Much Ado About Nothing

Maldon Drama Group is always a friendly one to visit, with a wonderful front of house led by Linda Adair and her team. We always appreciate the kind consideration that we are given and the hospitality offered.

For their summer production they chose Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”.  Having previously wanted to produce this show in April 2020, the pandemic arrived and this show was put on hold until now. They had decided at that time, to mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of VE day, by setting it in that period. While the scene was delivered on stage, by having a street party outside “The Swan” pub, with the boys coming home to marry their sweethearts.

Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" is a light hearted comedy with all the ingredients you come to expect from The Bard. There are two young couples in love, feuding brothers, soldiers loyalties and an all’s well that ends well ending, to please the audience of any era.

The set was simple but worked well, with two trestle tables covered in white table cloths, laden with food and jugs of flowers. Bunting and coloured lights hung overhead, while a small round table, with chairs, stage right, were all that was needed to set the scene, giving the cast plenty of room to move around.

Costumes seemed very basic with the men all in white shirts and black trousers while the women were in colourful dresses.  I must admit I would have liked to have seen the men in uniform, especially the Prince, Don Pedro and his brother, Don John, to denote their rank. A change of dress for Hero in the wedding scene may have been considered.

We meet the landlady of The Swan, Leonata (Karen Smith) who is a feisty strong minded lady, running a tight ship at her establishment but who adores her daughter. Karen was a little quiet at the beginning and needed to come down stage more while projecting but she got into her stride, blasting Don John and Claudio in her daughters defence. Touches of Barbara Winsor here, with an East End element, adding to her landladies’ role.

Her daughter Hero was played by talented actress Heather Sims. This actress knows how to project and had crystal clear clarity of speech so that we heard every word. This role needs the actress to be naïve and almost simple with very little to show for her character until she is defamed by Don John for sleeping with other men. Heather was super in this role and made it her own.  She also played Seacole in a very strange black beard; nonetheless she had great fun in that role.

Her love interest is Claudio a young soldier played by Chris Selden.  I don’t think that I have seen this young actor before but he gave a credible performance and also played the guitar very well. Just a shame he lost his way in the scene where they are extolling the virtues of Beatrice knowing that Benedict was listening behind them. The prompt certainly had his work cut out during that scene. Despite this Chris projected and sung well.

Beatrice is a marvellous role to play for any actress. Strong minded and not taking any nonsense, she refuses to think about marrying but in the end is tricked by the others into realising her love for Benedict.  Just like Kate in “Taming of the Shrew”, this character finally bows to her male lover. Michelle Edgington really gave us this character but again she was a little quiet, especially when upstage. With only four floor mics, all the cast need to project to the large auditorium and gallery or wear radio mics if they cannot do this. Michelle gave us a moving performance but I did find it hard sometimes to hear what she was saying. Once she came centre stage then we were able to hear the wonderful speeches that this character is given. I did like the clever use of the towels during the scene when Hero and Ursula are talking about Benedict’s love for her, especially when they peg up some washing whilst Beatrice is holding up a towel.

Benedick played by the competent Neil Smith, projected clearly and although at the very beginning, spoke rather quickly, maybe due to nerves, came into his own and gave us a strong performance. He worked well with Michelle; their performances together were well acted and believable.

Scott Peters is always reliable to have on stage. He certainly knows how to project and has stage presence. I really would have liked him to have some form of costume to denote his status though. His brother Don John was blind casted and given to Ghislaine Davis. This is the second time that Ghislaine has had to act as a man and she does a fine job with stance and voice. I would have liked her to be a little more evil with her henchmen Borachio (Chris Pond) and Conrade (Trevor Hammond) though.  I’m afraid I did not hear most of what Borachio or Conrade said as clarity of speech was a bit of a problem for Chris and Trevor; they were really quiet.  Trevor also played the Friar. Again wireless mics would have helped.

Dogberry, the commander of the town’s Home Guard (Dedric Smith) with Verges (Ian McDonald) and Seacole (Heather Sims), gave us the comedy element of the show as the bumbling trio. A notice, with ‘I’m an Ass’ written on it, was stuck on Dogberry’s back unknowing to him but this must be shown to the audience right at the start so that they are aware of the joke. Unfortunately this was not immediately obvious; as a result the joke didn’t quite work.

 I loved the small role of The Sexton acted by Gill Peregrine.  Here is an experienced actress who can project and speak clearly.  This was a lovely cameo performance.

Last but not least are the maids Margaret and Ursula.  Fabienne Hanley as Ursula has the hard job of having the smallest female role but her exuberance and excitement of being back on stage gave her the character she needed.  Nice to see her given a good speech towards the end of the show when she lambasts Claudio and Don John. I hope to see her do more with Maldon.

Carey Brown as Margaret squeezes every ounce of comedy into this small role. I loved the way she crept on to take a drink or listen in on what was being said.  She also sung well in the clever adaptation of the words to “Ladies Sigh No More” to the music of ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boys’ which went down a storm and was also used for the finale. Carey is always such good value, a joy to watch in whatever show she is in.

Sound was a bit of a problem as they sometimes put on what I guess was the sound of weather, as the characters were talking, which did not help the ability to hear what was being said. On occasions, the music played, also impeded the actors speeches.

Lighting was fine but there was a lamp centre stage that had failed so sometimes faces were slightly in shadow. Music chosen was of the time period and worked well.

Such a shame after so much hard work by Director Helen Rasmussen, cast and crew, that they didn’t have great ticket sales but there is another chance to catch them, outside this time, at Langford Museum of Power on Saturday 1st July.

We look forward to seeing them in their next production.  Well done everyone for your hard work on this show.

 

Christine Davidson

NODA East District 8 Rep

 

 

 

 

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