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The Handlebards
Director: Emma Sampson
Associate Director: Mark Collier
Cast: Andrew Armfield, Sarah Bulmer, Emma Hadley-Leonard, William Ross-Fawcett
Running time: Approximately two hours, including interval.
Touring until September 18.
“Much Ado About Nothing” in the “humble opinion” of Associate Director Mark Collier is the perfect comedy.
He doesn’t specify what perfect means, but the implication is that it is ideal for the Handlebards, a theatre troupe that since 2013 has been cycling the length and breadth of Britain and beyond to deliver eccentrically English, low-carbon renditions of our greatest playwright’s work.
Comedy imitates life and vice versa in the tortuous false turns and mishaps along the way that leads to a healing, happy ending.
One thing laughter cannot cure, Collier notes ruefully, is the aching limbs from the 1,500 miles covered over this summer’s tour, whose London venues included Charterhouse Square in London.
The Handlebards are at their most true to the spirit of Shakespeare in their efforts to reach the widest possible audience, from reluctant teenagers, dragged along, to bemused tourists, to old school enthusiasts, desperately listening out for the favourite lines that just about survive the cut.
Everyone picnics on the grass and braves the rain, if need be, though that has rarely been the case for this year’s globally warmed tour.
The Handlebards’ minimal set – a manner of tent – and props in the form of bicycle parts and random pieces of fruit – are complemented by the majestic backdrop of the Charterhouse and the square’s giant mulberry trees.
The latter provide nearly all the gravitas as the play’s weightier elements of a war, a near-death experience and the evil of Don John are totally upstaged by a great deal of comic ado.
The four-strong cast, more energised than exhausted by their journey to the stage, are supplemented by a mop as Hero, making her supposed death even more impossible to take seriously.
To defend her honour Emma Hadley-Leonard as Benedick wields a banana as part of his/her efforts to woo Sarah Bulmer as Beatrice.
Despite the mop, there remains an absurd amount of doubling that leads characters to switch accents virtually mid-sentence and William Ross-Fawcett to veer manically between the benign Leonato and the malign Don John.
The cast members almost forcibly insist we embrace the mood, press-ganging members of the audience to take on a couple of parts, while they help themselves to any picnics lying around.
We could sulk like Don John, but the wise thing to do is relish an evening on the windy side of care.
Much Ado About Nothing
The Handlebards
Director: Emma Sampson
Associate Director: Mark Collier
Cast: Andrew Armfield, Sarah Bulmer, Emma Hadley-Leonard, William Ross-Fawcett
Running time: Approximately two hours, including interval.
Touring until September 18.
“Much Ado About Nothing” in the “humble opinion” of Associate Director Mark Collier is the perfect comedy.
He doesn’t specify what perfect means, but the implication is that it is ideal for the Handlebards, a theatre troupe that since 2013 has been cycling the length and breadth of Britain and beyond to deliver eccentrically English, low-carbon renditions of our greatest playwright’s work.
Comedy imitates life and vice versa in the tortuous false turns and mishaps along the way that leads to a healing, happy ending.
One thing laughter cannot cure, Collier notes ruefully, is the aching limbs from the 1,500 miles covered over this summer’s tour, whose London venues included Charterhouse Square in London.
The Handlebards are at their most true to the spirit of Shakespeare in their efforts to reach the widest possible audience, from reluctant teenagers, dragged along, to bemused tourists, to old school enthusiasts, desperately listening out for the favourite lines that just about survive the cut.
Everyone picnics on the grass and braves the rain, if need be, though that has rarely been the case for this year’s globally warmed tour.
The Handlebards’ minimal set – a manner of tent – and props in the form of bicycle parts and random pieces of fruit – are complemented by the majestic backdrop of the Charterhouse and the square’s giant mulberry trees.
The latter provide nearly all the gravitas as the play’s weightier elements of a war, a near-death experience and the evil of Don John are totally upstaged by a great deal of comic ado.
The four-strong cast, more energised than exhausted by their journey to the stage, are supplemented by a mop as Hero, making her supposed death even more impossible to take seriously.
To defend her honour Emma Hadley-Leonard as Benedick wields a banana as part of his/her efforts to woo Sarah Bulmer as Beatrice.
Despite the mop, there remains an absurd amount of doubling that leads characters to switch accents virtually mid-sentence and William Ross-Fawcett to veer manically between the benign Leonato and the malign Don John.
The cast members almost forcibly insist we embrace the mood, press-ganging members of the audience to take on a couple of parts, while they help themselves to any picnics lying around.
We could sulk like Don John, but the wise thing to do is relish an evening on the windy side of care.
Barbara Lewis © 2025.
By Barbara Lewis • comedy, plays, theatre, year 2025 • Tags: Barbara Lewis, comedy, plays, theatre