This document provides details about the set design, costumes, lighting, and staging for a production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The production is set in modern-day Messina and features a thrust stage. Various scenes take place in and around Leonato's home, at a masked ball, in the garden, and during the wedding. Costumes reflect the modern setting and characterize the different roles. Lighting is used to set the mood, focus attention on characters, and transition between scenes and settings. The lighting emphasizes drama, romance, and the play's happy conclusion.

1. Much Ado About Nothing

2. Director

3. Channing Tatum as Don Pedro Jensen Ackles as Don John
Actors
Prince of Aragon Don Pedro's Brother. He also doesn't
approve of the wedding

4. Ashton Kutcher as
Benedick
Tom Cruise as
Claudio
Protagonist who is in love with
Hero
Good friend of Claudio. Falls in
love with Beatrice.

5. Dennis Quaid as
Leonato
Governor of Messina. Father of Hero

6. Mila Kunis as Beatrice
Amanda Seyfried as Hero
Female Protagonist who
falls in love with
Claudio. Beatrice’s
cousin
Hero’s cousin who falls in
love with Benedick

7. Zuzanna Szadkowski as
Ursula
Jennifer Lawrence as Margaret
Waiting-Woman
attendant of Hero
Another
Waiting-Woman
attendant of
Hero

8. Andrew Lincoln as Dogberry
- Messina’s night watcher
George Clooney as Antonio
-brother of Leonato
Ben Stiller as Verges
-Dogberry’s partner
Jason Derulo as Balthasar
- Don Pedro’s attendent, singer

9. Paul Wesley as Conrade
-follower of Don John
Amanda Bynes as A Sexton
- judge for Borachio
Jared Padalecki as Friar Francis
- a priest
Ian Somerhalder as
Borachio
-follower of Don John

10. A boy
- serves Benedick
Daryl Dixon as The Watch
-watchman of Messina

11. Theme
•Overall theme for the play is love, marriage, communication,
maturity, reputation, and deceit in the setting of a modern era.
•Concept of the play is a romantic comedy mainly about two
couples. One who is about to get married but the woman is
accused of wrongdoing by her lover, and the second one is of
two individuals who swear to never fall in love who later do.

12. Set Design

13. We chose to use a thrust stage for this production. Not
only is a thrust the type of stage originally used for the
play but we also like the intimacy that this stage
provides. Our production is set in modern day Messina.
Seeing as most of the play takes place inside or outside
Leonato’s home, we decided to make the house a
major set piece.
Stage

14. Our Stage

15. Act I scene I-Act II scene II
The first scenes
of the play are
mainly
conversation
that take place
either inside or
outside of the
house.

16. Act II scene I
The first half of Act II
is the masked ball.
We wanted to make
it very extravagant.
We wanted a bar,
food set out, a
dance floor, and a
stage for a band.

17. Act II scene II cont.

18. Act III scene I-III
In Act III Beatrice
and Benedick’s
friends pull a trick
on them in the
garden. We
constructed some
citrus trees, added
in smaller plants
and added a
fountain.

19. Act III scenes I-III cont.

20. Act III scene IV-V
These scenes occur
inside the house
while everyone is
getting ready for
the wedding.

21. Act IV scene I
In this scene Claudio
and Hero are to be
married but the
wedding takes an
unfortunate turn. We
decided to use a lot of
green because it’s seen
as an unlucky color in
many cultures.

22. Act IV scene II
In this scene Dogberry
interrogates Borachio and
Conrad. While Dogberry is
an authority figure he’s also
a bit of an oaf so we
decided to go with a simple
table and chairs and dark
lighting

23. Act V scene III
Instead of Claudio visiting a
tomb we set up an area
where Leonato had left a
picture of Hero by a favorite
tree to pay their respects.

24. Act V scene IV
For the wedding, we wanted the set to reflect the
sweetness of Claudio and Hero as a couple. They’re
young, innocent, and fell in love at first sight. We used
a lot of white and pink flowers in the ceremony. White
symbolizes purity and pink symbolizes true love.
Instead of having the scene take place in a church we
chose to set up an arch adorned with ribbons and
flowers, an aisle covered in rose petals, and some side
tables set up with arrangements.

25. Act V scene IV

26. Act V scene IV cont

27. Costumes

28. Costume Design
• Costume design is the clothing for the
overall appearance of the character and
depicts the era of the performance.
• We have chosen this play to take place in
the modern era.

29. Main Female Characters
Hero: lovely, gentle and kind
Beatrice: generous, loving, sharp-tongued

30. Main Male Characters
Don Pedro: courteous, quick to believe evil, revengeful
Don John: antagonist, evil, melancholy, dark
Benedick: male version of Beatrice, well-dressed
Claudio: loving, gullible, quick to believe rumors
Leonato: elderly, honorable

31. Beatrice is a person who is good at
heart even though she has a sharp
tongue which she frequently uses
on Benedick. She seems like a
person who doesn’t need her hair
down and styled, but instead out of
her way so she can be quick to see
whatever is around her and quickly
make any remarks. She is a simple
person who wears comfortable as
well as fashionable clothing.
Hero’s character seems like she is a
conservative person who dons
conservative clothing. Her character
isn’t someone who would wear
bright and even mildly unorthodox
clothing so this is why I chose her
outfit to be this way.

32. HeroBeatrice
CASUAL

34. Claudio Benedick Leonato
CASUAL

35. I chose high
class and
royal
clothing for
the Prince
of Aragon.

36. CASUAL

37. Party (Female)
HEROBEATRICE

38. Party (Male)
DON PEDROCLAUDIO BENEDICK

39. Party (Male)
ANTONIO LEONATO

40. Wedding (Female)
• Hero is wearing a moderately conservative
wedding dress, which compliments her
character.
• Beatrice is wearing a simple dress that
looks pleasing to the eyes but is also
comfortable.

41. Wedding (Females)

42. Wedding (Males)
Claudio is the groom so he’s dressed in
proper groom attire.
Benedick is dressed even more glamorous
than the groom.
Don John is dressed according to his dark
personality. All black.

43. Wedding (Males)
Claudio Don JohnBenedick

44. Light Designs

45. •Stage lights are termed as the instruments of theater and the bulbs
in it are termed lamps. Lighting consists of hanging, patching,
and focusing.
•Focusing the lights are an essential parts in the play. Where the
light shines, at what angle, on who and on what, all contribute to
how the play is portrayed, the atmosphere and mood it creates,
and helps the audience’s perception.

46. Lighting Positions
There are many lighting positions and
angles that are portrayed in plays; lighting
from the front, back, side, and different
angles enhance the focus of the plays and
makes it better. It plays an essential role in
Much Ado About Nothing and contributes to
the mood of the play and the actions of the
character.

47. Lighting from the front and back
•A vertical beam is the most selective light possible. It usually shines light only on the actor. The more
the light instruments falls, the more the shadow will expand and the flatter the character’s feature will
appear. This can be used in many scenes in Much Ado About Nothing if we want to focus on a certain
character and his expressions in that scene.
•Lighting from the back does not highlight the face, but due to this, gives depth to the stage, scenery,
and action. The shadow of the actor is shown in the front and expands as the lights go further down. A
character’s actions in Much Ado About Nothing can be highlighted with this, and the focus would be
on his acting, the scenery, and the dialogues.

48. Lighting from the side
•If the light is shone on the side, then it highlights
the mouth and eyes. The shadow expands to the
side as the lights go further down. Adding another
light source cast shadows on both sides of the actors

49. The Play
The intensity, amount, color, and brightness of the light indicates the setting of scene
in a play. Not only that, but it also creates a certain atmosphere amongst both the
characters and audience.
Act I Scene I of Much Ado About Nothing took place
in front of Leonato’s house during the day, and so there
would be full and bright lighting to create an attentive
mood and give everyone a clear image of the beginning
of the play.

50. Focus on Don John
During the revelation of Don John’s plan break up the marriage of Claudio
and Hero, the mood of the audience would be of that of excitement or
curiosity. The focus should be on Don John as he narrates his plan. The
lights would be dimmed around Don John and the focus and lights would
fall on him and a small area of his surroundings. The color of red can be
added and would indicate the mood of the scene, which is excitement,
and the lighting position would highlight Don John’s dialogues and actions

51. Party
The masquerade ball takes place during the
night in a huge ballroom. Requires dim yellow
light. Yellow light represents a calm yet
cheerful atmosphere.

52. Wedding
Since it is an outdoor wedding, there will be
full and bright lighting to make it look like
daylight. It represents joy.

53. Romantic Scenes
The romantic and serious scenes in the play, such as Claudio-Hero and
Beatrice-Benedict scenes can be shown with a back lighting, low
brightness, and highlighted by magenta color. The magenta color usually
sets for a warm and romantic atmosphere and the low intensity and
lighting also creates for a romantic background that focuses the attention
on the couple and the scenery.

54. Misunderstanding
In one scene Don John and Borachio plan to create
a misunderstanding between Claudio and Hero. Borachio
has Margaret dress up as Hero and love-talk with her so
it seems as if Hero is cheating on Claudio. The lighting of
such a scene can be positioned in a way where the
costume of Hero on Margaret is visible but her face is
dark and unrecognizable. This creates suspense.

55. Scene Shifting
The ending of each scene further proceeds to a new setting in the
following scene. In order to transit from one setting to another, all taking
place in one theater, the lights will be dimmed to a great extent so the
changing of the scenes are not much visible. This not only gives a chance
to change setting, but also ends the previous scene in a dramatic way.

56. Conclusion
In Much Ado About Nothing, the conclusion was uplifting. This play ended
on a positive and happy tone where everyone’s problems are resolved, so
the lighting should be full and bright with normal lighting. Then all the
lights go off and the stage turns completely black.

57. Curtsy
Dim lighting on the
curtsy with the light
shining only on the
stage and actors.