 |
|
Much
Ado About Nothing
by
William Shakespeare
Performed
at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre,
Stratford-upon-Avon
Opened on 5th April 1990
Transferred to the Barbican Theatre,
London
Opened in April 1991
The
Royal Shakespeare Company
|
|
| |
|
Pictures
from Much Ado About Nothing
(please click on each picture for
a larger version)
 |
 |
 |
| Roger
Allam as Benedick and Susan Fleetwood
as Beatrice |
| |
 |
 |
| Roger
Allam as Benedick and Susan Fleetwood
as Beatrice |
| |
 |
 |
| Roger
Allam as Benedick |
| |
 |
 |
| Roger
Allam as Benedick and Susan Fleetwood
as Beatrice |
| |
Rehearsal
Photographs
 |
 |
 |
| John
Carlisle |
Susan
and Roger |
Roger
Allam |
Susan Fleetwood
| CAST: |
| The
Household |
|
| Leonato,
governor of Messina |
Paul
Webster |
| Antonia,
his brother |
Trevor
Martin |
| Hero,
Leonato's daughter |
Alex
Kingston |
| Margaret |
} |
Hero's
Women |
Mary
Chater |
| Ursula |
Andrea
Wray |
| Beatrice,
an orphan, Leonato's niece |
Susan
Fleetwood |
| Friar
Francis |
Mike
Dowling |
| Lady |
Lucy
Slater |
| The
Soldiers |
|
| Don
Pedro, Prince of Aragon |
John
Carlisle |
| Don
John, his bastard brother |
Vincent
Regan |
| Count
Claudio |
John
McAndrew |
| Signior
Benedick |
Roger
Allam |
| Borachio |
} |
followers
of Don John |
Ken
Shorter |
| Conrade |
Dominic
Mafham |
| Messenger |
Marston
Bloom |
| Balthazar,
a singer |
Jamie
Hinde |
| Benedick's
Boy |
David
Clark/Nicholas Johnson |
| The
Town |
|
| Dogberry |
George
Raistrick |
| Verges |
Arnold
Yarrow |
| Sexton |
Bill
McGuirk |
| George
Seacoal |
Andrew
Havill |
| Hugh
Oatcake |
Marston
Bloom |
| Watch |
AnthonySkordi |
|
| TECHNICAL
TEAM: |
| Director |
Bill
Alexander |
| Set
Designed by |
Kit
Surrey |
| Lighting
by |
Brian
Harris |
| Music
by |
Ilona
Sekacz |
| Movement
Director |
Lesley
Hutchison |
| Sound
by |
Paul
Slocombe |
| Company
Voice Work by |
Cicely
Berry & Andrew Wade |
| Music
Director |
Michael
Tubbs |
| Assistant
Director |
Clarissa
Brown |
| Design
Assistant |
Rob
Howell |
| Stage
Manager |
Jondon
Gourkan |
| Deputy
Stage Manager |
Francis
Lynch |
| Assistant
Stage Manager |
David
Mann |
|
| The
Story |
|
| The
soldiers, led by Don Pedro, are returning
to Messina victorious from the wars and
are welcomed by Leonato, the governor
of the city. Among Don Pedro's retinue
are his brother Don John, a vengeful malcontent,
the young Count Claudio, and Benedick,
a gentleman of Padua. Claudio falls in
love with Leonato's daughter Hero while
his friend Benedick declares himself an
eternal bachelor, and Hero's cousin Beatrice
is just as determined that she will remain
a spinster. Until trickery is practised
on all of them............. |
|
| Date
and Sources |
|
| Much
Ado About Nothing was probably written
between 1598 and 1599, and was first printed
in the First Quarto of 1600. The
Hero-Claudio plot was an old one,
common in romantic fiction, and can
be traced back to an ancient Greek
fable. It had appeared in Ariosto's
Orlando Furioso, Belleforest's
Histoires Tragiques, a novella
by Bandello and in Spenser's Faerie
Queene - any of which might have
been familiar to Shakespeare. The
convention underlying the Beatrice-Benedick
plot, whereby lovers tease and flirt
with each other under the guise of
scorn and disdain, is also an old
one but the characters are wholly
Shakespeare's own, as are those of
Dogberry, Verges and the Watch. |
| |
|
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)