The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Much Ado About Nothing
Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, August 3
For those reading who aren’t aware of the ins and outs of Glasgow’s theatre landscape, possibly one of the biggest events of the summer – once the regular theatre season has finished and before the Edinburgh Festival draws in all Scottish theatre activity for a month – is the Bard in the Botanics programme.
Held outdoors in the Botanic Gardens in the West End of the city, and notoriously susceptible to the weather, although this year has gone with hardly a hitch, the reputation of Bard in the Botanics rests primarily upon the quality of the work produced. While it’s true that outdoor Shakespeare festivals are in fashion at the moment, the fact this company has been doing it for 17 years demonstrates their enduring reliability.
“Bard in the Botanics is such a unique event, even though outdoor Shakespeare isn’t,” says the company’s artistic director, Gordon Barr. “That’s down to the relationship that we have with our audiences and the connection that happens between them and the stage. They’re part of the performance, they’re included in it, and that dynamic doesn’t change when we return to a more traditional venue, as we will in Kirkcaldy. Although nobody will have to worry about the weather.”
This summer’s season of Bard in the Botanics, which ran from late June until the end of July, was subtitled “Star Cross’d Lovers”, and showcased four Shakespeare plays in which tales of romantic comedy and tragedy took the lead. The one which is coming to Kirkcaldy for this one-off touring performance (Bard has previously left the Botanics for venues including the Byre in St Andrews and Perth Festival) is Much Ado About Nothing.
“It’s such a lovely, warm-hearted comedy,” says Barr. “Benedick and Beatrice provide the original rom-com, they were really the first of those pairs of bickering couples that you just know are going to get together by the end, and you’re willing them on to.
“It’s a great summer show; fun, romantic, silly and heartfelt, a little bit of everything. The director, Jennifer Dick, has chosen to set this version backstage at a Victorian travelling circus, which gives it the very vibrant, colourful sense of community that’s so important to this play. A pair of romantic misfits like Benedick and Beatrice blend so well into this colourful world.”
With design by Carys Hobbs and choreography by Stephanie McGregor, as well as a cast of nine, most of the Bard in the Botanics company are involved. Actor Adam Donaldson takes the role of Benedick, although Nicole Cooper is unable to reprise the role of Beatrice; instead, Dick herself – a long-standing member of the Bard in the Botanics acting company – will take the part. www.bardinthebotanics.co.uk www.onfife.com