AMID much anticipation and a total ticket sell-out, the Globe Theatre’s touring production of the Bard’s “Elizabethan romcom” arrived in Richmond.

With minimal stage, costume or lighting effects, eight accomplished actor/musicians drew the audience into a world of mischief, mayhem and music which optimised every comic opportunity and revelled in witty exchanges and stark contrasts.

Director Max Webster’s accentuation of the comedy kept the pace brisk, yet still exposed some fundamental human truths about love and relationships. The distinction between the two couples was well drawn, with lovers Claudio and Hero revelling in their pre-nuptial bliss, whilst the bride’s cousin Beatrice is mocking marriage and trading insults with the groom’s companion Benedick.

Though Emma Pallant as the waspish Beatrice and Christopher Harper as the vain Benedick stole the show for comedic expressions and perfect timing, it was Aaron Anthony’s portrayal of the duped Claudio which brought fervour and raw fury to the piece.

Alex Mugnioni’s doubling as the villainous Don John and the bumbling constable Dogberry, was yet another clever contrasting device.

The tables were all turned however, via two distinct plots to manipulate the lovers– one malicious, one mischievous. The two scenes in which firstly Benedick, then Beatrice, were sucked into the fallacy that the hostility of each was disguising a great passion for the other, were comically choreographed to perfection. Respectively culminating in oranges rolling around the stage, and a bucket of water being emptied over an eavesdropping Beatrice, they paved the way to amplify the shock of the following scene. With Hero falsely denounced as a whore at the altar, the aborted wedding was even more emphatic in its bitter intensity.

The triple curtain call and prolonged applause confirmed without a doubt that the packed house at the Georgian felt this production was definitely much ado about something. I concur.

Christina McIntyre