Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare’s famous play, Much Ado About Nothing, is a classic and quintessential Shakespeare comedy. The Globe Theatre Co. in London performed it this summer to hoots and tears of laughter. Acted well, it still can bring down the house almost 500 years after it was written. This class will ask, amongst other questions, why is this so? Why does this work as comedy? What was comedy in Shakespeare’s day? What is it today? How does theology fit into Shakespeare’s play? Why is it better to live in a world where Shakespeare is still performed than not? Come ready to read and laugh!

Teacher

Father Brian Foos is a native northern Californian, He and his wife Kaitlin, a transplant from southern California, have three children in college, and starting in 1999, founded St. Andrew’s Academy, St. Andrew’s Church, and finally, St. Andrew’s College at the foot of a volcano called Mt. Lassen and on the shores of Lake Almanor. Father Foos earned his undergraduate degree in Literature, and graduate degree in theology, which have apparently brought him a lifetime of teaching both subjects, as well as other humanities classes. He has been involved in classical education for over thirty years. He is also the choirmaster of St. Andrew’s, was a member of the Anglican Church in North America national Catechesis Task Force from 2010 to 2015, has taught many a workshop at the Anglican Way Institute Summer Conference at Holy Communion Cathedral in Dallas, and currently serves on the Education Committee of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Father Foos prefers hiking in the woods and reading poetry by streams rather than fishing in them; basketball to baseball at all times; enjoys sailing and downhill snow-skiing. He loves to travel and to spread this addiction to students, as he shows them some of his favorite haunts in the British Isles and other European locales.

Dates

8-hour short course

Tuesday/Thursday: Sep. 3, 5, 10, 12; 4:00 PM (PT)