Much Ado About Nothing

Published Friday 30 September 2005 at 10:45 by John Highfield

In a play that depends on light and shade, romance and tragedy, laughter and danger, director Josie Rourke takes an unsatisfyingly flat approach, making the title of this Shakespearean comedy drama suddenly seen unfortunately apt.

It’s all a question of finding a balance and it’s here that Rourke disappoints the most, aiming too much for light romance at the expense of the darker study of thwarted revenge that actually drives the story forward.

It doesn’t help that the production is made up of a series of ideas that never quite gel - there’s an all-purpose Mediterranean setting, an odd collection of British accents and even a group of suffragettes, a female variation on the Dogberry and Verges sub-plot that does nothing to enhance what is always an awkward attempt at comic relief and not one of Shakespeare’s more inspired comedy moments.

The vaguely Edwardian setting fails to establish what sort of war the soldiers might be returning from and there is certainly no sense of sexual tension.

But even more damaging still is the bland villainy of Don John - an anonymous Laurence Mitchell - which undermines the sense of bitterness and recrimination that might bring the story to life.

The famous Beatrice and Benedick story, an intelligent re-working of The Taming of the Shrew theme, at least survives with some of its spark still present. Sam West delivers a nice transformation from soldier to unlikely lover, particularly in the scene where he is set up by his friends, although he is perhaps never really the match for Claire Price’s intense, proud and passionate Beatrice.

Younger members of the cast fail to make much of an impression but there is good work from the seniors, particularly Nicholas Jones as the wounded and angry father Leonato, Tricia Kelly as a lively Ursula and Frances Cuka, who demonstrates what can be achieved with even the smallest comic moments.

The design by Giles Cadle is handsome and Neil Austin’s lighting adds atmosphere but this start to a new season and a new regime for Sheffield Theatres is a disappointment, never better than routine and far too polite for passion.