(Theatre Royal Drury Lane, 20 March 2025)
What makes a production authentic is not a meticulous attachment to irrelevant paraphernalia but striving for whatever is required in order to replicate the audience’s reaction at the premiere. This striving may accommodate much of the original plot and text while nevertheless calling for cuts and alterations. The present production of Much Ado About Nothing manages to remain authentic in spite of retaining the plot and the text in their entirety. The original songs and dances, if any, had to go. Good riddance.
Shakespeare’s populist genius lies in addressing multiple audiences at once by writing in layers.
