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 Benedick (Alan Knight) lectures the young lover Claudio (Alex Duncan).
This week’s clever production Much Ado About Nothing raises a question for me: Does Waiheke have the potential to become New Zealand’s Stratford on the sand? Having visited to two successful communities with a reputation for Shakespearean theatre; Ashland (on the creek) Oregon and Stratford (on the river) Ontario – I wonder why it could not happen here?
Rogues and Vagabonds Wandering Players put on such a witty and physically dynamic performance this past weekend that the tiny Rocky Bay Hall was bursting with the hubbub and energy of Will’s humour.
“To marry or not?” is the question of Much Ado. The answer is addressed through the fast and tart repartee between Beatrice the harpy (Kate Loughmane) and Benedick (“I shall live a bachelor”) (Alan Knight). When Beatrice says “I’d rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me”, he comes back with “I wish I had a horse with the speed of your tongue.” It, of course, leads to the scene when Beatrice first reveals her love for Benedick by slamming him so hard against the wall, the Rocky Bay Hall surely shifted a couple centimetres off its foundations.
 Mark James makes a point as Jill Winchester, Mike Claridge, Cory Martin, Ben Middlemiss, Rod Glendinning, Philip Symonds and Alex Duncan look on.
The small size of the Rocky Bay Hall catered to the production. The action became extra- huge and intimate. Every inch of the theatre was used to advantage. The stage walls became props for leaning against and plotting when you are an extra-tall villain like Don John (John Tupper) and the narrow aisles become roads for noisy and boot-boisterous soldiers (Audience - watch out for your toes!).
The play opens to the tune of “In the Mood” with the cast wearing costumes of 1945 with details like the seams running up the back of Beatrice’s stockings and Antonio (Rod Glendinning) looking dapper in vest, scarf and cap. The villains are, naturally, in zoot suits – striped and sinister.
Some of the less experienced actors encountered some early discomfort with the 17^th century English on Saturday evening but as the plot developed, the delivery blossomed into a positive relishment of Shakespeare’s words. Loughmane and Knight are naturals to the rhythm of the language and have the power of personality to carry Shakespeare’s high humour that needs just a titch of over-dramatisation.
Hero (Hannah Blumhardt), the sweetheart is the good daughter – beautiful and sweet as sucrose. She resorts to the perfect faint when all else fails. Her father Leonato (Mark James) comes on strong as the plot thickens; expressing busted pride and then anger with the realisation he has been tricked.
Claudio (Alex Duncan) the young officer in love with Hero portrays puppy love with exuberance. As officer Don Pedro, Philip Symonds has amusingly comic facial dexterity that may see him out-match Hollywood actor Jim Carrey. Rebekah Tysoe plays Margaret, the confident flirt, her dress swooshing with a swing of the hips.
 Leonato (Mark James), Don Pedro (Philip Symonds) and Claudio (Alex Duncan) get serious about love after too many sips of shockingly pink wine.
It’s a complex plot and yet the children in the audience were quietly transfixed by the story. It’s full of naughty scheming, matchmakers galore (“Cupid is no longer an archer”) and furtive listening behind curtains.
Oh, Shakespeare at his best.
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