Much Ado About Nothing
The Tarragon Theatre
THe National Post

Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, the traditional version, begins with an army led by a Spanish prince but staffed largely by Italians billeting itself on another Italian, the governor of Messina, who is only too pleased to have them. In the self-styled "adaptation" at the Tarragon, the Mayor of Brampton, whose name is Ranjit, plays host to an even more diverse body of civilian guests, presided over by a certain Lord Tata, who seems to be his own corporation.

This Much Ado has been touted as "the Bollywood version," and it does include a lot of singing and dancing, Indian-style, though these are hardly the most distinguished parts of the evening. (They aren't a distortion, though; Much Ado, like many Shakespeare comedies, is practically a musical.) The main lines of the plot remain the same. Lord Tata's favourite assistant, an Iranian bearing the historic Persian name of Darius, falls for the Mayor's daughter Sita and she for him; villains persuade him that she's been pre-nuptially unfaithful and he brutally rejects her at the altar. Meanwhile, Tata's chief financial officer Benedict, a confirmed bachelor and one of only two characters to retain, more or less, their Shakespearean names, and Thara, Mayor Ranjit's free-spirited niece, the lady formerly known as Beatrice, are more benignly tricked into believing that each is loved by the other which, underneath their habitual banter, happens to be the truth. Apart from changes in names and circumstances, some of them awkward, the actors speak the original lines, which are surtitled in Hindi. Except, that is, when the characters themselves are speaking Hindi, or in one case Italian, at which times the captioning is by Shakespeare.

Richard Rose directs, with Ravi Jain billed as "consultant director," and, as in his past productions at Stratford, he illuminates some unexpected corners of the play. The male characters lose a dimension from being de-militarized; CFO to CEO is a lesser bond than officer to general. Still, the visitors here are played with unusual strength and definition. 

As Lord Tata, the former Don Pedro, Kawa Ada practically writes his own ticket to Stratford, assuming he wants to go there; he presents an urbane fixer, well-intentioned in his own head, but chillingly insulated from other people's feelings or even from his own. Paying temporary court to Thara, he almost sounds involved, then backs away. Ali Momen is less technically assured; angry verse turns him wooden. He does, though, make a strong case for Darius/Claudio's ardour and an uncompromising one for his meanness. It's best not to inquire how Tata acquired an illegitimate and thickly accented Italian brother, complete with accent, but Salvatore Antonio makes this Don Jovanni a splendidly malevolent presence. As the mayor whose hospitality they so thoroughly abuse, David Adams runs a satisfying gamut from genial to enraged.

These performances rather upstage the play's traditional star turns. Anusree Roy makes very little of Thara except, oddly enough, in her one speech in heartfelt verse. (Much Ado is predominantly, and gloriously, a prose play.) Her wit goes missing; Alon Nashman's as Benedict is fitful. The more serious he gets, the better - and sometimes the funnier - he is, whether rejecting his former friends or, at the end, embracing not just a new wife but a new culture - at which point the production concept justifies itself as more than fun. The broader fun of the constabulary scenes is, at best, intermittent.

Here there's been a lot of rewriting, as well as some ingenious cutting. John Cleland's Constable Verges is divine, but as Dogberry a.k.a. Head Constable Dan Singh, Anand Rajaram has a mouth full of marbles - or maybe of doughnuts, since most of his malapropisms have been replaced by exaggerated flights into Tim Hortons Canadian. It seems effortful. Michelle Tracey's airy set is attractive, as are most of her costumes. (Sita's stripes are unfortunate; whether intentionally or not, I'm not sure.) The show is a mixed bag, but it has a nice spirit and some moments of real distinction.