REVIEW: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at The Actor’s Church, on tour 7 June – 27 July 2024

‘Much ado on a midsummer’s night’ ★★★

Claudio falls in love with Hero – at first sight of course. Claudio’s “boss” Don Pedro decides to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf – not sure why. Meanwhile, Don Pedro’s bitter brother Don John – there’s always one of those - decides to foil the plan by making it look like Hero is not as pure as she seems. Claudio dumps Hero at the altar which causes her to die – apparently - but this being a comedy, all is not as it seems. Meanwhile sparring partners Beatrice and Benedick realise their spikey relationship hides a love for each other that they discover through the play.

I’m guessing the plot of Much Ado About Nothing might have made more sense in Shakespeare’s time, but it is nevertheless a feel-good romp of a play, though this production was less of a romp than I think the cast and director intended.

We caught this touring production in the Church Yard of St Paul’s Church (the Actor’s Church) in Covent Garden on a perfect midsummer’s night. The actors heroically battled screeching street performers from Covent Garden Piazza, traffic noise and helicopters overhead, though St Paul’s clocktower provided some wonderfully timed bongs, adding to the humour of the piece.

Katrina Michaels stole the show as Margaret, and also as the bumbling night watch leader Dogberry. She had clearly mastered the balance between the heightened energy needed for an outdoor performance while keeping true to the characters she was playing. She was hilarious as Dogberry and had a clear and pure singing voice to boot.

Some actors fared better than others with the challenge of performing outdoors, combining the ability to project their voices with maintaining the nuance of the lines and the verisimilitude of their characters.  Shout outs to Ryan Williams as Don Pedro, Lewis Jenkins as Claudio and Martin South as Benedick.

The music in outdoor productions can bring an injection of energy, when there are no fancy sets or lighting to fall back on. In this case it acted as more of a drag than an enhancement, but this could be easily fixed by picking up the tempo in most of the musical numbers. The opening song was a case in point. A classic Neapolitan tune – which for those in the know would have helped locate the play in Southern Italy – with lyrics plagiarised from the well-known folk song “Soldier, soldier, will you marry me”, was aimed to get the audience energised, with some audience participation too, but the song went on too long and was too slow to achieve the desired effect.

I loved some of Director Simona Hughes’ ideas but was longing for her to go deeper with them. E.g. Don Pedro and his crew were introduced to us as a Mafia gang at the start of the play, but their gangster connections were not explored further. E.g. The normally minor characters of Margaret and Boracio were turned into puppeteer-like figures, orchestrating the drama, but it was not clear to what end and how their plotting made them feel. Hughes’ instincts were great, and I would urge her to have the courage of her convictions and just go for it.

Moving Parts Theatre Company’s production of Much Ado About Nothing was a pleasant way to spend midsummer’s evening, but it had the potential to be so much more.

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Moving Parts Theatre Company, Touring at various venues, 7 June 2024 to 27 July, for more information: https://movingpartstheatre.com/whats-on/

Performers: Katrina Michaels, Will Beynon, Joanna Nevin, Martin South, Thissy Dias, Ryan Williams, Keith Hill, Lewis Jenkins, Andy Canadine

Composer: Tamara Douglas Morris

Director: Simona Hughes

Movement Director: Chris Evans

Choreographer: Nevana Stojkov

Company: Moving Parts Theatre Company

Reviewer: Srabani Sen

Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full length plays. Her play Tawaif was longlisted for the ETPEP Finborough award, and her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.