Much Ado About Nothing

Royal Exchange Theatre,
Manchester

4 Stars

The drama unfolding at the Old Trafford "theatre of dreams" may be much ado about nothing but the entertainment played out just down the road at the Royal Exchange is still premiere class.

When it comes to staging Shakespeare, the theatre is up there with the very best and this rollicking production is another top-flight interpretation of the Bard's work.

Written "mid-career," Much Ado appears a much lighter offering from the master playwright. It's almost a patchwork of previous work, with returning victorious soldiers, requited and unrequited love, a dodgy friar inducing a fake death to mend a broken heart and a couple of bumbling fools in the mix too.

Yet appearances can be deceptive. Beneath the froth is a pretty subversive play, especially for audiences in the mid-16th century. Gender politics lies at its core, with a woman's role in society central to the action.

For men a "good woman" is one who remains quiet and unquestioning, thus the mouthy Beatrice is viewed as dangerous and bad. Not for her the chains of marriage - she will seize a place in heaven "where the bachelors sit, as merry as the day is long."

Director Maria Aberg draws out this feminist strand, cleverly making Leonata, the governor of Messina, a woman. It's a great performance from Marty Cruickshank who is as ruthless and scheming as any powerful man.

In another neat twist on the original, the comic fools are played by women. Sandy Foster is hilarious as the bumbling constable Dogberry who, with her side kick Verges - a wonderful Beverly Rudd - manages through total incompetence to resolve matters.

But the real meat of the play lies in the verbal firepower between Beatrice and the committed bachelor Benedick about men, women and marriage. Paul Ready and Ellie Piercy (pictured) have a real spark, creating a truly believable love-hate relationship.

Aberg has set the production in post-1945 Europe, which works really well in capturing the sprit of war-weary men and frustrated women who, having tasted liberation from domestic drudgery, are expected to melt back into their previous subservient lives.

Runs until May 5 2014. Box office: (0161) 833-9833

PAUL FOLEY