Review. Much Ado About Nothing. Reading Between The Lines Theatre Company. St James’Church, Reading. February 2015

Much Ado About Nothing has long been celebrated as one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies. The central relationship, between Benedick and Beatrice, is wittily combative and reluctant until love prevails.

Moreover, that ‘combative’ is appropriate to this here  as we are not in Shakespeare’s Sicilian Messina but in a more poignant post Afghanistan garrison town, ‘Messina-Upon-Thames’. The returning soldiers, weary from fighting, pass their newfound leisure time in devising schemes and sharpening their wits on each other. A contemporary setting is sometimes difficult to pull off but here it worked perfectly. It certainly added an edge to the play, a play that on the page relies on verbal dexterity and wit.  Without the reinterpretation and enthusiastic approach, it could so easily be dry and challenging.

Furthermore, choreographed by Sammy Fonfe and music by Benjamin Hudson it resulted in an exciting, modern and accessible production.

I have one concern though. The drama takes place ‘in the round’ making the most of St James’s Church. Yet, on several occasions, I was unable to appreciate some of the nuances or even at times fully hear some of the dialogue. Actors standing four-square in front of me blocked my view. For example when Beatrice, eavesdrops on Hero and Ursula I was unaware of her reactions to the ‘false sweet bait’ that they lay before her. How did she react? Was it with scorn or with baffled amusement?  It would have helped in my understanding, especially as I came relatively new to the work.

All the performances were spot on especially the protagonists, Max Roll’s Benedick, Dani McCallum’s Beatrice, Lucy Grattan’s Hero and finally Phil Dunster as Claudio. To be fair, the rest of the cast ably supported them including the ‘interns’, those ‘aspiring professional actors’ who took on the lesser roles.

This was the third Shakespeare they have produced and it is to their credit that the company are bringing professional theatre to Reading. Something we desperately needed. I am not the only one saying this and it was good to see that even The Guardian chose Much Ado as one of its ‘top tickets’ this week. Praise indeed.

This is an edited version of a review published in The Weekly Newbury News, February 12^th 2015.

Image © Ian Legge

Romeo and Juliet. Reviewed at Reading Minster 19th September 2013.

It must be quite difficult for a company to breathe new life into such an eminent play as Romeo and Juliet, as audiences are so familiar with the 'pair of star-crossed lovers'.

The young teen protagonists fall in love yet their warring families, the Capulets and Montagues, impede their progress. It is their tragic deaths, and not the power of their love, that overturns the feud. Audiences never seem to tire of it. Nevertheless, is it possible to look afresh at this hoary old warhorse?

Based on this frenzied production by Reading Between the Lines, it appears so. They have certainly achieved an element of originality by shifting the action to a dystopian 2023 where, as Director Hal Chambers says in the programme youth inhabits a world where ‘everyday is sex, dancing, fighting, posturing and narcotics.’ To achieve this, he has bolstered   the drama with electrifying physicality emphasizing the animalistic tribal rivalry staining Verona’s streets.

Sadly however, it is, to take Romeo out of context, ‘too rough, too rude, too boisterous’. Don’t get me wrong I do not mean that in any prurient way but refer to the constant and the harsh assault on the senses. The sound, composed by Benjamin Hudson, ‘one half of hip hop/noise duo Baconhead’, distracted from the lyrical splendour of the play, as did Lighting Designer Oliver Welsh’s barrage of strobe and laser.

However, on a more positive note, the cast played well as against the omnipresent spectre of death and the grungy urban set. The prologue had already defined the action and, we know that Romeo (Will Rastall) and Juliet (Emma Ballentine) cannot escape their fate. It concentrates the mind on the rather more satisfying aspects of the drama especially the more vibrant supporting roles. For example, the fine playing of Benedict Chambers’ bawdy Mercutio, belligerent Tybalt (Stephen Boyce), and Pearl Marsland’s garrulous Nurse each in their own way kept the drama from descending into maudlin romance.

Whether the decision to place the action in 2023 was the right one is not up for discussion here. Everyone will have his or her own opinion. Moreover, even though at times it rankled it did bring immediacy and topicality to the play. It will no doubt appeal to younger audiences, who I believe make up a good percentage of RBL’s supporters. If so, that’s a good thing for both the company and the future of professional theatre in Reading.

This review first appeared in Newbury Weekly News 26th September 2013

Reading Between the Lines Theatre Company

Troika Theatre's Taming of the Shrew, Oxford Castle Courtyard, Oxford.

The Taming of the Shrew's elements of cruelty and violence have become the subject of considerable controversy. With such a misogynist text and a vein of unremitting cruelty running through the play it begs the question of how a company can make this harsh feast palatable to an informed modern audience. Troika Theatre believes it can.

As with most contemporary readings, their production dispenses with the "drunken tinker" sub-plot (the "Induction" that sees the action as a fantasy, a play within a play) and dives straight in with the arrival of Lucentio (Ben Bateman) and his servant Tranio (Ashley Harvey). Such swiftness allows little time for moralizing or hand wringing and offers up a 'comedy'. We forget that we are watching a world dominated by greed and lust. If we had time to reflect, we would be enraged rather than amused by Petruchio's treatment of Katharina. 

As "bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst" Monica Nash takes a vigorous approach making the farcical sub plot of Bianca and her suitors look vapid in comparison. At the start, she may be unlikeable and sour but through an arresting performance, she grows on us.

Moreover, when she meets Petruchio, played with wit and cocksure insolence by Adam Potterton, we see she has met someone as unconventional as herself. Despite his objectifying of her, he offers an escape from her undeserving father, Baptista.

All this action is set in the "sixties" judging by the dress and the music. Sadly, in order to conform to this style it meant the axing of Biondella's comments on Petruchio's outrageous dress as he returns to Padua. Not for us "a new hat and an old jerkin; a pair of old breeches thrice turn'd" but slippers, silk pyjamas and dressing gown. Nevertheless, the minimal staging and period design worked and did not detract from the acting. In addition, I am glad to say the acoustics were good. A couple of years back in the same venue, I found myself straining to hear the nuances of a play's language. Had I not known the play I would have been completely baffled.


Finally, despite reservations about the validity and the moral tone of the play, I enjoyed this performance. Credit goes to all the cast and the Director (Rachel Johnson) for turning a work defined by George Bernard Shaw in 1897 as "altogether disgusting to modern sensibility" into a well-rounded and humorous drama.