| Great Mix of Veteran and New Acting Talent |
At Mappa Mundi |
| Mappa Mundi/ Theatr Mwldan- Much Ado About Nothing , Aberystwyth Arts Centre , October 5, 2011 |
This summer director Josie Rourke set her “Much Ado About Nothing” in an early nineteen-eighties Gibraltar “a world of crisp navy uniforms, clear class distinctions and high-spirited post-Falklands partying.” Mappa Mundi director for this year Richard Nichols relocates Messina to a spacious between-the-wars garden terrace. While David Tennant made his entry on a golf buggy the soldiers of Mappa Mundi, Matthew Bulgo’s serious Don Pedro apart, enter in kilts. Carl Davies' set has a balustrade, wicker chairs, a little lamppost, a garden bench. Early on, the company joins for a Scottish-tinged courtly dance. In the evening light (lighting designer James Smith) below four swags of fairy lights the production achieves a deep elegiac quality. After the moral savagery of 2010’s “Dangerous Liaisons” this “Much Ado About Nothing” is pervaded with a sense of quiet likeableness. The cast features Mappa Mundi veterans but the company has also recruited three members of RWCMD’s class of 2011. Robin Waters gives to his Claudio a sense of vulnerability and shading from the outset. Rhys Downing’s baleful Don John lets his malice spill out in an alliterative line like “apply a moral medicine to a mortifying mischief.” Gwawr Loader, in her first professional role, lives up to the promise from her last production in April this year. Her playing of Hero, possessed of charm and stage presence, becomes all the more effective when the role turns to anguish. John Cording inhabits Leonato with an appearance of ease, an early chuckle of amiability leading to later pain. Liam Tobin’s Benedick, endowed with a crisp intelligence, still splutters out his drink when hearing that he is the object of Beatrice’s amorous interest. He puts on a growly “rrrrr” of frustration, takes a deep gulp of breath before pronouncing “honourable marriage.” “Much Ado about Nothing” comes with some characteristic Mappamundian touches. After noisily revealing his presence, Benedick covers himself with a loud “miaow.” Peter Knight’s music has piano and lilting guitar but also some Puccini, sung in German, on scratchy twenties vinyl. Nicola Reynolds doubles Margaret with the role of the Constable. In a jaunty performance she deals out to Gareth Pierce’s Borachio a hefty whack with her handbag. The production tours Wales until 3rd November and then England until end November. A note on the marketing; a mailing from Rhondda Cynon Taff has as a main sales point the declared cult status of the company. The company’s site promotion for this production reveals no detail of director or cast. Some clickery leads to an e-flyer, similarly tight-lipped, and more or less redundant in terms of additional audience information. There is pleasure to be had in anticipation. Names like Seymour, Cording and Tobin carry currency in theatre in Wales. A basic in marketing: no postures, just tell it as it is. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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