Much ado about Nothing
Thu, 27 Aug 2009, 08:26 amGordon the Optom1 post in thread
Much ado about Nothing
Thu, 27 Aug 2009, 08:26 am‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ is Shakespeare’s wildest sex romp comedy, and is presented nightly at 7.30, by the Black Swan State Theatre Company at the Playhouse Theatre, 3 Pier Street, Perth until the 5th September. Several matinees.
It is autumn in the Italian town of Messina, we join Leonato (Michael Loney) in the forest having a picnic with his relatives and friends - a cast of thousands - whilst they await the return of their soldiers from the wars. Don Pedro (Steve Turner) brings his warriors home safely.
One of the more shy soldiers, Claudio (Stuart Halusz), bewildered by love, is ‘given’ the beautiful Hero (Shubhadra Young) as a marital reward. On the other hand, feisty Beatrice (Kirsty Hillhouse, magnificent) has, all of her life, gained pleasure from taunting and annoying Benedick (Kenneth Ransom) – no prizes for guessing what the name Bene dick means.
On the eve before Hero’s wedding, Leonato arranges for some security guards (Luke Hewitt, Elizabeth Blackmore and Irma Woods) led by madman Dogberry (Geoff Kelso, at his very best) to protect his grounds. When Don John (Austin Castiglione) tells his colleagues that he has seen a strange man entering the bedroom of Hero, as he has for the past thousand nights, then the trouble really starts.
Will the wedding go smoothly? What will become of Benedick's dislike of Beatrice?
The play’s title is a homophone and double-entendre, it can mean much ado about ‘noting’, old English for spying, and indeed the eavesdropping sequences when friends were trying to get Beatrice and Benedick together were especially funny. The other meaning, ‘an O-thing’ was slang for a vagina, and not surprisingly this is the main theme of the script – those who had desires and those may have misused theirs. The story is filled with sexual reference, which, by the audience’s silences at key points, I gather were mainly lost. Whilst the enunciation was strong and clear, Shakespeare often benefits from manual and bodily hints as to the meaning of certain passages, which in this play were often replaced by simply outstretched hands.
Kenneth Ransom’s Benedick, who was played like a cross between Eddie Murphy and Blackadder, gave a quirky lift to the storyline.
The performances were all strong, under the guidance of director Kate Cherry who managed to produce a blend of hilarity, with a dramatic funeral and stunning choreography.
Christina Smith’s forest set was breathtaking, with its central tree – branches spreading out into the auditorium – was reminiscent of a Manet painting ‘The picnic’. Her costume design was also inventive and impressive. Coupled with David Murray’s remarkable lighting design of autumnal colours, and creepy woodland night scenes gave a visually stunning result.
Sound designer, Ash Gibson Greig, produced a subtle blend of bird noises with hauntingly delicate flute and harp music.
Most enjoyable.
‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ is Shakespeare’s wildest sex romp comedy, and is presented nightly at 7.30, by the Black Swan State Theatre Company at the Playhouse Theatre, 3 Pier Street, Perth until the 5th September. Several matinees.
It is autumn in the Italian town of Messina, we join Leonato (Michael Loney) in the forest having a picnic with his relatives and friends - a cast of thousands - whilst they await the return of their soldiers from the wars. Don Pedro (Steve Turner) brings his warriors home safely.
One of the more shy soldiers, Claudio (Stuart Halusz), bewildered by love, is ‘given’ the beautiful Hero (Shubhadra Young) as a marital reward. On the other hand, feisty Beatrice (Kirsty Hillhouse, magnificent) has, all of her life, gained pleasure from taunting and annoying Benedick (Kenneth Ransom) – no prizes for guessing what the name Bene dick means.
On the eve before Hero’s wedding, Leonato arranges for some security guards (Luke Hewitt, Elizabeth Blackmore and Irma Woods) led by madman Dogberry (Geoff Kelso, at his very best) to protect his grounds. When Don John (Austin Castiglione) tells his colleagues that he has seen a strange man entering the bedroom of Hero, as he has for the past thousand nights, then the trouble really starts.
Will the wedding go smoothly? What will become of Benedick's dislike of Beatrice?
The play’s title is a homophone and double-entendre, it can mean much ado about ‘noting’, old English for spying, and indeed the eavesdropping sequences when friends were trying to get Beatrice and Benedick together were especially funny. The other meaning, ‘an O-thing’ was slang for a vagina, and not surprisingly this is the main theme of the script – those who had desires and those may have misused theirs. The story is filled with sexual reference, which, by the audience’s silences at key points, I gather were mainly lost. Whilst the enunciation was strong and clear, Shakespeare often benefits from manual and bodily hints as to the meaning of certain passages, which in this play were often replaced by simply outstretched hands.
Kenneth Ransom’s Benedick, who was played like a cross between Eddie Murphy and Blackadder, gave a quirky lift to the storyline.
The performances were all strong, under the guidance of director Kate Cherry who managed to produce a blend of hilarity, with a dramatic funeral and stunning choreography.
Christina Smith’s forest set was breathtaking, with its central tree – branches spreading out into the auditorium – was reminiscent of a Manet painting ‘The picnic’. Her costume design was also inventive and impressive. Coupled with David Murray’s remarkable lighting design of autumnal colours, and creepy woodland night scenes gave a visually stunning result.
Sound designer, Ash Gibson Greig, produced a subtle blend of bird noises with hauntingly delicate flute and harp music.
Most enjoyable.