“AS MERRY AS THE DAY IS LONG”
In an idyllic Mediterranean town, a “skirmish of wit” is afoot.

Leonato, the Governor of Messina, receives word that his old friend Don Pedro will be arriving in town shortly, accompanied by two fellow soldiers, a young Florentine nobleman named Claudio and the debonair lord Benedick.

The three soldiers, along with Don Pedro’s half-brother Don John and Don John’s followers Conrad and Borachio, are welcomed to the estate by Leonato, his daughter Hero, and his niece, Beatrice. Hero immediately captures Claudio’s heart, while Beatrice and Benedick quickly fall back into the “merry war” of wit going on between them.

Afterwards, Claudio tells Benedick that he is in love with Hero. While Benedick shoots down the notion of love, Don Pedro, who is a bit more of a romantic, offers to help Claudio win Hero’s heart. Unbeknownst to them, Borachio is eavesdropping on this conversation. Armed with this new piece of information, the disgraced Don John works with Borachio and Conrad on a scheme to sabotage this intended marriage.

“LOVE MAY TRANSFORM ME”
That night, Leonato hosts a masquerade dance to welcome his friends to Messina. Pretending to be Claudio, a masked Don Pedro approaches Hero, and the two leave the party while the real Claudio watches on nervously. Don John and Borachio try to interfere, but Don Pedro successfully woos Hero in Claudio’s name, and a wedding is set for a week later.

To pass the time until the happy nuptials, Don Pedro proposes a plan to bring Beatrice and Benedick together, even though the two of them have both sworn off the idea of marriage (and each other). Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato conspire for Benedick to listen in on a conversation where Leonato tells them that Beatrice is in love with Benedick. Likewise, Hero enlists the help of her attendants, Margaret and Ursula, to make Beatrice think Benedick has feelings for her.

However, while Beatrice and Benedick are busy making sense of their newfound feelings for each other, a more sinister plot is underway. Don John is determined to ruin Hero and Claudio’s wedding, and he hatches a plan to deceive Claudio into thinking Hero is unfaithful. With so much chaos and deception, will the truth be revealed—and true love prevail—or will “slanderous tongues” tear these two couples apart?

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