Much Ado About Nothing | Shakespeare’s Globe | ★★★☆☆

The success of a Much Ado hinges much on its Beatrice and Benedick. Lucky for The Globe’s new production, the duo are in safe hands with Pippa Nixon and Ken Nwosu, who deliver sardonism and japes, respectively, with exacting precision in this joyful production of one of Shakespeare’s best known comedies. 

While played in modern dress, this production is otherwise largely un-updated, and it’s a credit to the timelessness of the play, as well as its actors, that the dialogue alone is enough to have the Globe’s crowd in hysterics over 400 years on. Nwosu, in particular, is adept at using the power of his diction to translate 17th century quips into 21st century banter. When he moaned to the crowd “shall I never see a bachelor of three-score again?”, I actually saw a boy ahead of me do a Gen Z finger clap to his peers. 

The set is sparsely dressed because The Globe is the set and, like all its best productions, the actors make full use of its expanse. Beatrice serves barbs while hanging off the lower gallery and, in a comedic high point, Nwosu weaves through the audience as he hides from Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro, occasionally stealing programmes to shield himself.

At points the frivolity borders into excess, however, leaving the darker parts of the play feeling a little ridiculous. Joshua John’s Claudio starts out romcom lover-boy but descends into frenzied Heathcliff, brutally slamming Hero’s face into the wedding cake and then later rolling in her grave when he thinks her dead. These moments are jarring rather than affecting on account of the surrounding silliness; moments before the grave rolling, for instance, Claudio had been at the head of a high camp ensemble clad in sunglasses and stepping in formation. 

Likewise, the production at times reaches for strangeness but doesn’t fully commit: for the masquerade the characters are all dressed in formalwear with giant animal heads, the symbolism as simple as a lamb for Hero, and a snake for Don John. At points, it even veers into panto, and the audience obliges by booing Don John during the closing scene.

What the production lacks in shade, though, it makes up for in merriment. This is a jolly production with lots of laughs and a capable cast; and besides, on a sunny day in England, who really cares for shade?

Much Ado About Nothing plays at Shakespeare’s Globe until 24 October