Theatregoers may well get a surprise when they come to The Boxmoor Playhouse to see Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
An exciting new production in September is the latest contribution to the local Arts scene by Hemel Hempstead Theatre Company.
But there will be no farthingales or tights and velvet bloomers to be seen as this production will be set in 1919, at the end of the First World War.
“The play begins with the arrival of a group of officers and soldiers at the end of an unspecified war, so it seemed perfect sense to update it in this way,” says director, Maggie Harvey. “It was originally set in Spain, but, like other Shakespeare comedies, it has a very ‘English’ feel.
“We shall be using snatches of well-known, soldiers’ songs as well as other music from the period. The idea is to suggest the mood of that unsettled time, as well as pointing up some of main themes.”
Of course, the main theme is Romance – and, in particular, the stormy, on/off relationship between Beatrice, a young lady in the country house, to which the soldiers come, and Benedick, one of the officers. These two have had disastrous relationship in the past and now they quarrel whenever they meet, probably because they are still attracted to each other.
A lighthearted plot is concocted by their friends to get them together; and another, much more serious plot is devised by the villains of the piece to wreck the love affair between Hero, the daughter of the house, and Claudio, another young officer.
The plot is further complicated by a group of volunteer local ‘policemen’, who stumble across this dastardly scheme but have the greatest difficulty in conveying the information to the authorities in time to avoid disaster.
It’s funny and it’s touching; so come along and enjoy it any evening from September 18 – 21 with a matinee on the Saturday.
Remember there is a bar at the theatre, so you can make this an evening to remember!
