It’s going to be tricky to write an entirely original review for this show as I’ve done reviews for both “Much Ado About Nothing” and a Jamie Lloyd production at the Theatre Royal in the past year. So anything I say about either the venue or the plot is going to be largely repeating myself. Which is why I sent a screenshot of my last review to the family during the interval when Nathan was questioning the logic of this plot. I maintain it makes no sense, even by Shakespeare’s standards.
But you know what makes sense? Casting Tom Hiddleston as Benedick. He is perfect in the role…sarcastic but tender and delivering the lines in a way that feels entirely natural to him. Hayley Atwell more than matches him when it comes to their battles of wit and the supporting cast are superb too. But let’s zoom out a bit first.
I had a few criticisms of “The Tempest” and I don’t think I was alone in that. The set was dreary, the pace was slow and there was a strange droning music throughout the whole thing. The shining light of that production was Mason Alexander Park as Ariel and again, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that.
Happily, Much Ado was almost the polar opposite of the grey Tempest set. The set was filled with pink petals, the dialogue was sharp and quick and the music….well, the music was a collection of 90s party tunes and power ballads. You can decide for yourself whether that’s something you like in your Shakespeare or not.
And Jamie Lloyd had obviously picked up on the “Mason-is-a-star” thing because the production both started and ended with them in a spotlight belting out one of the aforementioned tunes. I was reminded of Hedwig (and her Angry Inch) but only realised afterwards that Mason had indeed played that part before. I am not even a little surprised. Blonde hair, golden mic and diva moves…Hedwig could have walked straight out of that production into this.
Mason will indeed be a star and deserves all the recognition they get. I wonder if they are leant on a bit too heavily in this show, which already has star power in both its leads. Mason redeemed “The Tempest” but did this show need redeeming?
Because, quite honestly, that audience would have paid to see Tom Hiddleston just wandering around the stage winking at people for two hours. We were in the palm of his hand. He’s obviously most famous for his MCU role and Loki is a very Shakespearean kind of villain. So he slides naturally into this role, dispelling with one carefully placed hand all the mutterings around “stunt casting”. He deserves to be a West End leading man.
And Hayley Atwell fully deserves her place too. Beatrice must be a fun role to play, with all the snappy banter at the start and she punches every line out in a way that had Eva doing the theatre-appropriate version of “you go girl!”. The audience were an appreciative one, cheering every quip and laughing heartily. She makes the shift into lovelorn heroine well too and there’s real chemistry between the two leads.
The best bit of Much Ado is always the hiding sequence, where Benedict and then Beatrice “accidentally” overhear their friends talking about them. Both proved to be excellent at physical comedy in this sequence, with Tom rolling in the petals from the front of the stage to the back. There was much LOLing from Reuben and possibly even some thigh slapping from Eva.
There was also some great delivery of the lines in an unexpected way. Eva’s doing Much Ado at her Shakespeare class this term so she knows it well and her favourite bit was when he rephrased “love me! Why, it must be requited” to “love me! Why?” followed by a long pause before the next phrase. It was this kind of nimble handling of the text that made it just bounce along playfully and and engage even those who struggle with Shakespeare’s language.
So some of the changes were for pace and comedy. Others were for economy of casting, like the character of Ursula being absorbed into Mason’s character Margaret. There was no nightwatch or Dogberry, which some might miss, and one of the very last lines was given to Beatrice instead of Benedick so it is she who advises the Prince to “get a wife”. Mainly tho, it’s a fairly faithful rendering of the original.
The supporting cast all seemed very familiar from “The Tempest”, not just facially but also in terms of their characters. James Phoon and Mara Huf reprise their “young lovers making impulse decisions” roles, transposing from Miranda and Ferdinand to Hero and Claudio. Tim Steed is equally villainous here as “Bastard John” as he was as Antonio. However Forbes Masson is almost recognisable as Leonato, having been Caliban in the last production. He looks different with all his clothes on.
So far, so positive. Now for a few moans on the direction and staging. We were in balcony seats and had a great view of the stage, except the very front but that’s where some of the pivotal moments took place. You could tell that no one around us could see any of it because they were all leaning forward and stretching to try and see. On such a massive stage, I’m not sure why the action moved to the front edge so often. I don’t know whether the tier below us could see any better but literally hundreds of us couldn’t. Conversely, there were also moments when the lights illuminated the very back of the stage so you could see the fuse boxes and things like that, which took you out of the mood. I think this might have been a deliberate comment on the artifice of it all but it was a bit jarring.
There were also some odd shifts in mood in the sound and lighting, with the horns blaring to signify when lovers were reunited or other moments we were obviously meant to clap at. It was presumably to tie in with the 90s rave feel but felt like a heavy-handed cue for audiences to keep up with the plot. I also didn’t love the way that actors stood or sat silently when not in use, as if they were puppets waiting to re-enter the action. Again, there is probably something hugely symbolic in it but the use of school chairs made them look like they were just waiting in a corridor at parents’ evening.
On the whole though, this was hugely enjoyable and both the Marvel fanboy and the Shakespeare fangirl had a great time. We loitered around the stage door afterwards and caught a few glimpses of the stars but didn’t get to talk to them. Having been on the balcony, we were pretty much last out so joined a futile queue that security warned us would never get us in front of the Hidd’. So we made do with taking photos from across the road. Look, here’s Reuben and Tom pretty much together:
We weren’t expecting anything different, with movie-famous stars in the cast. So we were more than happy with just glimpses here and there of not only Tom but also Hayley Attwell, Mason Alexander Park and Tim Steed. I also explained to the kids the differences between this socially acceptable form of stalking celebrities and….other forms. So we’re all clear.
Nitpicks aside, this was a great night out for nerdy teens and their parents. It’s on till 5th April so get thee a ticket!
