MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Shakespeare, RSC Main House, Stratford. Then Newcastl

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: William Shakespeare
RSC Stratford, Main House: Tkts 0870 609 110

Runs: 2h 45m, one interval: in repertory, evening performances at 7.30
also Theatre Royal, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 24 Sept.-3 Oct. 2002
Tkts (Newcastle): 0870 905 5060
Review: Rod Dungate, 9 May 2002

In years to come you may see Much Ado performed as well as in this production but I assure you, you will never see it done betterSimply the best. Gregory Doran's production (ably aided by designer Stephen Brimson Lewis) is incredibly strong on time and place. Leonato's warm orangy-red house overlooks a square time, 1930s, place Italy (specifically Sicily) . On this rock-firm basis Doran then takes his team from Italian extravagance of manner (at least extravagant to us cold Anglo-Saxons) to broad comedy: the play constantly tightropes on the edge of excess but never topples over. This dangerous position releases comedy by the waggon-load and, from first to last micro-second, has the production shimmering with excitement.

It's everywhere you look. Balthasar (a singer) cannot be the most sought after role in the play. But Julian Jensen sings beautifully and finds, in this over-modest entertainer (sure the tenor doth protest too much), comedy where other productions have not reached. Borachio is a bastard (metaphorically), John Killoran's good at playing tough guys, but, when his Borachio reveals his wicked plot to Conrade Killoran unlocks a comic gem I never imagined I would see. He shows us Borachio pissed out of his head and performs something so close to a Music Hall comedy drunk routine I challenge anyone to spot the difference. Except Killoran roots it with truth and a physical expertise that must stem from his time with experts Trestle Theatre.

It is this ability of each and every actor to make their role their own then run and I mean really run with it that marks out the production. Doran has worked with his company well: skilful invention is round every corner specially as the two lovers eavesdrop on other people's conversations: the actors are having fun and it's infectious.

Nicholas le Prevost's Benedick is a man past his prime. But once Benedick believes Beatrice to love him, Prevost manages somehow to get Benedick's prime back again. His entire bearing and manner change and we see (as through Beatrice's eyes) what an attractive man he is. He was enormously likeable before being loved but once loved his change shows us underneath his earlier foolery he really wanted to be loved all the time and we, well, love him all the more for it. In the earlier part of the play Prevost easefully spurts out Benedick's banter like a stream of bullets: it hints at a nervous tension within him. It says much for his mastery of the text and his diction that we miss not a word.

Harriet Walter's Beatrice is more laid back. Whether she sits astride a motor-cycle or is calling Benedick with or without pain into dinner, there is a twinkle in her eye that shows how amused she is by the whole thing. Until, that is, the plot twists with the slander of Hero. Here we see Walter at her very finest as she shifts the play from one plane to another. Not simply with 'Kill Claudio' but with the deep-seated and dangerous passion with which she plays the entire Beatrice/Benedick scene. She forces the Italian sun behind a cloud as she pours out her frustrations with the restrictions and stranglehold of womanhood. She is a woman ahead of her time so beautifully encapsulated by her wearing trousers at the plays opening and close. Walter is a fabulous Beatrice.

Old cynic that I am, I was mighty pleased it all works out right for this Beatrice and Benedick in the end and I don't always feel like that.

Leonato: Gary Waldhorn
Antonio: Trevor Martin
Hero: Kirsten Parker
Beatrice: Harriet Walter
Margaret: Sarah Ball
Ursula: Noma Dumezweni
Innogen: Cristina Barrierio
Boys: Daniel Hayward, Jack Snell, Nathaniel Barber, Alexander Morris
Friar Francis: William Whymper
The sexton: Julien Ball
Don Pedro: Clive Wood
Don John: Stephen Campbell-Moore
Count Claudio: John Hopkins
Signor Benedick: Nicholas le Prevost
Borachio: John Killoran
Conrade: Ian Drysdale
Balthasar: Julian Jensen
Dispatch rider: Steve Sarossy
Dogberry: Christopher Benjamin
Verges: Simon Scott
First watchman: Steve Sarossy
Second watchman: Israel Aduramo
Third watchman: Ross Waiton

Director: Gregory Doran
Design: Stephen Brimson Lewis
Lighting: Tim Mitchell
Music: Paul Englishby
Sound: John Leonard

2002-05-10 21:24:14