★★★★

“never a dull moment in this energetic and above all entertaining show”

Tom Wentworth’s version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing promises a ‘sashay into the Golden Age of Hollywood’ but does the filmset backdrop stick in this brand new adaptation?

After the loss of Arts Council funding, the Watermill has been named Theatre of the Year by the Stage and the National Theatre. This accolade reflects the reputation of the Watermill Ensemble for innovative shows which often feature highly talented casts of actor-musicians. This production is directed by Paul Hart, who co-leads the theatre. He has assembled a cast of 11 gleeful performers who fill the small stage with energetic sparkle. Musical direction is by Robin Colyer.

You may remember a 1993 film version starring what was then British theatre’s ultimate power couple, Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson. They were shoe-ins for the sparring roles of Beatrice and Benedick, who get some of Shakespeare’s funniest wordplay. In this show, Katherine Jack had tremendous presence as Beatrice (‘Oh! That I were a man!’), matched by James Mack’s buffoonish Benedick, who makes the most of the slapstick comedy that runs through the show. Jack Quarton is an impressive Don Pedro, as well as being central to the musical numbers throughout. The vibe is mambo, with plenty of up tempo percussion and some fabulous brass sounds.

As well as being an actor, Hayden Wood is an experienced director, musician and composer, last seen at the Watermill in ‘Notes from A Small Island’. As his engaging performance as Dogberry irrestibly suggests, he also tours globally as Basil in a Faulty Towers tribute show. Priscilla Grace brings tunes like ‘When I Fall in Love’ to splendid life, and Fred Double makes a fine Claudio to Thulis Magwaza’s blushing Hero. In last night’s show Leigh Quinn took the parts of Verges, Conrade and the Friar and Patrick Bridgman, who appeared in the final season of The Crown, was Leonato. In a successful gender-blind casting, Augustina Seymour is a wonderfully vampish Don John.

Although much of the play is as fizzy as champagne, there are some darker themes. There’s deceitfulness, a woman accused of dishonour, and a feigned death. These are somewhat lightly brushed over. The film set backdrop switches in whenever a recorded soundtrack starts up, in scenes which pastiche the hammy acting of 1940s Hollywood. There’s a symbolic camera on stage and some lighting kit too.

There’s never a dull moment in this energetic and above all entertaining show.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at the Duke of York’s Theatre

★★★★

“it is the high exuberance of everyone that comes through the strongest”

The National Youth Theatre REP Company celebrates its 10th anniversary with a joyous romp through Shakespeare’s couples comedy in one of the West End’s most prestigious theatres.

Reinterpreting the text for a youthful cast and audience, in a version not ‘adapted’ according to the programme but ‘remixed’ by Debris Stevenson, the setting becomes Nowhere Island, a reality TV dating show. We get to see the players both on and off camera, on set and behind the scenes and, most engagingly, how the characters are manipulated and controlled by the TV show’s creators. There is, as appears to be the norm nowadays, a lot of additional non-Shakespearean text, including a plasma screen that rolls ‘live audience’ social media comments, but this should not upset the purist. This is a well thought through concept – ninety minutes, no interval – and it works.

Josie Daxter directs a sixteen-strong ensemble around a revolving set (Designer Zoë Hurwitz) which we witness being de-constructed at the end of the show to reveal the bare walls of the space behind. The large number of people on stage sometimes looks cluttered and their movements clumsy, but it is the high exuberance of everyone that comes through the strongest.

With a sassy rendition of Sigh No More Ladies to start things off as a theme tune to the TV show, we hear the players humming Hey Nonny Nonny even when not on camera, an earworm that they can’t shake off. This is an ensemble of good-lookers with pecs and midriffs on show. The girls pose and pout. The boys show off with testosterone-imbued hip-thrusting movements. Subtle, it ain’t. But in contrast, any personal insights into a character’s feelings are admitted privately in front of a screen in the ‘diary room’. Genius.

In Much Ado we have to rely on a strong Beatrice and Benedick and in Isolde Fenton and Daniel Cawley we are in good hands. It is an inauspicious start, however, with the early repartee between them performed in rap but things can only get better and they do. Fenton soon shines, her confident performance leading into an especially passionate display of Beatrice’s ‘O were I a man’ speech whilst Cawley’s cheeky chappie approach to Benedick is endearing and loveable.

Despite the radical re-creation of much of the play, this young cast exhibits a good feeling for the poetry – something that another large house was unable to achieve in a recent production. Hannah Zoé Ankrah as Friar, as well as Fenton and Cawley, are particularly strong in this regard.

Other special mentions go to Jessica Enemokwu as Leonato – the TV show producer – who is in full control of proceedings (ditch the megaphone though); Tomás Azócar-Nevin as Conrade, understated but just right; and Jasmine Ricketts as Don John who, after all is done, returns alone to a bare stage and exhibits a brave postlude breakdown that hints at her character’s mental illness. Finally, for one of the bravest and raunchiest staged love scenes between Borachio (Dalumuzi Moyo) and Margaret (Nathaly Sabino) I have seen – Bravo.

Tag Archives: Much Ado about Nothing

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

★★★★

Watermill Theatre

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at the Watermill Theatre

★★★★

“never a dull moment in this energetic and above all entertaining show”

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at the Watermill Theatre

Reviewed on 17th April 2024

by David Woodward

Photography by Pamela Raith

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE LORD OF THE RINGS | ★★★★★ | August 2023

MANSFIELD PARK | ★★★★ | June 2023

RAPUNZEL | ★★★★ | November 2022

WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND | ★★★★ | July 2022

SPIKE | ★★★★ | January 2022