Kenny Leon on his "Much Ado About Nothing"

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2019

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Director Kenny Leon’s production of "Much Ado About Nothing" mesmerized audiences during last summer’s Shakespeare in the Park. Now, you can watch this exuberant, sassy, and political performance, starring "Orange is the New Black’s" Danielle Brooks, on PBS’s Great Performances. We talked to Kenny Leon about how he approaches a new production and how Shakespeare’s comedies speak to our present moment. Leon is the founding artistic director of True Colors Theatre Company and Artistic Director of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre. In 2014, he won the Tony Award for Best Director for his revival of "A Raisin in the Sun." Leon’s recent film work includes Netflix’s "American Son" with Kerry Washington, which he also directed on Broadway. His memoir, "Take You Wherever You Go," was published by Grand Central in 2018. Kenny Leon is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the "Shakespeare Unlimited" podcast. Published November 26, 2019. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode, "Let's Have a Dance," was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Ben Lauer is the web producer. We had technical helped from James Walsh at Threshold Recording Studios in midtown Manhattan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If there's one word to describe Kenny Leon's production of Shakespeare's Much Adieu
0:04.3	About Nothing, maybe the best one is exuberant.
0:08.6	You know your answer.
0:09.5	The fault will be in the music, cousin, if you be not wooed in good time.
0:14.6	You apprehend passing shrewdly.
0:16.9	I have a good eye, uncle. I can see a church by daylight!
0:21.6	We're happy little bit,
0:23.6	see what happens, see what happens if we make the magic baby, we can make it happen, we can make it happen, baby, let's take a chance and be a dance from the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.
0:46.0	I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folgers director.
0:49.0	There are plenty of other words you could use for this production, too.
0:53.5	It's contemporary.
0:55.5	And I would, I could find in my hort that I had not a horde hort.
0:59.5	It can be sassy.
1:00.9	I wonder that you will still be talking, Signor Benadick.
1:04.3	Nobody marks you.
1:05.6	And especially, it's political.
1:08.8	Pick it lines and picket signs.
1:14.4	Don't punish me with brutality.
1:19.2	Come on talk to me.
1:21.6	Talk to me.
1:22.5	So that you can see, oh, what's going on.
1:26.7	In this production, set in his longtime hometown of Atlanta,
	...

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