We don't know just what directors Stephen Ouimette and Marti Maraden did for this production of Much Ado About Nothing because it was announced that Ouimette was bowing out of his Stratford directing assignments for this season due to exhaustion and would be replaced by several directors -- in this production by Marti Maraden. At any rate, this is a coherent and reasonably effective Much Ado, but it hasn't a distinctive, memorable quality such as I would expect from either of those directors.
Lucy Peacock and Peter Donaldson are a well-matched Beatrice and Benedict and make those witty, contentious lovers appealing, though Donaldson is the most raffish-looking Benedict I've seen.
Michael Gianfrancesco's designs work cleverly on the great Festival Theater thrust stage, but the modern-dress uniforms and gowns have little distinction, and the familiar conceit of having Benedict scruffily dressed until he cleans up when getting serious about Beatrice would work better if Donaldson looked much like a lover before or after.
The large cast of well-trained players somehow includes no real standout performances, except perhaps Gary Reineke as the ill-used Leonato and particularly Paul Soles as his elderly brother Antonio, memorably furious at Claudio's slight to his brother's and niece's honor. But those are not leading roles.
It's a nice-looking, well-played, decent version of the Shakespeare standard, but hardly Stratford's finest.
