December 12, 2007
This is an outstanding production of one of Shakespeare’s best–loved comedies. It was completely sold out last night, so rush along and get tickets if you can. Tomahawk Productions is a company that interestingly combines “town” with “gown” so that you get some actors who aren’t students and can be variously aged. Their interpretation of Much Ado included the sensible casting of somewhat older actors to play Beatrice and Benedick, while Claudio and Hero are lissome slips of things. They achieved a very light and sparkling feeling, mixing the dazzling repartee with superbly choreographed and timed physical action (and some very pretty dancing) which did not in the least detract from the more serious issues unfolded in the play, or the potentially tragic consequences of the slander of Hero.
Clare Denton was a simply wonderful Beatrice, easily the equal of Emma Thompson in the movie; she was beautiful, she was charming, she was warm, and she had a kind of volcanic core of rage inside her which made her response to the public humiliation of her cousin absolutely believable although it was fiercely controlled – she is the only actress I have ever seen in this part who uttered that stunning line: “Oh, God! That I were a man – I would eat his heart in the market place!” without even raising her voice, and yet it was utterly compelling and powerful. I once had the pleasure of seeing her enchanting the audience of the OUP Christmas Show as Lara Croft – I mean people actually fell off their seats she was so funny – and I’m delighted she has had an opportunity to show the range and depth of her huge acting talent with this role. This Benedick was a splendid foil to her, a tall rangy tease hiding his vulnerability with jokes.
But the revelation of this production comes, rather surprisingly, with the younger couple, Claudio and Hero. Claudio is a very difficult part to inhabit successfully, because when all’s said and done, and we all understand that he wouldn’t have been so mean to Hero if he hadn’t been deceived by Don John, still it is actually Claudio’s own idea to have this immensely cruel and humiliating public rejection and denunciation of the girl he is supposed to be in love with. It’s quite hard to find the motivation for doing that in such a way as to not completely lose the sympathy of a modern audience (albeit last night’s was principally composed of teenage girls, for some reason, who I suspect would forgive this Claudio quite a lot – he is gorgeous). Usually Claudio is played as someone too young and callow to understand the consequences of his actions – this is the rather unsatisfactory solution adopted in Branagh’s otherwise excellent movie version – but here they went instead for a Claudio who is a man of very deep feelings. He is dreadfully wounded by Hero’s supposed betrayal, which makes his over-reaction understandable; and he suffers so terribly when he thinks Hero is dead that you do feel he has been punished enough. He was also very good at the comedy. His Hero was a ravishingly beautiful creature who suffered and triumphed exquisitely well.
The costumes were Edwardian, though the music was definitely not, which was a bit puzzling; and the director, clearly a very able chap (Ali Nunn) played Dogberry dressed as a geography teacher circa 1977, which was even more puzzling. The uniforms sported by the soldierly male characters were extremely appealing, and one felt slightly disappointed that they couldn’t find a nice frock for Beatrice that would fit properly. But these are teeny quibbles – for the meat of the play, it was first class and extremely enjoyable.
Clare Denton was a simply wonderful Beatrice, easily the equal of Emma Thompson in the movie; she was beautiful, she was charming, she was warm, and she had a kind of volcanic core of rage inside her which made her response to the public humiliation of her cousin absolutely believable although it was fiercely controlled – she is the only actress I have ever seen in this part who uttered that stunning line: “Oh, God! That I were a man – I would eat his heart in the market place!” without even raising her voice, and yet it was utterly compelling and powerful. I once had the pleasure of seeing her enchanting the audience of the OUP Christmas Show as Lara Croft – I mean people actually fell off their seats she was so funny – and I’m delighted she has had an opportunity to show the range and depth of her huge acting talent with this role. This Benedick was a splendid foil to her, a tall rangy tease hiding his vulnerability with jokes.
But the revelation of this production comes, rather surprisingly, with the younger couple, Claudio and Hero. Claudio is a very difficult part to inhabit successfully, because when all’s said and done, and we all understand that he wouldn’t have been so mean to Hero if he hadn’t been deceived by Don John, still it is actually Claudio’s own idea to have this immensely cruel and humiliating public rejection and denunciation of the girl he is supposed to be in love with. It’s quite hard to find the motivation for doing that in such a way as to not completely lose the sympathy of a modern audience (albeit last night’s was principally composed of teenage girls, for some reason, who I suspect would forgive this Claudio quite a lot – he is gorgeous). Usually Claudio is played as someone too young and callow to understand the consequences of his actions – this is the rather unsatisfactory solution adopted in Branagh’s otherwise excellent movie version – but here they went instead for a Claudio who is a man of very deep feelings. He is dreadfully wounded by Hero’s supposed betrayal, which makes his over-reaction understandable; and he suffers so terribly when he thinks Hero is dead that you do feel he has been punished enough. He was also very good at the comedy. His Hero was a ravishingly beautiful creature who suffered and triumphed exquisitely well.
The costumes were Edwardian, though the music was definitely not, which was a bit puzzling; and the director, clearly a very able chap (Ali Nunn) played Dogberry dressed as a geography teacher circa 1977, which was even more puzzling. The uniforms sported by the soldierly male characters were extremely appealing, and one felt slightly disappointed that they couldn’t find a nice frock for Beatrice that would fit properly. But these are teeny quibbles – for the meat of the play, it was first class and extremely enjoyable.