SOURCE: Boston, Gabriella. Review of Much Ado about Nothing. Washington Times (16 November 2002): D2.

In the following review, Boston admires the Jazz Age setting of director Mark Lamos's 2002 Shakespeare Theatre production of Much Ado about Nothing and praises Karen Ziemba's compelling performance in the role of Beatrice.

Much Ado About Nothing at the Shakespeare Theatre is really something. It's energetic and funny, with fantastic acting and a set design that transports the audience back to F. Scott Fitzgerald land.

What better time in which to set this—one of Shakespeare's lightest comedies—than in the fun-filled Roaring '20s?

Much Ado, like many of the Bard's plays, revolves around mistaken identities, two couples in love and a mean-spirited, melancholy bad guy as well as an upstanding, refined good guy, who doubles as a matchmaker.

One couple—Beatrice, played by the radiant Karen Ziemba, and Benedick, played by funnyman Dan...