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Clowns in the spotlight
Slippery Trout Productions and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company present Dogberry and Verges Are Scared
Jillian Ashley Blair Ivey
Maybe you know Much Ado About Nothing from school, the 1993 Emma Thompson/Kenneth Branagh film, or the 2012 version featuring almost every actor from the Buffy-verse. You probably remember the quarreling Beatrice and Benedick, or the bed trick that separates Hero and Claudio. But do you remember the bumbling constables charged with keeping the peace during the actions of the play? If you do, congratulations; if you don’t, you’re still in good company during Dogberry and Verges Are Scared, running at Christ Church Neighborhood House through September 14 as part of this year's Fringe.
This rolling world premiere is a joint effort between a new theater company, Slippery Trout Productions, and the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. According to creators Michael Doherty and Will Mobley on the production’s website, Dogberry and Verges are “everyone’s third-favorite pair of Shakespearean clowns.” You can debate numbers one and two (the correct answer, as far as I’m concerned, are Bottom and Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the gravediggers in Hamlet), but can you recall a number three? It might seem puzzling that Doherty and Mobley would mount a play about Dogberry (Scott Greer) and Verges (Anthony Lawton), but that’s also why the show, directed by Matthew Decker, works so well.
Prose, not prosaic
There are—and I mean this in the nicest way possible—literally no expectations as Dogberry and Verges Are Scared begins. The characters are practically a blank slate. The audience hopes only that the pair will make us laugh. And with Greer and Lawton in the title roles, it’s safe to assume they will.
You don’t need to be a Shakespeare expert to enjoy this derivative work. Doherty and Mobley make the script accessible by moving it almost entirely away from blank verse.
It’s a nod to the original, sure: Dogberry and Verges speak in prose, not verse, in Much Ado. The writers allow these characters to sound more like they would if they existed today. The Shakespearean staples are all still there: insults about age and appearance, malapropisms and malaphors aplenty, and abundant dick jokes to boot.
But this script doesn’t require footnotes, marginalia, or annotations to be understood. It is funny and accessible (and did I mention funny?) on its own merits.
A script with a future
Dogberry and Verges is also blessedly short (a single 90-minute act) and has a cast of characters that can be portrayed by six actors (as in this production) or by a cast of 10 or more. I can easily see the script becoming a favorite for student theater groups while being a big draw for professional companies.
Of course, to get it right, you have to find the perfect cast. Greer and Lawton are joined by Jeremy Dubin, Elizabeth Chinn Molloy, Courtney Lucien, and a most excellent Robi Hager in this ensemble—a cast that, taken as a whole, makes Dogberry and Verges one of the 2025 Fringe Festival’s must-see productions.
What, When, Where
Dogberry and Verges Are Scared. By Michael Doherty and Will Mobley. Directed by Matthew Decker. $25. Through September 14, 2025 at Christ Church Neighborhood House, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia. Phillyfringe.org.
Accessibility
Christ Church Neighborhood House is a wheelchair-accessible venue. The cobblestones outside may be difficult to navigate for those using mobility devices.
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