Much Ado About Nothing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Strike up, pipers!

Jamie Lloyd's second Shakespeare production at Drury Lane - Much Ado About Nothing - is a strong departure from its predecessor. Where The Tempest was marked by dark colours, tense atmospheres, and a stilted lead, Much Ado About Nothing is a sea of colours, laughs, and disco music. While still sporting a lot of Jamie Lloyd's minimalist styles, it proves that Shakespeare isn't just for stuffy academics in ivory towers and that you're allowed to have fun with the classics. And with Much Ado About Nothing always having been one of my favourite Shakespeare comedies - if not my actual favourite, in part due to how often I've seen the 2011 pro-shot with David Tennant and Catherine Tate - I was pleasantly surprised with just how much I enjoyed myself.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*

My Review:

There are separate reasons why each of Shakespeare's plays have survived as long as they have. For Much Ado, a lot of its charm and longevity comes from the core dynamic between Benedick and Beatrice. Two rivals in wit, who are implied to have a romantic past together ("Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one"), are pushed into a romantic entanglement by their meddling friends. A tale as old as time, if you will, and one that still survives in many a romance novel (or fanfiction, if you're so inclined) to this day.

Of course, there are multiple other plotlines that run along this tale, though Jamie Lloyd and his Shakespeare editor Jonathan Glew have trimmed some of these plotlines substantially. The storyline between Claudio and Hero is left mostly intact, with their courtship, Hero's 'dishonour' and 'death', and their subsequent reunion occurring with little to no deviation. One of Hero's waiting gentlewomen, Ursula, is cut from the play, but this character rarely survives adaptations, her few essential lines are often reattributed to Margaret; Hero's other waiting gentlewoman.

However, in Jamie Lloyd's aim to trim the play to 2 hours and make it accessible to those unfamiliar with The Bard's work, they have made significant cuts to the storyline of Don John. Treasonous brother of Don Pedro, he has been captured at war and is being held at Messina while the wedding between Claudio and Hero is being planned. It is his plotting that leads to Claudio and Don Pedro's belief that Hero has been unfaithful, and in Shakespeare's original version he eventually gets captured by Dogberry; absent from Jamie Lloyd's version. Dogberry is the constable in charge of Messina's night watch, and also the comic relief. With that, his omission from the play becomes understandable; there are other means to have Don Pedro brought to justice, and Jamie Lloyd has added enough laughs to the story that Dogberry seems superfluous. It does, however, give Tim Steed fewer chances to shine as his role is also cut, which is a shame.

Aside from some cuts to the script, what sets this production apart is not just its setting (the ambiguous 'a party', as the script describes), but its music, and its level of self-awareness. Its leads are Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell, stunning actors in their own right but who are both best known for their roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Norse god Loki and Agent Peggy Carter. They allude to this with cardboard cut-outs of said characters during the first act in a very tongue-in-cheek manner, much to the audience's delight.

Even so, the talent of both of these actors shines through, and they manage to break free from these past characters very easily. Hayley Atwell is a tour de force as Beatrice, sharp and witty and emotional in all the right moments, and her Act 2 monologue ("O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place.") remains my personal highlight of the show. Tom Hiddleston's Benedick is suave and charming, and you can see Hiddleston is an experienced Shakespeare actor, delivering all of Benedick's emotional moments with the gravitas they require. As for the comedic aspects of the role, however, I feel Hiddleston relies too strongly on charming the fangirls in the audience to get a laugh as opposed to any natural wit, though I might just not be the target audience for that particular portrayal.

Reprising similar roles from The Tempest, Mara Huf and James Phoon shine even stronger in Much Ado than in their previous production. Phoon delivers stunning monologues as Claudio, and Huf's choice to make Hero have an almost valley-girl like accent is nothing short of genius. Often an ignored duo compared to Benedick and Beatrice, I've never had more fun watching Hero and Claudio than with Huf and Phoon portraying them, and I am keen to see where these two will go next.

Jamie Lloyd's style of 'radical listening' also works much better in this production than it did in the Tempest. Rather than walking into a tense, stormy sea, you walk into an actual party, complete with party music, discoballs, and flashing lights as soon as you enter the theatre. The lack of backdrop - while still distracting - is less obvious this round due to the more distracting pink confetti and the stronger performances of the cast overall, and with fewer essential set pieces their omission is less noticeable. The inclusion of dance and music, attempting to make it in line with how Shakespeare's plays used to be performed while modernising the piece at the same time, are well-chosen, and within the first 5 minutes of the play's start you know exactly what you're in for; a fun and none too serious night at the theatre. This is exactly how a production of Much Ado About Nothing should feel.

In short, Jamie Lloyd's Much Ado is more than worthy of the praise it's been getting. It is almost a redemption of sorts for Lloyd, who shows that - despite his minimalist style - he knows how to have fun with a production. The cast is beyond impressive, and while there are minor aspects that leave something to be desired, I would recommend this to anyone who just wants to see something fun.

Content Warnings:

The theatre did not have any displayed content warnings that I could see, however, I did make note of moments or effects that I felt should be mentioned, which are as follows:

Bright and Flashing Lights during the pre-show and the interval
Loud Noises (to emulate that they are inside of a club)
Themes of Misogyny
Depictions of Sexual Acts
Alcohol Consumption

Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope this review has proved interesting and helpful for you :)

- AnxiousTheatregoer