Question: Was "Much Ado About Nothing" popular in Shakespeare's day?
Answer: Much Ado About Nothing was very popular in Shakespeare's lifetime. The title page of the 1600 quarto tells us that "the play hath been sundrie times publikely acted by the right honorable, the Lord Chamberlain his seruants."
It is generally assumed that Much Ado About Nothing was composed in either 1598 or 1599. Some believe that because Francis Meres (in his work Palladis Tamia), did not list it among Shakespeare's comedies published in the summer of 1598, the play was not finished by that time. But others believe that such an omission is not evidence enough to support that it was written after Meres' listings.
In 1600, Much Ado About Nothing was printed in the only early quarto version, and the play was printed again in the First Folio in 1623.
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