Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing
By William Shakespeare. Bell Shakespeare. Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, April 8 – May 12; The Playhouse, Canberra, May 19 – June 4; Playhouse, the Arts Centre, Melbourne, June 9 – 25.

“Love’s just a game” suggests the set Stephen Curtis has created for Bell Shakespeare’s  Much Ado About Nothing. The stage itself is marked as a basketball court, or most of one, as it is set at an oblique angle with the final corner of the court missing at the edge of the stage. This compliments the oblique angle of the back wall of the room – a huge fresco-style painting of Roman knights and naked ladies – and the three pillars of different heights that delineate the sides of the huge games room that is the set. Add a full sized billiard table (useful for sitting on and hiding under), a cue rack, a dart board, a chess table, shuttlecock racquets – and a piano, an armchair and a few chairs – and the scene is set for this rollicking production.

1950s costumes add even more flair to the design. There are full skirts, fitted waists, rope and net petticoats and a ‘racy’ Beatrice in neat, orange high-waisted ‘pedal pushers’. Women in trousers! Shame! The triumphant soldiers wear grey uniforms with natty waisted battle jackets and the men of Messina wear loose fitting trousers and pastel shirts. Benedick’s appearance just before  interval in the black stove-pipe trousers, black knit shirt, white sox,  pointed black shoes and flat-top hairdo of the cool ‘bodgies’ of the 1950s really pleased the audience – especially those of us old enough to remember fashions we’d rather forget!

The costumes – all in pastel shades apart from Beatrice (always in orange) and the smart, dark green shirts of the soldiers and the Friar’s black cassock – accentuated the light-hearted spirit of the first half of the production.  Add music composed by Alan Johns – guitars, the piano and a beautiful solo by Tyran Parke as Balthasar; innovative direction from John Bell; creative movement from Gavin Robins; subtle lighting changes from Matt Scott, and you have a production that catches the audience and keeps them waiting for more fun right up until the lights come up at interval.

Toby Schmitz and Blazey Best are the epitomised Benedick and Beatrice - brazen, boastful, arrogant. They both command the space strongly with excellent comic timing and physical versatility, and their antics, especially as they hide whilst trying to overhear the conversations they are supposed to hear, are very funny.  They are supported by a talented cast of young and older actors who keep the action of the first three acts pacey and entertaining. Sean O’Shea’s sleazy Don John is a sharp contrast to the  of the other characters, especially Tony Llewellyn Jones’ gullible Leonato and  Arky Michael’s ubiquitous, obsequious Antonio. Matthew Walker is a handsome and dashing Don Pedro and Sean Hawkins a heart warming love-lorn Claudio as he seeks the hand of Alexandra Fisher’s naïve and virginal Hero

Though the second half of the production begins with a musical ‘bang’, it does not live up to the pace and punch experienced in the first half. Though the capture of the ‘villains’ is Dogberry’s ‘moment’ in the play, Max Gillies’ depiction is a little heavy and dogged, losing some of the fun and wit of Shakespeare’s Malapropisms. Claudio’s rejection of Hero and the following resolution of Don John’s plot do drag a little – and it is some relief to see Benedick and Beatrice back on stage resolved in their feisty romance and bringing some pace and passion back for the conclusion of the play.

Though not one of the Bard’s best plays, Much Ado has one of the strongest and wittiest female roles – played here with the ‘Best’ of feminist punch – and two of the most loved lovers. John Bell’s direction makes the most of the comedy of their relationship and the complications of the story that surrounds them.

Carol Wimmer.

Images: Top - Blazey Best and Alexandra Fisher; middle, Blazey Best; lower, Toby Schmitz and Matthew Walker.

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