THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By William Shakespeare
Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Catherine St, London WC2B 5JF until April 5, 2025
www.lwtheatres.co.uk/whats-on/much-ado-about-nothing/
After the debacle of the Sigourney Weaver Tempest Jamie Lloyd Company is back for the second of its three productions bringing Shakespeare back to the venerable stage of Drury Lane. This one is a triumph.
He's got two things right here, the star casting features two Marvel megastars Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell (the crowds at the stage door are stopping the traffic every night) and his regular designer, Soutra Gilmour, has come up trumps with a concept that's insanely simple yet perfect and unforgettable.
In years to come, discussing Shakespeare lore, people will ask 'did you see the pink one at Drury Lane'? When confronted with this cavernous space Gilmour decided bravely to leave it empty except for confetti, and it works. The confetti is pink and it rains down in profusion at varying speeds and intensities into a space lit with strobe lighting and augmented by dry ice. What you end up with is a club night in a hangar, perhaps on Valentine's Day as the stage is dominated for one scene by a ginormous heart balloon.
The club vibe hits you as soon as you enter the auditorium with the sound system blasting out '90s club classics. If that was your era you will wallow in greats like 'What is Love?'. Tom was on Graham Norton and showed he could move like Jagger,
which I suspect was an inspiration here. Lloyd's idea to reimagine the party atmosphere of the first act as a club night allows Hiddleston and this wonderfully androgynous ensemble off the leash, and they relish it. Choreographer Fabian Aloise's club moves are spot on but not too perfect. Tom verges into Dad Dancing at times which is cheekily irreverent. Gilmour's costumes couldn't be more perfectly judged, fusing street and nightclub with Hero's iPhone accessorizing a highlight.
Personally, I've never warmed to Beatrice and Benedict as characters, despite their secure place in the canon and providing the template for every Romcom thereafter. I always found them smug and conceited, but here the sparkling wit and bon mots are bearable because Hiddleston and Atwell are so sincerely appealing, therefore the wit takes flight. They're movie stars for a reason, he flashes his abs, and the chemistry is palpable. He also has the skill to make verse seem natural while understanding the poetry. She too is remarkable and her anger and indignation at the treatment of Hero is truly affecting and makes the second act work. The famous Kill Claudio
line, sadly, raises laughs here but that's because most of this audience could be on ketamine.
The '90s club vibe works a treat for the first Act and the layers of plotting around mistaken identities and being overheard utilize not traditional carnival masks but hilarious 'Masked Singer' type creations. The scene where a series of couples dance, and it's all punctuated with banter, is straight out of those ballroom scenes in The Muppets, in a good way.
But what about the second half where all the drama kicks in? Claudio (a twinkly James Phoon) thinks he's seen Hero (Mara Huf) being romanced by another and so damns her and cancels the nuptials. This is the catalyst for Beatrice and Benedict's own romance to be tested. Lloyd doesn't alter this and with this ensemble it has dramatic punch, before the much anticipated happy ending.
Most of the supporting cast here were also in The Tempest and they are great. Forbes Masson looks like a dodgy retired nightclub owner lately settled back in Magaluf while Mason Alexander Park and his diamante mic again steals the show with some cracking Diva vocals, this time to Backstreet Boys.
In its best moments this show reaches the transcendence you only truly get in a great musical and Lloyd's genius here is to be true to the story while giving it a modern spin, which is never forced.
