The Stage on Much Ado About Nothing, June 18 2004
Much Ado About Nothing
Lottery funding has helped Bristol restore the city’s historic Queen Square into what many consider to be the most perfect Georgian square in Europe. It is an ideal setting for open-air theatre as the British Touring Shakespeare company discovered when opening their 2004 summer tour before a sell-out audience on a balmy June evening.
Artistic director Miles Gregory obviously thinks Much Ado is tailor-made for undemanding al fresco entertainment, for this is the company’s second essay at Shakespeare’s tale of ironies, practical jokes and eventual true love in the last four years. His 12-strong cast take exactly the right light-hearted approach, only sketching in the darker side of Claudio’s violent reaction to the apparent promiscuity of his betrothed and Leonato’s hardness towards his beloved daughter and only child.
In addition to directing, Miles Gregory teams attractively with Daisy Douglas in the Benedick and Beatrice roles, the only two characters who behave like loving human beings, although Thomas Mallaburn (Claudio) and Devon Black (Hero) speak up strongly for young love at the start and finish. Asa Joel (Don Pedro) and David Pomerantz (Leonato) bring a touch of nobility to proceedings, but Josh Cass and Tom Stevens, as special constables Dogberry and Verges, can make nothing of undoubtedly the unfunniest comic double act in the Folio.
Jeremy Brien
