The Constellation Players bring their modern take on one of Shakespeare’s comedies, Much Ado About Nothing, to the Bridewell Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe.
The poster art and set design make it clear that this version of the play – running 70 minutes – is highly inspired by long-running 90s sitcom, Friends.
With a cast of three men and three women, parallels are set between the characters in Much Ado and in Friends, although I couldn’t quite work out who was who from their voices and costumes.
Canned laughter, music cues between scenes, and regular gasps and oops from the ‘audience’ characterise the American sitcom aspect. The framing device of filming a show was interesting, but underused.
The Constellation Players are ‘passionate about classical theatre’ according to their social media, and as a young company they are clearly committed to drawing new perspectives from the classics.
Director Madison Cole and the cast tackle the well-worn story of Beatrice (Saskia Mollard) and Benedick (a fine bit of comic business from Timothy Dennett), who can’t admit they love each other. Echos of Ross and Rachel, perhaps?
Claudio (Ronan Quinou) and Hero (Jamie Wisley) have a story arc hard to shift to a 90s New York setting, as it revolves around her alleged sexual promiscuity and his subsequent revulsion.
For the other characters, Don Pedro (Sam Nafisi) is perhaps Joey. Phoebe and Ursula from Friends are direct inspiration for Margaret and her twin … Ursula (Mary Jensik plays both).
Margaret wears the superhero costume beloved from TV and Ursula is the villain of the piece. Although other costume cues and series nods permeate this Much Ado About Nothing, they don’t completely pull us into the Friends universe.
The set design puts us in the cafe with coffee dispenser, couch, and the obligatory bell. It allows a succession of hiding places for Beatrice and Benedick as well as a variety of scene settings.
The Bridewell Theatre balcony was also utilised, but more might have been done with this, particularly in the wedding scene. I also felt some creative work could be done around the dynamics of a TV studio.
The performers are all good, but Mollard’s Beatrice offers the confused but resolute depiction of a woman who doesn’t want to be deemed ‘weak’ and Wisley’s Hero is a woman who doesn’t suffer fools, making it unlikely she’d fold by the end.
Reducing the play to 70 minutes means many characters are binned, including all the clearly comic ones, while the substitution of Don John for Ursula fails to click beyond the ‘evil twin’ premise.
It’s always interesting to see modern takes on Shakespeare, and there is clearly a passion within this team to think outside the box.
3 stars.
Much Ado About Nothing is part of the Camden Fringe, with its last performance tonight.