Much Ado About Nothing, Theatre Royal Drury Lane. 1/3/2025

Shakespeare’s most popular comedy is the perfect romantic comedy: it’s got the two lovers who can’t function together because they’re both in love; and it’s got the ridiculous pairing between Hero and Count Claudio, and the drama when Hero is accused of secretly “speaking” to another man on the eve of her wedding.

It’s a lot of fun and the tragedy of Hero’s false allegation can be seen as what pulls Beatrice and Benedick together. Directors of the play have to come up with joyful conceits to make everything work. And the very stylish young Jamie Lloyd has decided that a 90s club musical is the way to go. As usual the stage is completely bare and there’s confetti and pulsing lights to go with the classic tracks—which are neatly placed between scenes for all of the first half. Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell are both fantastic in a performance which uses all the Shakespearean wit plus nods to the pair’s Marvel roles and Hiddleston’s reputation is being very popular with the ladies. There’s also the singing voice of Mason Alexander Park, who is Margaret, and who is the only cast member who sings seriously (and very well), having been the best thing in The Tempest.

With quite a large cast and all those set-pieces, it is easy to forget the lack of ‘stuff’ on stage. This is what Jamie Lloyd does, and you wonder where Benedick is going to hide himself when Don Petro, Claudio and Leonato have a conversation about Beatrice’s love. But it manages to be very entertaining, clever and funny.

I credit the cast though. Jamie Lloyd has pared back the script to make things move along a bit: the beginning is cut down, bewilderingly if you know the play. However, Much Ado depends on the comic Shakespearean ‘fools’, the ‘rude mechanical’ whose antics engineer the resolution of the story. But Dogberry and Verges are not in the story and the scene where Borachio accepts the money from Don John flies by so quickly, as if the subplot doesn’t really matter.

Make no mistake that this is a great production, and a hugely entertaining theatrical experience. However the second half of the play is leaden. Hero is meant to be hidden away, presumed to be dead as she is mourned by those who love her and those who mis-accused her. This is kind of relevant now in a post “Me Too” world but that’s not what this show is about. The play is a romantic comedy and its elements are put together in a way that’s worked before. There’s even a piece in the programme about the actor for whom the part of Dogberry was written, so the absence of the subplot is like leaving the apothecary out of Romeo & Juliet. Elsewhere removing characters turns Don John’s first scene into a soliloquy, which is bizarre but gets the point across. People are paying a lot of money to see this production of the play, and although it’s full of fun and joy and pink confetti, and with a big heart-shaped balloon, it’s less of the play than I wanted.