MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING; Shakespeare, touring till 30 August

Touring.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: Shakespeare.
Oddsocks Productions: Full Tour Info 01773 540962 www.oddsocks.co.uk.
Runs: 2h 30m: one interval: touring nationwide till 30th August.
Performance times: Mostly 7.30pm but varies with venue.
Review: Alan Geary: Nottingham: 24th July.

Perfect fare for a summer evening .
Oddsocks are famed for their trademark ad-libbing. One of the best bits came during the intro when David McClelland told us that actors play Nottingham twice - once on the way up and once on the way down. It was good to be back, he added.

It was a perfect summer’s evening and the company were on form. So was the huge audience: a party of ladies were out on a hen party and the bride-to-be was roped in to play a messenger, which added to the general merriment.

One problem was that, with such a large turn-out, audibility and visibility at the back were less than ideal. Another was that costumes tended to be similar. Moral - get there early.

Paul Mundell was a delight, both as the clueless Don Pedro (no hat) and “his bastard brother” the evil Don John (black hat). In the latter role, in response to the reaction he was getting, he used that “I’d much rather you gave me booze” line.

Phil Yarrow did Benedick with a beard, twinkling eyes and a Geordie accent; and Borachio, Don John’s henchman, as a hunchback with a sinister Spanish accent who literally licked his master’s boots whilst he was in them.

The scene, a crucial one, where Benedick and Beatrice (Kaitlin Howard) declare their real feelings for each other was done well. So were those hilarious eavesdropping scenes, which parallel each other, and the later trial scene. At one point an actor playing two people at one and the same time had to resort to carrying himself into court.

Directed, as ever, by Andy Barrow, this production wasn’t simply a ruinous take on Shakespeare. It lost a lot of the lines, granted, but it gave us the thrust and the spirit of the original.

And that versatile and authentic pageant wagon helped of course.

Jack Merrivale.
Paul Mundell.
Phil Yarrow.
Kaitlin Howard.
Charlie Wren.
David McClelland.

Director: Andy Barrow.

2008-07-25 19:38:44