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Show: Much Ado About Nothing
Society: Shakespeare at The George
Venue: The George Hotel in Huntingdon. George Street, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 3AB
Credits: William Shakespeare
Type: Sardines
Author: Susan Elkin
Performance Date: 30/06/2023
Much Ado About Nothing
Susan Elkin | 01 Jul 2023 09:29am
Photo: Courtesy of Susan Elkin
Although the RSC’s Love’s Labours Won version gets my all-time accolade, this was one of the best accounts of this play I’ve seen in a long time. Almost every actor inhabits his/her role with powerful conviction and it’s thoughtfully and intelligently directed.
We’re firmly in 16th Century Tuscany with sumptuous costumes for the nobility so in a sense it’s very traditional although the mood is sparkily fresh. The text has been subtly cut and adapted to accommodate interesting ideas such as the reworking of Leonato’s brother, Antonio as his wife, Antonia. Josephine Hussey is thus able to play her very effectively as a feisty feminist.
Yes, this is a play about a malevolent, vindictive liar, Don John (Chris Hudson – pleasing) who manages to get poor maligned Hero (Katy Palmer – delightful) publicly jilted at the altar, but it is – as ever – Beatrice (Lynne Livingstone) and Benedick (Reuben Milne) who dominate.
Livingstone is brittly funny as she provokes him but she also brings a quiet, gentle vulnerability to the role. She subtly shows us her thoughts when she’s not centre stage, impressively giving this character lots of depth. All the clever repartee is evidently a cover for something else in Livingstone’s subtle interpretation. And her joy when she realises that they are, actually, made for each other is unexpectedly moving.
Milne is outstanding too. He swaggers and talks too much, setting himself up for obvious ridicule. The gulling scene, in which he swaps clothes with the gardener and creeps about with garden shears reacting incredulously to what he’s hearing, is the funniest version I’ve ever seen. When he finally stops Beatrice’s ever-talkative mouth with a kiss we know that that this really will be a marriage of true minds, albeit a relentlessly argumentative one.
There are some fine performances among the supporting roles too. Dean Laccohee gives us a pleasant, paternal Leonato. Geoffrey Kirkness, enjoyable as the tiresome windbag we all know, has fun as self-important Dogberry with his earnest Malapropisms. Rob Barton finds plenty of depth in Don Pedro whether he’s commanding the troops, having a laugh or being supportive.
A special word of praise for Rebecca Gilbert as flirty Margaret too. It was a good idea to show her emerging from a quick whatever in the bushes with Borachio (James Barwise – good) early in the play because it helps to make sense of happens later. When, at the aborted wedding, she realises that she has been used to set up Hero, she is utterly horrified and makes sure we see it. It’s an impeccably nuanced performance.
All this sits, as usual, very happily in the Jacobean courtyard at Huntingdon’s old coaching inn although the cramped raked seating doesn’t get any more comfortable. We’re enclosed on four sides and the balcony and side stairs are integral to Perry Incledon-Webber’s floral, garden-evoking set. Atmospheric music composed by Roy Ballass links scenes but I’m afraid it doesn’t sound very 16th century, I kept thinking it was about to launch into “The House of the Rising Sun” and sadly, the songs don’t come off although the final dance works well.
A production which makes the story telling as clear as this, with very line delivered incisively gets the audience chuckling continually, not just at stage business, but at Shakespeare’s original jokes. And § I think that’s really rather wonderful. Bravo Shakespeare at the George. Book me in for next year’s Hamlet please.
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Photo: Courtesy of Susan Elkin