MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Brentwood Shakespeare Company at the Brentwood Theatre 
14.04.10


It's almost a commonplace now to set the Bard in the 30s, but Louise O'Connor's stylish staging for the Brentwood Shakespeare Company was very easy on the eye and the ear, and made for an enjoyable, if not quite magical, evening.
Some very accomplished actors did full justice to Shakespeare's verse, though sometimes, particularly in the first two acts, a lighter, more throwaway touch would have helped to keep the text on its toes.
If the Scout Troop Watch were only fitfully funny, the eavesdropping scene was most amusingly done. Grandmother's Footsteps in the prologue were neatly echoed by the moving penthouse in Act 3, and I liked Don John's shady trio, silent comedy criminals to a man.
Sydney Hill had gravitas and military bearing as Don Pedro, and Neil Gray was a convincing lovesick Claudio. Chrissie O'Connor's Ursula spoke the words with style and conviction, and Katie Burchett was affecting as the young, innocent Hero.
The two unlikely wooers - “horribly in love” - were Diane Johnston as the pleasant-spirited Beatrice, and Jim Crozier as the gruff, cynical officer Benedict. Especially in their later scenes there was real chemistry between them, and if “Kill Claudio” wasn't so much of a shock, it did arise logically from the altercation, and their final falling in love was well worth the waiting for.