Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.“We are the only love-gods”, declares Don Pedro to Claudio and Leonato — with some flourish — in this effervescent staging of Much Ado About Nothing. Correction, gentlemen. I think you’ll find Jamie Lloyd, who directed this glorious production of Shakespeare’s romcom, is the Cupid of the moment. From start to finish, the show is a joy: a love song to the exhilaration, pain and giddy nonsense of passion, with Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell absolutely acing it at the helm.Lloyd unclips the play from its Italian setting and styles it as a kind of Nineties rave with its own lovestruck landscape (designed by Soutra Gilmour). Rosy confetti rains down on the performers, settling into sweet pink drifts across the stage; a giant inflatable heart rises above the action like a moon; the drama is punctuated by serious consumption of shots, delirious dancing to club hits and Mason Alexander Park singing soulful covers.Gone is the war — here the men strut into the arena to the Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”. Gone, too, is the subplot involving the officious officer-of-the-law Dogberry, which makes for a rather abrupt resolution of the drama. We lose too the potential social commentary embedded in the tale. But the result is a fleet, focused and very funny production that, amid all the riotous partying, charts beautifully the play’s soaring highs and darker depths.At its heart is the “merry war” between Beatrice and Benedick, the couple who protest their loathing of each other, all the while yearning for connection. Atwell and Hiddleston are superb, throwing some fabulous shapes and bringing pinpoint timing to their characters’ quicksilver wit, but also picking their way poignantly through the couple’s warring emotions.Hiddleston’s Benedick is impishly charming, savouring his own waggishness, flirting with the audience — “Certain I am loved of all ladies”, he says, with a saucy wink at the stalls — and rolling beneath piles of confetti as he attempts to conceal himself to overhear the conspirators. But he’s also immensely touching in his astonishment that Beatrice may care for him — “Love me?” he whispers. “Why?” — and quietly sincere in his resolution to avenge Claudio’s wronging of Hero.Atwell responds with a Beatrice of mercurial intelligence and emotional truth. In a brilliant move, she doesn’t hide to eavesdrop on her fate, but stands, motionless, her conflicting feelings scudding across her face. Tiny shifts in her voice and body language betray to us the hurt within and the way she projects insouciant wit to protect her heart.The irony is that, beneath their prickly exteriors, these two care deeply for one another, whereas love’s young dream, in the shape of the impetuous Claudio (James Phoon) and eager Hero (Mara Huf), evaporates at the first hurdle. Claudio’s cruel jilting of Hero is a terrible moment, Shakespeare reminding you that, banter aside, mistrust between men and women can have devastating consequences. Lloyd manages the shift skilfully: there’s a sudden iciness and, for the first time, the confetti stops falling.And there are many thorns among these roses: we notice Gerald Kyd’s Prince, drowning loneliness in drink, and Tim Steed as his “villainous” brother, playing up to the role expected. Heartbreak, hope, healing — it’s all here in this gorgeous, big-hearted production.★★★★★To April 5, lwtheatres.co.uk
