Much Ado About Nothing at The Old Vic

When I got on the bus afterwards there was a couple sitting next to me who had also just seen the play. They were discussing an email that the girl had received from her boss, not the play. That, to me, summed it up.

There are a number of people that I know, who would have considered this production to be almost perfect. It was clean and tidy, the costumes were nice, the acting was competent, it made sense out of Shakespeare and there was a dancing curtain call.
I, however, would have to agree with the title, in that any hype surrounding this play could only be much ado about nothing.

There was a slow start, I struggled to get into the story, it all seemed very general, very bland, very beige, from the set to the costumes to the acting. There were some nice 'pictures' set up, by that I mean if someone was to take a camera shot at the set at any one time the actors would be neatly balanced and it would look really quite good. But the whole production was rather two dimensional and completely lacking in soul or heart. I found myself watching scene changes and background acting avidly, most likely because the main scenes were just too boring.

There were some highlights however. I absolutely loved the song, performed by Kingsley Ben-Adir as Borachio. I am always a fan of the harmonica and the blues and this song was beautifully and hauntingly sang and amusingly accompanied by the ukelele. The dancing in the background, however, was far too distracting from what I considered to be the best moment of the play. We should have been given permission to enjoy that song without slapstick being thrown all over it.

The children also were a highlight whenever they appeared, but particularly at the start of the second half when we see them sitting, facing away from us towards the police officer. Some fantastic comic timing from Katherine Carlton as Beryl made me laugh out loud. I also liked the physicality of Beth Cooke who played Hero, particularly in the scene where her and the nurse were trimming the hedges and talking about Benedick's love for Beatrice. This was one of the better scenes, but again, it was a good scene in the old fashioned sense of a good play, my old drama teacher would have loved it, as would my grandparents. For me it was still lacking something.

I started to wonder if it was the subject matter that was causing me disinterest. As a Shakespeare comedy, much of the humour comes from hiding and overhearing and mistaken identities and I started to wonder if these were types of humour that are no longer relevant to a modern audience. I find it hard to suspend disbelief in these situations – just because someone wears a mask does not mean that you cannot recognise who it is. But then if the production was given more meaning, a more specific context and a bit more oomph, it should be made as relevant to a modern audience as a Jacobean one. 

I haven't even mentioned the lead actors, Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. I have seen a couple of films recently with Vanessa Redgrave, Blow Up and Trojan Women, both of which were superb, so I had very high hopes to see her perform at this stage in her career. I found her to be engaging to watch, her voice carried well up to the top circle and she had a nice spirit about her. It was all a bit 'safe' and for her generation, which is great for those viewers, just not so inspiring for me. As for James Earl Jones, I am aware of his accolades, however I spent many of his speeches worrying that he would not make it through. It was clear that he and Vanessa had a lovely friendship between them, it was just unfortunate that this was a little too obvious.

In all I found this production to be bland, confusing in context and lacking in anything that truly sparked my interest. I am sure that these actors are good but this production just did not show them at their best. I have been dying to see the Joss Whedon film of this play which had more excitement in the trailer as this show had in the full play. I would recommend this if you want to take your grandparents to a play that is safe and nice and beige. I would not recommend this as a play that will add anything new to your life.

With apologies... ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Much Ado About Nothing runs at The Old Vic, London until 30^th November 2013.