Much Ado About Nothing deserves much ado.

I should probably give you a couple of warnings before I get seriously underway: a) having listened to three hours of Shakespeare, I might use somewhat outdated language, because the Bard has that effect on me, b) I am about to gush copiously, so prepare the mops!

I've just returned from a wonderful three or so hours of watching and listening to Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing', put on by the MADC, and I am delighted.  The acting was perfecto, the casting was spot on, the wardrobe choices were numerous and exact, the stage was cleverly arranged, and the props and stage hands could not have worked better.  Seeing that I decided to attend tonight's performance alone, I desperately needed the show to cheer me up.  Add to that the fact that I got caught between two fuel-sucking traffic jams on the way to the performance and arrived ten minutes late in a vile mood, you can guess that the MADC had its work cut out for it tonight regarding this miss - and here I am in bed, a happy, satisfied bunny.  If I could purr my contentment, I would.

Allow me to explain.  Having been introduced to the world of performing at the tender age of three thanks to ballet, I've been on stage and in front of audiences many times over the years, and I've been backstage, and I've waited in the wings, and I know the horror of watching something go horribly wrong.  On top of that, I am now a stickler for quality, and nothing irks me more than a cast member who isn't up to the standard of the script or the other actors, a poorly thought out performance space, or indeed anything that just does not deliver as it should.

Much Ado had none of these problems.  Certainly, two or three actors stumbled on a word and had to repeat a line, but they pulled it off by keeping in character and not letting it phase them one bit, and quite frankly who doesn't end up tripping over their own tongue in real conversation? It's perfectly natural.  So to them I say: well done, you.  But other than these tiny moments of tongue-teasing, there were no slip-ups: when actors needed to interact with props, they did so without mistakes; cues were followed flawlessly; comedic timing was followed without a hitch; the actors were all very much equal to their roles, the script, and the constraints of the stage; and there were no dreaded wardrobe malfunctions - a miracle considering how many costumes there were and how many changes were made!

Let me go into what I loved about this production, bit by bit.

1. The location and stage: San Anton Gardens is in my opinion the ideal spot for an open-air performance, and with the background of the palace it truly is the perfect place for Shakespeare's work to be showcased.  The stage was long and narrow, making audience placement far more intimate than the norm with all spectators being rather close to the stage no matter where they were seated.  And a gate into the palace was used to wonderful effect as the main entrance and exit for the actors, which really added to the idea of the characters' moving from one place to another.

2. The wardrobe: my word, did the wardrobe mistress go all out! The clothing was 1940s style, and lovely.  All the costumes fit, and every scene had a change of clothing for the women, with the men sticking to the same formal dress during formal scenes such as the wedding and the funeral, but otherwise also having a change every scene.  What I thought was lovely was that every actor didn't just have clothes suiting their roles, but that also suited the actors.  I think the only thing that jarred - and this only happened when I really thought about it - was that the clothing and music was all set in the 1940s, but the men carried swords when they were in their army formal dress.  Even then, considering these were high officials [a count, a prince, a prince's bastard brother], so perhaps their uniform at that level would mandate swords at the time.  Regardless, the time period worked.

3. The actors: there were a few actors and actresses whom I haven't seen on stage before, and they played their parts wonderfully.  To be honest, I had first decided not to see this production because there were so many names I just didn't recognise, but having spoken to an actor friend who knew what was going on in the play, I decided to give it a shot.  And I'm so very glad that I did! Folks, I've said this before and I'll not stop saying it, we have so many talented people on this tiny island [to non-residents, non-Maltese, strangers to the island of Malta, we've a population between 400K and 500K] and we don't make enough of a fuss about them.

While the whole cast did a fabulous job, I must pinpoint some moments of excellence: the moment when Hero is asked to speak regarding the horrible claims laid against her was gold, with actress Nicola Abela Garrett putting raw emotion into her voice and still projecting perfectly; Imogen [Mrs Leonato]'s moment of chiding Count Claudio and the Prince for causing her daughter's death via public shaming, reducing them to nothing but boys [as the speech entails, in fact] was masterfully done with class and the pride only a mother can have; the love scenes between Benedick and Beatrice, played by Malcolm Galea and Fay Paris respectively, flowed so well that I could have been watching a real courtship; Colin Willis pulled off Hero's father Leonato grieving for his daughter's reputation with such desolate misery, I think the glass and bottle of JB were hardly needed as props for that scene.

4. The comedy duo:  Oh gods, did I laugh! Dogberry and Verges, played respectively by Erin Stuart Palmier and Joe Depasquale, had me bring out the silent laugh for the benefit of everyone around me, otherwise I can't guarantee their hearing would have survived my screeching cackles of laughter.  These two had the comedic timing down pat, and delivered their lines and actions with the right amount of gusto.  A match made in heaven.

5. The language and tone used: Now here comes the cherry on the cake.  Malta is a bilingual country, and we all code-switch like crazy, adding and substituting words in Maltese when speaking in English and vice versa, which adds to the colour of interaction thanks to the fascinating fact that both languages have phrases and expressions that just don't translate properly into the other language.  So it was with glee that I eventually realised the actors were using Maltesisms in between their Shakespearian dialogue for emphasis! Now hold your horses before you roll your eyes or tut tut in disapproval.  I'm talking about the typical things we say like 'eh' and 'mela'.  Well, except in the case of the clown sergeants Dogberry and Verges, whose dialogue was delivered with the thick accent of Maltese who aren't fluent enough in English to avoid carrying over their Maltese pronunciation - a great idea in my opinion, because the sergeants' scenes are used to counteract any seriousness that occurred in the previous scenes, and there really is nothing as amusing as that accent when coupled with the appropriate Maltese buffoon stereotype.  Oh, the hilarity! I'm not one to enjoy slapstick, but this was done so well I couldn't but end up gasping for breath at the end of each of their scenes.

That's enough gushing from me I think, you should find out how great it is for yourselves folks.  What's the worst that could happen? ;)

And thus, good gentles, reiterating my fervent wish that you all rush to the MADC website to book your tickets for the last three performances, I bid thee adieu!


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