During a rehearsal of a Shakespeare play, it wouldn’t be uncommon to hear directors urging their actors to be more dramatic with their movements, more precise with their language or more pronounced with their delivery.

But during a rehearsal for the College of Southern Idaho’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” director Laine Steel was urging his actors to get a little sillier.

“You’re acting like you’re really angry at these guys when you’re really not,” Steel said. “Get into the wink-wink, nudge-nudge aspects of the play.”

It’s a suggestion the cast doesn’t fight. Offstage, the actors crack wise about as much as the characters in Shakespeare’s play about gossip, lovers and the mix-ups the two make when they meet. That relationship between the actors eases the transition from jeans to Elizabethan costumes.

“I think that’s something that helps,” said Nicholas Belnap, who plays Don Pedro. But before he could finish his thought, Cheyenne Billings cut in.

“We’re sassy,” said Billings, who plays Ursula.

Belnap tried to continue. “So, when we’re on stage, getting into it —”

But Ryan D. Downs hopped in to help.

“It makes it easier,” said the actor playing Friar Frances.

Downs didn’t get to keep the floor for long. Jessica Roe — Beatrice on stage — offered her take on the cast’s personalities in the play.

“We can take it personally,” she joked.

Yet another cast member helped the troupe finish its collective thought.

“It makes it a lot easier to give your lines,” said Wesley Anthony, playing Antonio. “It lightens the mood.”

Taking that rapid-fire repartee on stage with Shakespeare takes more than just a funny bone. The actors behind the hijinks spent hours researching delivery and parsing the meanings behind the dense Elizabethan lines.

For Downs, whose bald dome drew witticisms from his cast mates, that meant watching YouTube versions of his character’s performance from the ’80s and ’90s. Belnap said pacing while reading helped him get the rhythm right. Roe eschewed viewing other performers, but instead repeated the lines to herself over and over.

“I’ll practice it crazy ways until I stop hearing my voice and start hearing the character’s,” Roe said.

That old-school dedication isn’t the only thing traditional with this production. Unlike other interpretations of the Bard that try to modernize or spice up the setting, this production is straight Shakespeare.

“Other Shakespeare plays I’ve done, it’s been something else,” Roe said. “In the future or in space —”

Of course, she didn’t get to finish.

“Or both,” Downs said.

“This is pretty straightforward,” Roe said.

Emily Katseanes may be reached at ekatseanes@gmail.com or 775-385-5305.