Shakespeare is one of the best playwrights and poets in history. My favourite play is Much ado About Nothing which is on at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, so I was really looking forward to seeing how they could turn it into something different with a minimalistic set. Jamie Lloyd who directed it normally makes his sets very simple, but I am not sure if this quite worked out.
I was up at the balcony and when you first go into the theatre it feels like you are going into a nightclub. With blazing lights that are constantly in your eyes and a couple of disco balls. The ushers were dancing with their signs which I don’t mind, but people cheering before anything has happened was interesting but slightly bizarre.
A reminder of the story. Benedict (Tom Hiddleston) and Beatrice (Hayley Atwell) aren’t keen on each other and have this underlying banter between them but in the end they fall madly in love with each other. The other two protagonists are Claudio (James Phoon) and Hero (Mara Huf) who fall in love too, however their relationship is impacted by an unfounded accusation.
With the connection between Haley and Tom you felt the sparks fly but I did feel like that they were lacking the flirting banter which would have stepped the romance up a notch.
The dancing in Act is 1 not needed, but it worked for the masquerade ball section. However, it all got a bit silly with them wearing animal heads while prancing around. The Garden scene though did live up to expectations and was hilarious. Tom Hiddleston was superb in that scene, and you could tell that’s when the audience were getting into the story more. The monologues and their interactions are what made it good.
Act 2 is what brought it to life. The songs matched the mood and the storyline more and created more depth to the plot. It felt more organic, and they all grew into the performance.
I was impressed with Haley’s take on Beatrice. She is sharp, witty and contemptuous of Benedict’s self-importance, which Tom does well in portraying. Claudio was far by the best character, and he stole the show. He had the best lines and executed it incredibly well.
It is one of those shows that does not stay long in your mind, it is easily forgettable. Out of the shows that I have seen recently, and while you can’t compare them, for me I preferred Second Best and White Rose if I had to watch one of them again.
While you can’t deny the star power of the two leads and the great supporting cast, it was all glitz and not enough substance.
Slightly disappointing.
Yes, it had flaws. But the talent of the ensemble was amazing. They made it a daring but successful adaptation. Dancing with glitter balls just set the tone for something else that was becoming more serious as did the masks.How many ‘masks’ have been worn in Shakespeare plays? I think you should give credit to an amazing casting.