Join the Shakespeare Club for “Much Ado About Nothing” this Friday
July 6, 2026 •
Join the UCOP Shakespeare Club for collaborative cold readings!
All UCOP staff are invited to join members of the UCOP Shakespeare Club this Friday, July 10, from 12:05 – 12:55 p.m. (PT), for a cold reading of “Much Ado About Nothing.”
The primary plot of Much Ado About Nothing turns on the courtship and scandal involving young Hero and her suitor, Claudio, but the witty war of words between Claudio’s friend Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice often takes center stage.
Join us! Preregistration is not required. Simply join via Zoom (Meeting ID: 744 708 5448 // Passcode: 577977)
About the Shakespeare Club
The UCOP Shakespeare Club meets intermittently during lunch to do a cold reading of a Shakespeare play – aspiring to boil down all swashbuckling and soliloquizing to one hour. No preparation is necessary and members take turns choosing a play. The script is shared on Zoom and reading is done round robin, so you get a chance to assume multiple roles. If you are looking for a creative and therapeutic escape for an hour, this group is for you!
About the 2026-2027 season
This season, the UCOP Shakespeare Club is exploring the interplay of power, identity and social order through four richly contrasting plays: “Antony and Cleopatra,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Coriolanus,” and “Twelfth Night.”
Moving from imperial spectacle to intimate social drama, from civic unrest to the fluidity of gender and self-fashioning, we will consider how Shakespeare stages authority at every level — political, communal and personal. Across tragedy and comedy alike, these plays ask enduring questions: How is reputation made and undone? What does leadership require — performance, compromise, integrity or charisma? How do desire and ambition reshape public life? And where does social harmony mask deeper instability? Together, we’ll read these works as studies in how communities negotiate power and belonging, approaching them with rigor, curiosity and the lively exchange that makes our discussions so rewarding.
Save the dates for upcoming events:
- October 9, 2026: “Coriolanus”
- January 8, 2027: “Twelfth Night”
To subscribe to the Shakespeare Club listserv, contact Nicola Gruen.
Tags: Shakespeare, Shakespeare Club
