Phil Willmott states in his director's notes that Much Ado About Nothing "still feels fresh as paint". The obvious response is that it depends when it was last painted. Willmott opts for a slightly chipped, make-do-and-mend quality by setting the action in an English country house at the end of the second world war.
Shakespeare's comedy is about what happens when the outbreak of peace leaves soldiers with their "war thoughts vacant", so it seems a felicitous idea to conceive Beatrice as a strapping landgirl and Benedick as an officer-class clown, while the suggestion that Leonato is a diplomat recently recalled from Italy makes sense of the potentially troublesome references to Messina.
Willmott's sense of period fun extends to casting Dogberry as a whistle-toting boy-scout leader, and we even see Hero's stocking seams being applied in gravy browning by a maid. The trouble is that this is all done with such boundless energy that it feels like being pounced on by a Labrador - a bit sloppy and rather too eager to please.
To emphasise the point, he even includes a large Labrador for Sally Ann Triplett's Beatrice to cuddle at contemplative moments. And whenever the dog is not available, there always seems to be a passing boy scout to interact with. Yet one wonders if Triplett - a self-sufficient and a mellifluous verse speaker - really benefits from such an unending flow of extraneous business.
Her steely instruction to "Kill Claudio" - usually a point to stun audiences into silence - is greeted here with barrels of amiable laughter. And, though you would not wish to criticise a Shakespearean comedy for being funny, the lurch towards tragedy in the latter scenes feels wholly under-prepared.
Simon Merrells makes a perky Benedick and there is a sweetly demure performance from Ruth Everett as Hero. Even though Shakespeare picked a self-depreciatory title, the play requires a little more consistent textual analysis to supplement the sight gags if Much Ado is to be about anything much at all.
· Until May 5. Box office: 0151-709 4776.
