QTC's 'Much Ado About Nothing' is a piece of fun from the cork-popping beginning to the party end (with Borachio and Don John boogying along outside on the ever-revolving set.)
There's much to like in this modern tropical setting of romantic comedy and the cast are evidently at pains to convey the meaning of Shakespeare's words as well as celebrate the humour. Those who have doubted his comedy because of the language barrier may well be pleasantly converted.
Like all great sets, this one is quite simple and flexible, with shutters providing both a flexible separation between inside and outside scenery (it revolves between the two) and between being in the scene or hovering on the edge. It deftly enables the plot devices and provides ample opportunity for comic business alongside: snoopers can fall over furniture, show and hide themselves by adjusting the blinds, and generally fulfil the need for everyone to pretend they could be over-hearing 'truths' unobserved!
This is a version playing predominantly – and sometimes too much – for laughs. A camp and petulant Don John is very amusing but his actions become trivialised without malicious motivation. Only at the last moment does Hero's double-take ask us to think about what could have been and what is unmasked in the other characters by 'the bastard' Don John.
Overall it's a very pretty romp with most characters performing admirably. It raises some interesting casting issues though. Bryan Probets, whose verse finally flowed when he got angry, seemed too young for Leonato alongside the rest of the cast. There is some sense in the highly experienced actors Christen O'Leary and Hugh Parker playing Beatrice and Benedick (as it's a hard job to communicate the meaning of the witticisms and keep the action going as they do) but they are too old.
O'Leary's Beatrice was too knowing, not 'very merry' with can't-catch-me mischief. Parker's playing of Benedick's skittish vacillation is still funny but too ridiculous. It's not that older people can't play the battle of the sexes, exude excitement and fall in love (Shakespeare gave us Anthony and Cleopatra for that) but the over-confident innocence of youth is hard to convincingly portray when you're not. We laugh at them but do not really warm to them.
The production incorporates a fair bit of song, some from the Bard, some not, to excellent effect. There is also a fair bit of adaptation of the text and condensation of roles, so Shakespeare purists are bound to shake heads. However making Dogberry and Verges into female characters was a stroke of genius that not only evens out the sexes in the casting but also results in a young matron excited to hear her orders: "if you meet the prince in the night, you may stay him"! Liz Buchanan and Megan Shorey give superb performances putting the belly ache back into the roles.
The cast is generally strong at communicating the verse, but unfortunately much of Shakespeare's idiom is alien to modern audiences. So QTC's occasionally modernised text probably helps the average theatre-goer enjoy the play. Moreover we can't know how precious about the 'text' actors originally were. Shakespeare, the wordsmith extraordinaire, might well approve of this renewal to convey his ideas to the populus!
'Much Ado About Nothing' performs Queensland Performing Arts Centre until 15 May.
★★★1/2
