Airy B-and-B: Genesius Guild's “Much Ado About Nothing,” at Lincoln Park through June 29

With the temperature in the mid-90s, and a heat index of over 100 degrees, I ventured slowly into the wilderness of Rock Island's Lincoln Park on Saturday night, cold bottle of water in hand. Very few things could entice me into Mother Nature's furnace. Seeing a play by William Shakespeare is one of them.

Genesius Guild has been staging the Bard's works, classic Greek dramas and comedies, and assorted cultural fare for nearly 70 years. This season's Shakespeare comedy is Much Ado About Nothing, published in 1600, and directed here by T Green and Calvin Vo, founders of the Haus of Ruckus theatrical collective. This creative pair has performed in other shows in the park, and adapted and directed Genesius Guild's Greek comedies in 2024, 2023, and 2022. This is also Guild's annual "high school show," though there are some older performers in the cast. Regardless of the players' ages, Green's and Vo's production hooked me from the start – the performers are lively, fully present, and engaged in their scenes, and usually moved and spoke naturally, with excellent projection and diction. Projection isn't just yelling, but boosting sound using the diaphragm, and I observed actors using the flats and back wall to bounce their voices back into the audience, as well.

In this mostly wacky, slightly disheartening royal Spanish-Italian mélange, Matt Walsh gives the prince, Don Pedro, a relaxed, jovial, expansive air. He's awfully quick to stir up the love lives of his courtiers and compadres, but they've just won a war, so he's either feeling frivolous or suffering from PTSD. He does a Cyrano de Bergerac (which hadn't been written yet, but just go with it) by posing as his soldier pal Claudio (an endearingly tentative Ross Richhart) to woo Claudio's crush Hero (a sweet, beleaguered Cameryn Bergthold) at a masquerade. It works, so Claudio and Hero don't so much have a whirlwind courtship – it's more like a straight-line-wind derecho.

Emma Hughes exudes an intriguing mix of dispirited vindictiveness and casual yet egotistic command as Don Pedro's half-brother Don John, who spins a sinister plan to break up Claudio and Hero. Why? Half-sibling rivalry, jealousy of Claudio … . Hey, he's identified in the script as "John the bastard," so there you go. Christian Wellner and David Wellner, respectively, play his co-conspirators Conrade and Borachio, while Mischa Hooker plays Leonato, a duke and Hero's father, whose home is the visiting Don Pedro's temporary playground. Leonato enthusiastically throws in with his social engineering stunts, but his attitude turns ugly later.

The gang's next matchmaking plot, involving nobles and attendants alike, is making enemies into lovers. Remember Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, Sam and Diane, Leslie and Ben? Here, we have Beatrice and Benedick. Michael Kintigh, as Benedick, is smart and smoothly sarcastic – a tasty combination for Cayla Odendahl's equally clever and intelligent Beatrice to feast on. She's a "shrew" who will not be tamed; if he tried to starve her, she'd feed him her fist. Benedick's smug charm, or smarm, clashes wonderfully with Beatrice's quick-witted independence. I loved this couple during their verbal swordplay, and wished there were more B-and-B in this script, because things got fairly dark, albeit temporarily, pretty quickly for a comedy.

Inara Weigand portrays Margaret and Inna Gomez plays Ursula, Hero's ladies-in-waiting, who are involved in the various machinations – one willingly, the other unwittingly. Gomez also plays the servant Balthasar, who participates wholeheartedly (and entertainingly) in one of the plots, and sings in a later scene. Nathan Elgatian plays both Friar and Clerk, and as Friar instigates a fourth, ill-advised plot … but without poor decisions, we wouldn't have a story.

Juno King briefly plays Antonio, another of Leonato's brothers, as well as a Watchman who tends to doze – and as the Watchman, King is part of the quartet that provides the welcome comedy later in the show. In these delightful scenes, the charismatic Gomez takes the stage again as another watchman, Seacoal, while co-director Green plays Dogberry and Max Robnett plays Verges, a couple of constables who are over-the-top funny in the best way. These two have logged a lot of stage time together, and they're a riot. (Vo, who has also often shared the stage with Green, will play Verges this upcoming weekend). Happily, these four clowns actually do capture a couple of miscreants. (Interestingly, Hooker played Dogberry, Elgatian played Verges, and Green played Balthasar in Genesius Guild's 2016 production of this play.)

Shannon Ryan dependably provided attractive costumes for all, though I hope the faux velvet and brocade aren't as thick and heavy as they appear, as two hours of acting, especially given Saturday's temps, is a heroic, sweaty feat. The actors danced at the masquerade, also, though a choreographer wasn't credited, and all told, it was a remarkably comfortable evening. The breeze was strong, the humidity low, the bugs were in hiding, and I was gratified. Much Ado About Nothing's directors, cast, and crew clearly put their hearts into this one.

Genesius Guild's Much Ado About Nothing runs in Lincoln Park (1120 40th Street, Rock Island IL) through June 29, and more information is available by visiting Genesius.org.