Austin Shakespeare presents Much Ado About Nothing, a production that reimagines Shakespeare's beloved comedy in 1950s Italy, drawing inspiration from the cinematic world of Federico Fellini - a world of sun-drenched piazzas, style, and the aching gap between how we present ourselves and who we actually are.

Sharp-tongued Beatrice and sworn bachelor Benedick spend most of the play loudly insisting they would rather do anything than fall in love - which fools absolutely no one. Around them, the considerably less self-aware romance of Hero and Claudio lurches toward catastrophe with the help of a villain, a case of mistaken identity, and the most gloriously comic police force in the Shakespeare canon.

Lively music and song are woven throughout, evoking the soundtrack of Italian life and giving the production a warmth and rhythm that feels as natural under the open sky as the scheming and sparring at its heart. In this Messina, appearances are everything, gossip is currency, and falling in love is the one thing no self-respecting person will admit to wanting.