MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
A Made in Colchester production
at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester
for The Reviews Hub
08.10.2016

No hint of the romance or sunshine of Messina here. We're in the spartan canteen of a British regiment – motto Perfer et Obdura. There's a telly in the corner, a servery, tables for mess and for ping-pong.
A chorus of Homeward Bound, and Don Pedro marches his men in, to be greeted by Essex girl would-be military wives.
It's a bold concept, and Pia Furtado's production does bring some modern insights to what is often considered a romantic comedy. But the 21st century is not a perfect fit, the quick-witted banter sits uneasily amidst the non-verbal popular culture, and of course these men are career soldiers, not aristocratic adventurers. And the harsh lighting casts distracting shadows across faces in the closer confrontations.
But the mischief and the music are very much to the fore. The fancy dress party, with genuinely impenetrable disguises, and the karaoke Sigh No More, are both very successful, (composer is Rebecca Applin) even if there's a bit too much aimless cavorting to pulsing disco beats. The gulling scenes are hampered a little by a lack of camouflage in the canteen – the pleached bower for Beatrice has to be brought on in pots, and Benedick's arbour is a ledge above the servery, where he later dons a tabard and some marigolds. The plot to discredit Hero is brilliantly done, with a borrowed bridal gown in flagrante on the upper level.
After the interval – well into Act Four – things are much darker, both literally and emotionally. The grim reality of the canteen is replaced by a dreamlike shrine to the “dead” Hero. The Madonna – and the bath – have moved down from the light boxes above. The lament at the tomb is movingly sung by the whole company, and the final wedding disco affords an upbeat ending, though, given the effective changes of mood in this production, it's a shame that the party-pooping news of Don John's capture is one of the few significant cuts.
Some lovely performances on offer: Peter Bray and Robyn Cara (making her professional début) are young, ardent lovers, Polly Lister a brooding villain, though the gender switch seems awkward.  Paul Ridley brings gravitas to the older officer, and Emmy Stonelake makes the most of the impassioned Friar. Kirsty J Curtis is Hero's maid, Margaret, a typical TOWIE young lady, chewing gum and glottal stops. (Generally the text is well served, although “Yeah” for “Yea” grates.)
The hi-viz vigilantes of the Watch eschew slapstick and easy laughs, and there's a sad lack of chemistry between Danielle Flett's Beatrice and Jason Langley's Benedick, though they bring clarity and passion to the verse, and Flett does a lovely lapwing.
Some striking stage pictures in the later scenes, and the undeniable local resonance, are not quite enough to make this a memorable Much Ado.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Wolf-Sister Productions at The Rose Playhouse, Bankside

07.04.16

for Remote Goat

The merry war waged between Beatrice and Benedick is played out as the men march back from a real war to Messina. Last year we had Edward Bennett coming home to Charlecote's military hospital after The Great War, and this year Douglas Rintoul's début in Hornchurch celebrated VE Day in an English country house.

It's the 40s option on Bankside, too, in Alex Pearson's delightful, deft 90-minute version. Morse code, aircraft, machine guns on the sound track as we walk in to see a stepladder, bunting and uniformed figures far across the water.

Churchill reminds us of the foe's unconditional surrender, Harry Boyd's Messenger reassures us that the losses were few “and none of name”. Kit Smith's kindly Leonato first mentions the “skirmish of wit” at the heart of this clever comedy.

The sparring, the gulling and the war-like wooing are enjoyably done by Rhiannon Sommers' bomber-jacketed Beatrice and Adam Elliott's boyish Benedick.

His eyes are expressive, his business as he eavesdrops is inventive, working his way along the back row of the audience. “Love me? Why?” is touching in its simplicity. “The world must be peopled!” has him suggestively tucking in his shirt.

Her eavesdropping is done at cricket-pitch distance, across the water, which also serves well for the chamber window and the funeral procession with sparklers for torches. Sommers gives a Beatrice of infinite variety, from the still small voice which admits “I love you” to the barbed quips and the urgent “Kill Claudio”.

The other couple are Genie Kaminski's warm, charming Hero and Clark Alexander's intense Scottish Claudio.

The wedding is well staged. Claudio's rejection of Hero is brilliantly underplayed at first – the rejected ring drops on the Rose's floor-boards – and it's hard to tell whether he's in earnest or no. Only later comes the incontinent violence.

The reduction brings some bonuses: Benedick composing his funeral sentences as a soliloquy, Dogberry's watch much pared, with the actors thinly disguised with duffel coats. The costumes are evocative of the period, the stylish uniforms have a dash of Ruritania in the detail.

Excellent music [Robert Hazle], some recorded, like the brilliant revellers number – nine dancers hoofing it on this tiny stage, surely a first [Ian Hathway the choreographer] – some live, like the lovely Sigh No More with guitar and clarinet.

production photograph: Robert Piwko

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
07.03.2016
for The Reviews Hub

Celebrations at the Queen's in Hornchurch. Shakespeare is celebrated, 400 after his death. A new Artistic Director is welcomed to the Billet Lane theatre, and, put out more flags, World War II is over, and Claudio and his chums come victorious home to start Much Ado About Nothing.
It's a warm, witty production, spoken with admirable clarity and acted with energy and passion.
Hattie Ladbury makes a wonderful Beatrice. She's had a good war, by the look of her when she walks on for the first time with a confident swagger in mechanic's overalls. “If I were a man ...”. Lanky, gauche at times, she excels in the war of wits with Benedick, a glance, an inflection will suffice to let us read her mind and share her thoughts. Thomas Padden's Benedick is less obviously charismatic. Balding, bearded at first, clean-shaven with civet for the wooing, he manages the marriage soliloquy with style, switching from introspection to audience engagement in a moment.
The lovers are backed by a very strong company, almost all of them new faces at the Queen's.
Mark Jax's grizzled Leonato, carousing like Sir Toby at Claudio's stag do, quite undone by grief at the shaming of his daughter Hero. She's engagingly played by Amber James, who dashes round to double the Sexton and a member of the Watch. More versatility from  Pascale Burgess: the treacherous Margaret – a lovely moment in the boudoir dreaming of gowns “laced with silver, set with pearls” - and a hilarious Warwickshire Dogberry, all silly swagger and malapropisms. The Watch work hard, in their gaberdine capes, with Verges [Jamie Bradley] acting out the briefing, but the humour of their scenes, as so often, is largely elusive.
Liam Bergin is the sinister Don John, the “canker in the hedge”, lurking and looking on, dressed in black “I cannot hide what I am ...” – Mosley, are we meant to think ? - and Sam Pay, a Billet Lane regular under the old regime, is an excellent Borachio, drunkenly sharing his secret with the front stalls, and Ursula, here upgraded to Leonato's sister, is strongly characterized by Eliza Hunt. A bluff, military Don Pedro from Nigel Hastings, and a clean-cut Tyneside Claudio from James Siggens, making a very promising professional début in this production. Worth wearing a microphone throughout for his superb Sigh No More trio, with Benedick clowning in the background. A moment to treasure.
The music generally – Julian Littman – was powerfully evocative of the period – Johnny Comes Marching Home for the opening scene, and for the dance at the close, Al Jolson's You Made Me Love You.
Good to see the involvement of a community chorus – standing at the door of the church, and of Leonato's monument, hanging the bunting, putting away the garlanded wedding chairs before the door slams and we are in the cells with the malefactor.
The setting – a country house garden, with the house and outbuildings behind, is easily and ingeniously transformed into church, vault and the rest. The central gulling scenes use the space brilliantly, hedges, stepladder, picnic rug all pressed into service, and Beatrice the lapwing popping up like a jack-in-the-box.
A big-hearted, accessible production of a favourite Shakespeare: straightforward enough to engage the newcomer, inventive enough to keep the Bard buff entertained.

production photo: Mark Sepple

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Shakespeare's Globe at the Master's Garden, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

24.08.2014

Perfect weather for a Much Ado matinée in the open air. The secluded, timeless garden tucked away in the medieval heart of Cambridge makes a seemly setting for this strange mixture of romcom and tragedy.

Max Webster's inventive production uses a simple wooden stage, with a kind of ancient gazebo behind. The costumes are a promiscuous blend of modern and periods from the 50s back to the 19^th century.

The cast of eight actor/musicians doubles furiously to cover [almost] all the roles. Some delicious contrasts – Robert Pickavance is an imposing Leonato and a hilarious Ursula, Chris Starkie plays a sober Don John and a splendid Scottish Dogberry [flying goggles and duck-call], and our Beatrice [Emma Pallant] plays his sidekick neighbour Verges. Joy Richardson is kept especially busy, as both partners [Borachio and Margaret] in the bedroom deception, as well as taking the lines of the absent Antonio. She's the friar, too, and shares a stolen picnic cupcake with her Conrade.

The two couples on the very unsmooth path of true love are Sam Phillips as the suave, cool Claudio with Gemma Lawrence as his girlish Hero. Simon Bubb makes a very attractive Benedick, very amusing too, despite his tender years – something of a toyboy for Pallant's beautifully observed bluestocking Beatrice. Their “merry war” works wonderfully, leading up to the final wooing – handshake, sonnets and kisses.

Loads of bright ideas – the accused are wheeled in on sack-barrows – and I liked the Seville orange motif: the boy eats an orange, Benedick hides behind a crate of them, scattered colourfully across the stage at the climax of his gulling.

We've seen a washing line in that scene before; the twist here is that the linen is sopping wet from the tub, which is gleefully emptied over the concealed Beatrice – her very own ice bucket challenge.

John Barber's music is a particular strength, from the a cappella Sigh No More to the finale, with everyone [including stage management] on an instrument – Don Pedro [Jim Kitson] on lute, Leonato on trombone ...

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Theatre at Baddow

27.05.11

It's the season of Much Ado – two major productions either side of the Thames, an open air national tour, and Theatre at Baddow choosing this witty comedy as their first ever crack at the Bard.

Jo Windley-Poole's lively production romped through Shakespeare's “merry war”, relishing the “clash of wits” between the worldly-wise Beatrice [Claire Lloyd, in an assured reading] and Benedick, an agreeably cynical Roger Saddington. Sometimes the words could have been given a little more breathing space, and often the transitions between scenes could have been tighter.

Scarcely a weak link in a large company - I was particularly impressed with Ellie March's young Hero, touching in the wedding scene with Jim Crozier's thoughtful Leonato. Tony Ellis mastered the space and gave resonance to the text as John the Bastard, making a believable brother for Nick Milenkovic's Don Pedro. Vicky Wright was a pert and largely unrepentant Margaret, with Beth Crozier making the most of Ursula, Hero's other gentlewoman. John Kensett looked every inch the “learned constable”, and was suitably smug – his Watchmen, though, were reduced to an old man and a couple of lads, all three played by women …

Production values were high – warm lighting, terracotta colours for the set, neat beards for the gentlemen, stylish costumes by Jane Hunt, with gorgeous masks for the ball, and wonderfully appropriate music for recorders and keyboard, played live, and specially composed for this production by Owain Jones.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

at Shakespeare's Globe

24.05.11

Oranges growing from the Heavens, flowers around the stage, water features between the players and the groundlings. All suggesting sunny Messina. But there's a hint of Sicily's Arab past too, with lovely latticed screens, and fezzes for the Watch.

I wasn't much tickled by Dogberry [Paul Hunter], who seemed to be channelling the never-very-funny Jack Douglas every time he had a malapropism to flag up, though he and his fellows did have some clever slapstick moments. Hero and Claudio were a little underplayed, though Ony Uhiara had some lovely dialogue with her perplexed father [Joseph Marcell].

The chief delight of Jeremy Herrin's pacy, fresh production was the triple chemistry between Eve Best's very modern Beatrice, Charles Edwards's chatty Benedick and the packed yard. They both built a comic complicity with the audience, sharing quips and soliloquies with effortless ease. This is what marks out a great Globe actor – the ability to use the intimacy of the space and chat, informally and seemingly impromptu, with the crowd in the cockpit. Mark Rylance did it first, and memorably, for years. More recently we've seen Roger Allam's Falstaff and Miranda Raison's Anne Boleyn work the same magic, and now Best and Edwards. Dr Who and his Donna will have a hard act to follow ...