Much Ado About Nothing
Synetic Theatre, February 18,
2015
Synetic
Theatre delivers another signature, non-speaking Shakespeare play through dance
and physicality. This particular adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy is
set in Las Vegas in the 1950’s – a time, when according to Director, Paata
Tsikurishvili, the image and the façade are everything; but images can often be
deceptive.
Much Ado About Nothing is a fairly well-known
Shakespearean play, Personally, I would argue that it is one of Shakespeare’s
plays where much of the humour is within the wit of the words more than the
situational humour in some of his other comedies. So then, how does a company,
committed to speech-free performance deliver a clear, equally comedic
performance? With minor adaptations to the action, though not the overall
story, Synetic was able to deliver Shakespeare’s story in a clear and universal
way, maintaining the comedic tone of the original.
While the basic story of Much Ado follows the love affair
of Hero and Claudio, Benedick and Beatrice can always steal this show with
their witty repartee. Completely devoid of Shakespeare’s original dialogue,
choreographer, Irina Tsikurishvili (also appearing as Beatrice), used playful
and competitive physicality to show the rivalry between this heated duo. One
particular moment that stood out, when Beatrice and Benedick (Ben Cunis) are
‘sparring’ in a casino with cards and tricks, Benedict first looses his shirt,
and then, disappears briefly while a pair of jeans hit Beatrice. He returns in
only his heart-covered boxers, dancing confidently and soon winning the game
and trumping Beatrice.
Tricking these two into falling in love, the other men
and women of the production come together, using costumes to and mime to tell
of the ‘repressed love’ that each feels for the other. Kathy Gordon as Margaret
– wearing a leather jacket, hat and the heart-covered boxers was incredibly
entertaining imitating a heart-sick Benedick, crawling on her knees and
offering up her heart with feeble and trembling hands while her face twisted
into the most pitiful expression.
I must also mention the always hilarious, and physically
impressive bumbling trio of police
officers: Dogberry (Vita Tsikurishvili), Verges (Gankhuyag), along with
ensemble member, Justin J. Bell. These three were constantly climbing, falling,
and blundering around the set of two staircases as they chased, caught and lost
the Villians of this piece: Don John (Tolentino), Borachio (Guiducci), and
Conrad (Bertocci). Usually this ensemble overhears Borachio and Conrad speaking
about fooling Claudio. However, in this production, Conrad is female, and
Verges – in a surprising moment of virility - is able to seduce pictures from
Conrad that have been obviously altered. It appears that Conrad and Borachio
were able to fool Claudio with images of Borachio and Margaret in the throws of
passion that have been changed so that Hero’s face appears instead: a clever,
wordless way of maintaining the story with a modern twist.
Theatre performed entirely without dialogue is very
uncommon in the US, and doing this with Shakespeare’s stories is particularly challenging.
The Synetic Theater company, however, year and after year, produces these
wordless productions that tell a complete tale clearly and break the boundaries
of traditional western theatre by using physicality and dance to make the
performance truly universal and understandable to all. While not the best
performance of Much Ado, it is new and different, taking risks that I’d like to
see more theatres do. Clear, comedic and engaging – this is a solid production
worth seeing.
