This well-intentioned adaptation of the Shakespeare romcom relocates the tale from Messina to modern day, faintly drizzly Britain. Beatrice (Emma Beth Jones) and her cousin Hero (Jody Larcombe) are imagined as university students enjoying a languid afternoon together, until their idyll is shattered by a busload of high-spirited rugby players. Among them is Benedick (Johnny Lucas) – a commitment-phobic hunk who is horrified by the idea of marriage, but has been locked for some time in a “merry war” of words with Beatrice – and Claudio, his wetter, kinder friend, who has a crush on Hero that is fated only to grow, bland though she may be. The four characters’ inevitable flightpath to bliss is imperilled, however, by the machinations of Don John (nicely played by Jack Boal), a classic Shakespearean chaos agent who can’t bear to see others happy.
Directed and produced by the promisingly named sisters Hillary and Anna-Elizabeth Shakespeare, this palpably low-budget effort brings many of the problems you might expect: dodgy lighting, dispiriting costumes and a washed-out palette. But there are other issues that can’t quite be attributed to money: for all the repartee between Beatrice and Benedick, the two actors have little chemistry, dampening the squib when they get together. Worse, some lines are rushed or mumbled, making the (already challenging) language hard to understand, while plangent indie music shoulders in at moments of high drama to do the emotional heavy-lifting. And the smooth progress of the story is marred by a few cringe-inducing moments, including a student party where the actors feign drunken flirting.
Still, the source text has been sensitively pruned, and there are some nice performances. Jones is a sparkling and likable Beatrice; and Peter Saracen, playing Leonato, handles the character’s volte-face from humdrum dad to fervent slut-shamer with credibility. My hunch, though, is that the film will prove most useful to English teachers wishing to put their feet up rather than teach the play.
• Much Ado is released on 24 April on digital platforms.
