Much Ado About Nothing at The Old Vic

It pains me to be less than positive when reviewing anything connected with the superb Mark Rylance, because I admire him so much.  However, I’m afraid I can’t be totally complimentary about his production of Much Ado About Nothing at The Old Vic.

Having seen Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones in Driving Miss Daisy in the West End and admiring their on stage chemistry, Mark Rylance, on meeting them afterwards, made the suggestion that they might like to play opposite one another again.  Liking the idea as long as he was prepared to direct, the plan of casting two mature actors playing Beatrice and Benedick in one of Rylance’s favourite Shakespearian plays was hatched.

Unfortunately, and at the risk of sounding ageist, the finished product doesn’t quite cut it.  Although the two excellent actors do obviously gel, they fail to come across as lovers and the age element jars somewhat when we have to suspend belief that Leonato (Michael Elwyn) is Beatrice’s Uncle.  It would be much more plausible if she were his Aunt.  These little discrepancies wouldn’t matter in the slightest if everything else were tickety-boo but, alas this is not the case.  James Earl Jones has a mellifluous tone to his voice and is a delight to listen to, but, because of his numerous pauses, it’s always in the back of the mind that remembering lines is a problem.  I can forgive him almost anything as he comes across as a delightful man, but oh my, did I worry for him.  Vanessa Redgrave doesn’t pose quite the same problems but it is difficult catching all she says. She brings a fluidity to Shakespeare’s language but isn’t able to emulate Rylance’s ability to speak it quickly, yet always managing to be heard and understood.

What does work is setting the play in 1944.  The day after seeing the production, I returned to The Old Vic to see Mark Rylance in conversation (which, I have to admit, cemented my admiration for him).  He explained that as Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones were the main draw for people seeing the play, he didn’t want them to be restricted by having to change their own natural speech and dialect or adopt a distant historical culture in their behaviour.  Much Ado has a war taking place in the background, hence his decision to set his production around a country house in England during World War II with an American airfield close by.  During the war there were a group of American Airmen, collectively called The Tuskegee Airmen based in the UK, so his decision to make several of the cast black Americans fits nicely.  What a pity that Ultz’s design doesn’t really do the setting justice.

Mark Rylance’s wife, Claire van Kampen is Music and Associate Director and she must be congratulated for introducing a wonderful bluesy rendition of “Sigh No More” into Act I and a “GI Jive” dance finale.  Both are a delight.

Meanwhile, the stand-out performance is Peter Wight as an extremely funny Dogberry, aided and abetted by boys dressed as boy scouts making up the majority of the village watch, which is a lovely touch.  He also makes a very lucid Friar Francis.  Also worth a mention is Michael Elwyn’s Leonato and Danny Lee Wynter makes a suitably unpleasant Don John.

I feel disloyal criticising one of my heroes and only hope that by now Beatrice and Benedick are more on top of their lines.  After all, I did see them two days before Press Night.  Fingers crossed that audiences will flock to see two oap’s brave enough to tackle Shakespeare’s text, when some of their lesser counterparts are deciding to stop learning lines altogether.  And all credit to Mr. Rylance for trying something new and not assigning the oldies to the scrap heap.