“an explosive, enigmatic and enticing night at the theatre”
Almost a triumph, Simon Dormandy’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ proves both accessible and aspirational. The production overflows with clarity as the clearly capable cast generally ignore Shakespeare’s iambs and focus on providing the audience with the opportunity to understand every word. This is no mean feat in a play renowned for its complexity in that so much of its dialogue is reported action, instead of demonstrated drama.
Meanwhile, it is no secret that this production’s appeal for many lies in its starry headline. Mel Giedroyc steps into her first Shakespearean role with confidence and cleverness as her aptitude in making the funny even funnier doesn’t go unnoticed. She never misses an opportunity to reward the audience with a giggle and Beatrice’s scathing wit rolls off her tongue with great naturalism. She does, however, at times appear awkward in her movement; and seems unable to remain still and truthful in some moments of drama. The production relies, for example, on simplicity, stillness and honesty when Claudio outrageously confronts Hero on their wedding day, but Giedroyc’s overacting risks the integrity of such a potentially crushing scene.
John Hopkins shines as Benedick with a hearty, loveable and yet somehow roguish performance and Kate Lamb boldly proves that Hero is not the doormat she is often believed to be. A special mention must be afforded to Calam Lynch’s Claudio. It is Lynch’s theatrical debut and his boyish innocence works in tandem with his steely conviction to illicit a truly astonishing portrayal of a young man desperate to love.
The one let down of the production comes in the form of its anticlimactic finale. As Shakespeare’s final reveal of the alive and well Hero ought to dominate and provide a joyous final scene, the audience remained as unmoved as the characters did. With so little a reaction from those on stage, it seems too much for Dormandy to ask his audience to react at all.
The production handles the comedic moments of this iconic play with intellect and bravery, but generally struggles with the more serious scenes. A bizarre dance in the second wedding scene confuses the audience, but the superb on-stage band delights them throughout. The saving grace for the play lies in its cast. The four lead actors bounce refreshingly off of each other and provide an explosive, enigmatic and enticing night at the theatre.
“the French ensemble surge through the action at an almighty speed”
Pericles, Prince of Tyre is one of Shakespeare’s plays that often gets overlooked. Having been left out of the First Folio, perhaps due to its shoddy textual structure, or for the fact it was written in collaboration (George Wilkins is said to have written the first two acts), certainly makes it one of the Bard’s most unfamiliar, and strangest, works. The world-renowned Cheek By Jowl, return to the UK with their French offshoot of the company, bringing a fresh and imaginative interpretation of the seafaring story of Pericles. The frenzied and chaotic tale, that jumps from Mediterranean coastline to coastline is given much needed clarity and reasoning by this French-speaking production.
Set entirely within the aqua-blue walls of a single hospital room, Director Declan Donnellan turns the tempestuous scenes of shipwrecks, brothels, murders, and tournaments, into the feverish dreams of a sick Pericles. Through his hallucinated adventures, doctors and hospital staff transfigure into the fisherman, kidnappers, or, royalty that are required to play out the unfortunate events that Pericles encounters from the original text. The somewhat ludicrous plotlines, particularly with wife Thaisa and daughter Marina, seem marginally more plausible within this production, with the given context of it being a dream. We all know how bizarre dreams can be!
By Donnellan gutting fair chunks of the play, especially the dense and wordy speeches written by Wilkins, the French ensemble surge through the action at an almighty speed. This condensed version coming in at an hour and forty minutes seems much more palatable. This does not mean we lose any emotional gravitas. The hyperventilating pace finds peaks and troughs, with the plays heart rate slowing down almost to a halt for the climatic reunion of Pericles and Marina. By far one of Shakespeare’s most moving scenes, Christophe Grégoire, as Pericles, demonstrates the truthful flood of emotions felt by a father with a long-lost child. A scene that certainly tugs on the old heartstrings.
It is the first time Cheek By Jowl has produced Shakespeare in the French language and it works extremely well with Pericles. Speedily reading the surtitles that are spat out at a tremendous rate only adds to the already sea-sickening, yet thrilling, speed of proceedings. The whole cast give praiseworthy turns, using strenuous physicality to rip through the ever-changing scenes. This whirlwind of a play certainly leaves you feeling windswept, if not a little giddy.
