friend, Claudio, who is unabashedly over the moon when he meets Beatrice&#8217;s cousin Hero.&#8220;Can the world buy such a jewel?&#8221; Michael Ecker sighs as the smitten Claudio.Reynolds has set the play in the 1960s, and Skyler Makuch, of Mountain Top, said she is portraying Claudio&#8217;s jewel, Hero, as &#8220;a totally mod girl, who loves Twiggy and British pop.&#8221;Estimating Hero&#8217;s age as 17 or 18, Makuch played up the persona during a recent rehearsal &#8212; twisting her hair, grinning and chewing gum.&#8220;I love the gum,&#8221; Reynolds told her. &#8220;Do you actually have gum?&#8221;Yes, Makuch actually had gum.Other characters may appear to enjoy stronger vices. When audiences meet Dogberry, for example, they may be reminded of &#8220;a touch of Janis Joplin, a touch of John Belushi,&#8221; Reynolds said.&#8220;He likes to relax,&#8221; Dorothy Monforte, of Grahamsville, N.Y., described the character.The path will not be smooth for Hero and Claudio, nor for Beatrice and Benedick, but as they inch closer to happily-ever-after, the cause of love will be furthered by Don Pedro, played by Isaiah Mcgahee, and waylaid by Don Pedro&#8217;s brother Don John, played by Chip Lemheney.Don Pedro wants to be helpful because, as Reynolds told Mcgahee, &#8220;You&#8217;re in love with love.&#8221;But why would Don John want to thwart things?&#8220;He&#8217;s so used to being the bad guy, being treated with disdain,&#8221; Lemheney said, suggesting his character&#8217;s behavior reminds him of Daffy Duck in a cartoon. &#8220;He&#8217;s self-destructive.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Andrew Martinez as Benedick and Ashley Surdovel as Beatrice carry on a &#8216;kind of merry war&#8217; in the King&#8217;s College production of &#8216;Much Ado About Nothing,&#8217; which opens April 11 at the college&#8217;s George P. Maffei II Theater. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_much.ado_.play_.at_.kings_.jpg</photo0><caption0>Andrew Martinez as Benedick and Ashley Surdovel as Beatrice carry on a &#8216;kind of merry war&#8217; in the King&#8217;s College production of &#8216;Much Ado About Nothing,&#8217; which opens April 11 at the college&#8217;s George P. Maffei II Theater. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mary Therese Biebelmbiebel@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>IF YOU GOWhat: &#8216;Much Ado About Nothing&#8217;When: 7:30 p.m. April 11 through 13 and 2 p.m. April 14Where: George P. Maffei II Theater, rear 133 N. River St., (King&#8217;s College Administration Building) Wilkes-BarreTickets: $12 for general admission, $7 for senior citizens, $5 for King&#8217;s alumni and non-King&#8217;s students and free for King&#8217;s studentsBox office: 570-208-5825 or boxoff@kings.edu</factboxMeta></div>

‘Much Ado’ brings a ‘merry war’ to King’s College stage