The Globe presents the Bard’s most excellent comedy Much Ado About Nothing

The Globe has had rather a bumpy season so far this summer, with a production of Henry VIII that resorted to lavatory humour.

They even had the excruciating cheek to add in substantial new material by Hannah Khalil because Shakespeare hadn’t written enough female parts.

So it is with great pleasure that I can report that the theatre now has a substantial hit on its hands with a wonderfully spirited production of Much Ado About Nothing.

Given last year’s triumph of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I suspect comedy is their strong suit.

Although written earlier, the play was most famously performed on St Valentine’s Day in 1613 at a royal wedding.

Princess Elizabeth married Prince Frederick of the Palatine in a love match overcoming court intrigues against them.

The play was chosen for good reason – it is a wonderful comedy about love triumphing over politics.

Set in Sicily, the plot concerns three soldiers returning from war Don Pedro (Prince of Aragon) and lieutenants Claudio and Benedick.

They come to the household of Leonata and her two daughters Hero (loved by Claudio) and Beatrice, who has a love hate relationship with Benedick.

“There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her.”

Leonata, Claudio and Don Pedro conspire to bring Beatrice and Benedict together, and to fight off the malevolent interference of Don Pedro’s brother, Don John.

This innovative production directed by Lucy Bailey and designed by Caroline Hughes resets the action in 1940s Italy.

This allows for some very stylish costumes and some classic Italian songs of that period.

The three male leads are very strong.

Ferdy Roberts is an authoritative Don Pedro and it’s a wonderful moment when he thinks he may have a chance with one of Leonata’s daughters, shaking out his aged locks.

The naïve sincerity of Claudio is well brought out by Patrick Osborne, and his deception by Don John (Olivier Huband) is wonderful to watch. Ace comedian George Fouracres milks the crowd as Dogberry, the original ‘PC Plod.’

But the real star among the men is Ralph Davis as Benedick. He looks the part and does the loving and the laughing to a tee.

In a well-executed masked ball Beatrice and Benedick trade insults from behind their masks.

Lucy Phelps is a great performer and makes the most of the many barbed witticisms of “Lady Tongue.” I am sure we will see more of her.

Nadi Kemp-Safyi plays her sister Hero well, while Joanne Howarth is very funny as her aunt Antonia and Katy Stephens simply triumphant as Hero’s mother Leonata.

When Caludio is duped by Don John into slandering Hero’s honour these two women go on the warpath.

A note here on the question of gender.

Although the Globe could not resist making these two male parts female (Leonato and Antonio in the original) it works in this case. This is certainly better than rewriting it.

The only question is whether this could distort Shakespeare’s meaning. A lot of this piece is about truth and deception (hence the masks).

But there is also a critique of contemporary men’s attitudes towards female virginity, and the hypocrisy of believing all women just can’t wait to cheat on their men, when it in fact is the other way round.

However, I do think having a household of women struggling to cope with this hypocrisy works well here.

Brava director Lucy Bailey. Proving there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Most importantly, such stratagems don’t get in the way of the Bard’s excellent comedy. A top production.

To get tickets, go to https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/much-ado-about-nothing-2022/#book

 

Pictured: The Cast of Much Ado About Nothing – Pictures: Manuel Harlan