RSC Much Ado About Nothing - BBC Four tv

[Nick Armstrong]

Not completely watched yet, but so far this is the only televised Shakespeare performance of the recent range made available during “quarantine” which has really appealed to me:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p089zjfz/culture-in-quarantine-shakespeare-much-ado-about-nothing

The “Downton Abbey” style setting is done without violence to the original, imho, and the cast pull off the rare trick of delivering the language faithfully but in a way which is as communicative as modern English.

The songs are done in ‘period’ style with an Ivor Novello-ish feel, and it works well (“Sigh no more, ladies” is accompanied by some on-stage business which had me laughing out loud.)

Recommended (and available for another month).

[teamsaint]

Not completely watched yet, but so far this is the only televised Shakespeare performance of the recent range made available during “quarantine” which has really appealed to me:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p089zjfz/culture-in-quarantine-shakespeare-much-ado-about-nothing

The “Downton Abbey” style setting is done without violence to the original, imho, and the cast pull off the rare trick of delivering the language faithfully but in a way which is as communicative as modern English.

The songs are done in ‘period’ style with an Ivor Novello-ish feel, and it works well (“Sigh no more, ladies” is accompanied by some on-stage business which had me laughing out loud.)

Recommended (and available for another month).

Yep, we watched it, very enjoyable , and a decent take on it.
The low - life characters were played for all they were worth, never a bad thing in this play IMO , as they are particularly fine creations.

[LMcD]

Yep, we watched it, very enjoyable , and a decent take on it.
The low - life characters were played for all they were worth, never a bad thing in this play IMO , as they are particularly fine creations.

Recorded and awaiting our attention on the TV's hard disk (or is it disc?)
We've watched a couple of the productions streamed by the Globe, which were very enjoyable.

[Pulcinella]

Thanks for this.
Saw it and much enjoyed it at Stratford: more than happy to watch again.
Bought the DVDs as a present for the Canadian friend we took with us.

[gurnemanz]

Yep, we watched it, very enjoyable , and a decent take on it.
The low - life characters were played for all they were worth, never a bad thing in this play IMO , as they are particularly fine creations.

Just watched. A lucid and entertaining staging combining the comic and more intense elements effectively. Some of the slapstick moments are the type of thing that work better live in the theatre. It doesn't seem quite right that the shattering moment when Beatrice tells Benedict to kill Claudio should get a big laugh. Hard to avoid it, I suppose. Policemen as low-life might not go down well in some quarters.

[LMcD]

It's finally happened ......
I didn't think I'd ever see a televised stage production that would give me as much pleasure as Jonathan Miller's ' Mikado', but this was just as enjoyable and life-affirming an experience. Dogberry's mangling of the English language had me in stitches, and Nigel Hess's score deserves special mention. Thank heavens I recorded it!

[Pianorak]

Didn't really expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Dogberry's mangling of the English language had me too in stitches! So glad I watched it.

[Nick Armstrong]

Glad others are getting as much out of it as I did.

To be honest, the ‘dim copper’ routines were my least favourite bits, but I completely agree about the musical element.

Also one of the best, most joyous curtain call sequences I can recall!

Mixed emotions, too: my old dad (d. 2015) was an RSC junkie, and I attended a good number of productions with him. The 1992 Winter’s Tale had similar qualities to this Much Ado, and it was one of our best Stratford trips. He would have adored this show