Philippe Person’s slim-line and
streamlined production of Shakespeare’s
‘Much Ado about Nothing’ fits neatly
into the Théâtre Le Lucernaire’s evening
programme, between Molière’s ‘Le Mariage
forcé et L’Amour Médécin’ and ‘Délivrez
Proust!’ Reduced to 1 hour 15 minutes and
played by a cast of six, Philippe Honoré’s
French adaptation ‘Beaucoup de bruit pour
rien’ focuses on the basic elements of
Shakespeare’s comedy.
Purists would say that Shakespeare’s work
in the full original version is always
contemporary and relevant, and the onus is on
the director to make his universal issues clear.
But adaptations are popular, in Britain as well
as in France, where the original story is
reduced to its bare essentials to clarify the
basic intrigue for a contemporary audience, or
is used as a point of departure to tell a new
story with relevance today. Some highly
creative work of this kind has given audiences
a fresh look at Shakespeare.
‘Beaucoup de bruit pour rien’ keeps the
two love stories, Beatrice and Benedick and
Hero and Claudio, but leaves out all
psychological motivation. The couples fall in
love in different ways, even if Beatrice and
Benedick, with their caustic badinage, take
longer about it. It departs from the original in
making Don John the bastard brother of
Claudio, instead of that of Prince Don Pedro.
And he enlarges the role of Hero’s confidante
Margaret, making her an ambiguous figure, in
love with Don John, and manipulated by him.
The play gains by becoming an intense
story of irrational love, hatred, the desire for
destruction and the desire to believe what
we want to believe in. With of course,
Shakespeare’s final redemption and
regeneration. What the play loses is the
complexity of the Don John, Don Pedro,
Leonato and Claudio plot, and the
knockabout comedy of the constables,
Dogberry and Verges.
In Phillippe Person’s production, the play
acquires a sense of distance and contemporary
comedy without the diversion of subplots. The
idiom is simplistic but highly entertaining.
The play is set in the 1950s, in the world of
Hollywood musicals, somewhere between
‘South Pacific’ and ‘GI Blues’. The heroes
Claudio and Benedick are GIs, triumphantly
returning from the war, and Don John is a
crippled casualty in a wheelchair. This adds an
extra dimension to his hatred for his brother.
The heroines, Beatrice and Hero, are Elvisloving,
bopping and hula-hooping teenies,
underlining the strength of youth and the force
of love that will triumph in the end. The sound
track spans music from the 1940s to the early
’60s, from Glenn Miller to Elvis, and the cast
breaks into song and dance routines at key
moments. The action is as two-dimensional
but as entertaining as a Hollywood musical,
and draws the audience into the issues of
youth, love and betrayal with ease. The cast of
Anne Priol, Emmanuel Baudrouyer, Olivier
Guilbert, Caroline Victoria, Michel Baladi and
Sylvie van Cleven make an energetic and
engaging team.
As a plus for English audiences and the
odd tourist who might stray into the
Lucernaire over the summer, stage directions
are given in English by a voice-over and the
betrayal scene is narrated in English.
‘Beaucoup de bruit pour rien’ runs over the
summer until September 13, at the Lucernaire:
01 45 44 57 34
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