Much Ado About Nothing: Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell deliver 'full-on fiery and fleshy' performance
Jamie Lloyd's adaptation of Shakespeare classic leans on '1990s pop favourites'
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
"It's pink, it's loud – and it's irresistible," said Sarah Crompton on What's on Stage. Jamie Lloyd's production of Shakespeare's "best-loved and richest comedy" rides on a "wave of falling confetti and 1990s pop favourites"; it uses wonderfully choreographed disco dancing to illuminate the battle of the sexes, and features two glorious lead performances that manage to be both "truthful and incredibly funny".
It all makes for a "thoroughly weird and absolutely wonderful reconceptualisation", said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. Lloyd turns Shakespeare's "comedy, which narrowly swerves tragedy, into an old school house party cum modern romcom", with the sparring lovers clad in spangles, gold shimmer and sequins. It's a "wonderfully giddy thing" – and you'd have to be a "god of stone to not be seduced by its wacky joy".
This remarkably "infectious" production is blessed by actors who embrace the disco craziness with gusto, but have the acting chops to transcend it, said Susannah Clapp in The Observer. Tom Hiddleston has previously turned in triumphant performances as Cassio in Othello and as a "blazing" Coriolanus. Here, he "startlingly expands his Shakespearean range" with a display of nimble physical comedy. He "unbuttons his cerulean shirt to seduce his Beatrice", and "proves a swivel-hipped executor of embarrassing dancing".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Hayley Atwell, too, has the ability to move "from wildness to serious romance without dropping a beat of the verse". Together, their Beatrice and Benedick are "full-on fiery and fleshy, making sexy sense of a couple who are often more shrivelled and sour", while also finding the sombre strains beneath the joy.
Lloyd has scrapped the Dogberry subplot, which has the effect of making the resolution of the main drama seem rather abrupt, said Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times. "We lose too the potential social commentary embedded in the tale." Still, it is hard to quibble when the show is such a joy "from start to finish", boosted by outstanding performances across the board. "Heartbreak, hope, healing – it's all here in this gorgeous, bighearted production."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The environmental cost of GLP-1sThe explainer Producing the drugs is a dirty process
-
Greenland’s capital becomes ground zero for the country’s diplomatic straitsIN THE SPOTLIGHT A flurry of new consular activity in Nuuk shows how important Greenland has become to Europeans’ anxiety about American imperialism
-
‘This is something that happens all too often’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Arcadia: Tom Stoppard’s ‘masterpiece’ makes a ‘triumphant’ returnThe Week Recommends Carrie Cracknell’s revival at the Old Vic ‘grips like a thriller’
-
My Father’s Shadow: a ‘magically nimble’ love letter to LagosThe Week Recommends Akinola Davies Jr’s touching and ‘tender’ tale of two brothers in 1990s Nigeria
-
Send Help: Sam Raimi’s ‘compelling’ plane-crash survival thrillerThe Week Recommends Rachel McAdams stars as an office worker who gets stranded on a desert island with her boss
-
Book reviews: ‘Hated by All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind’ and ‘Football’Feature A right-wing pundit’s transformations and a closer look at one of America’s favorite sports
-
Catherine O'Hara: The madcap actress who sparkled on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Schitt’s Creek’Feature O'Hara cracked up audiences for more than 50 years
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Touring the vineyards of southern BoliviaThe Week Recommends Strongly reminiscent of Andalusia, these vineyards cut deep into the country’s southwest
-
Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – an ‘engrossing’ exhibitionThe Week Recommends All 126 images from the American photographer’s ‘influential’ photobook have come to the UK for the first time