How many of us have looked at our perpetually-single friends and thought “If only I could set them up with someone…”?
That temptation forms the central hook of The Watermill Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” – and much of the story revolves around the difficulties of executing the perfect matchmaking plan.
In this case, the lovers-to-be are Benedick (James Mack) and Beatrice (Katherine Jack) – perpetually sparring and totally at-odds with each other when the play begins.
Yet when new love blossoms between Hero (Thuliswa Magwaza) and Claudio (Fred Double), Claudio and Don Pedro (Jack Quarton) decide that Benedick deserve a share of the happiness too, and set out upon a set-up – enlisting the help of Hero, her father Leonato (Patrick Bridgman) and her handmaiden Margaret (Priscille Grace).
Yet when Leonarto’s sister Don John (Augustina Seymour) gets wind of the developments, she decides to throw their plans into turmoil with a series of unfounded allegations. Will Claudio believe her well-planted rumours that Hero is seeing someone else?
The challenge with any Shakespeare production is, of course, to bring something fresh and exciting to the source material – when a play has had thousands of productions across hundreds of years, audiences need a good reason to see another version.
The team behind The Watermill’s production have pulled out all the stops on this front. The action has the trappings of 1940s Hollywood, with the matchmaking ploy depicted as a production directed (sometimes quite literally) by Don Pedro. The play is seasoned with 1940s jazz classics, brilliantly performed by the cast and really embedding the playfully romantic spirit of the script.
And the humour! Usually I recoil from Shakespeare comedies (just how many times can a cross-dressing joke be played for laughs?!) but on this occasion The Watermill have knocked it out of the park.
Much of the laughs come courtesy of Dogberry (Hayden Wood) and his associate (Leigh Quinn, also playing several other roles). I won’t spoil the wonderful surprises they bring to this production, but suffice to say that this production reaches heights of hilarity hitherto only scaled for me by John Godber’s “Bouncers”.
So if you’re in the mood for a frothy, fun and rollicking production now that Spring is here – “Much Ado About Nothing” comes highly recommended, and runs from the 12th April – 18th May. Tickets can be booked at https://www.watermill.org.uk.
