Much Ado About Nothing at Studio 54 in New York

May 23-25, 2016, 9:00 PM
LUISS Guido Carli, University Gardens, Viale Pola, 12 - Rome

• Adapted and directed by Ferdinando Ceriani
• Choreography and movement by Carla Ferraro
• Staging and vocal assistance: Alice Guidi
• Music by Sister Sledge, Bee Gees, Abba, Boney M, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, Village People, Lipps INC, and Tina Charles

A comedy of errors, a cheerful (and almost irreverent) take on Romeo and Juliet, and the inspiration for numerous films and adaptations, Much Ado About Nothing remains one of William Shakespeare's most entertaining and famous comedies . With impeccable balance and flawless purity of intent, the plot revolves around the theme of pranks: one cruel and one playful. The first aims to slander the beautiful Hero and prevent her marriage to her beloved Claudio, while the second, quite the opposite, seeks to feign a romance (which later turns out to be very real) between the quarrelsome Beatrice and Benedict. And at the heart of it all is a grand celebration to welcome the soldiers back from the war, where love, passion, and drama intertwine and feed off each other.

The story is set in Messina, but in our production, we had fun moving it to a place and time that shaped the culture and music of the late 20th century: the legendary New York nightclub Studio 54. In the late 1970s, Studio 54 launched the dance music of Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer, and the Bee Gees worldwide.

So, we’re in Manhattan, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, and Innocent, the queen of the disco, is throwing a huge party with her sisters to welcome a battalion of Marines who’ve just returned from a war zone. This setting allows us to enhance the production with the songs and dances of those wild, carefree years. But above it all, there’s always Shakespeare and his wonderful language—so rich in universal meaning, so deceptively simple, and so modern that it allows us to take these historical risks.

Peter Brook wrote of the Bard: “With the eyes of the past, rekindled by the sense of the present, the texts reveal new forms, new peaks and new depths, new lights and new shadows.” This is the experience we all shared throughout the various stages of this new production.

Ferdinando Ceriani

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Read the interview

• Agnese Gorgoglione
• Alessandro Ciancio Villardita
• Alessio Gosciu
• Alma Poli
• Angela Durso
• Anna Finiguerra
• Anna Gioia Apreda
• Annalisa Lo Piccolo
• Antonio Fabrizi
• Carlotta Matteucci
• Carlotta Varriale
• Cecilia Menichella
• Chiara Cerini
• Clara Piazza
• Clarissa Guerrini
• Claudia Piazza
• Cristiano De Vergori
• Daniela Ceci
• Davide Viviano
• Emilio Cosentino
• Federico Radi
• Flaminia De Felicis
• Flavio Pieralice
• Giada Cinalli
• Gianluca De Matteis
• Gianmarco Giorgino
• Ginevra Candidi
• Gioconda Elena Pellegrino
• Giorgia Finocchi
• Giorgio Lucantonio
• Giovanna Benvegna
• Giovanni Visaggio
• Giulia Falcioni
• Giulia Giraudo
• Greta Belcaro
• Jacopo Resti
• Ilaria Liumbruno
• Ilaria Pietrangeli
• Letizia Napoli
• Lucrezia Giangaspero
• Margherita Pennetta
• Maria Giulia Sardone
• Marika Nicastro
• Nicolò Trentin
• Roberto Vigorita
• Rosanna Mammato
• Valeria Maresca

For more information

LUISS Cultural Activities
T: 06 85225655
attivitaculturali@luiss.it