In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare's glittering comedy,there wages a 'merry war' between Beatrice and Benedick of lacerating words and caustic wit. Their family and friends contrive to spark up love amid their battles and to bring together the two pronounced bachelors in harmony, with highly comic results. Beatrice's gentle and virtuous cousin Hero is part of the conspiracy and while making this incongruous match she falls in love herself. However, darker elements lurk in the shadows in the shape of the melancholy villain Don John, who threatens to thwart Hero's innocent love and to quash the natural merriment of the court at Messina.