“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more.” A wet and wild production of Much Ado About Nothing has rolled into town to take audiences for a ride. Without a shirt on its back or an ounce of pretension in its other dressings, this wantonly accessible staging throws the crowd straight into the thick of the action. Shakespeare’s most obnoxious lovers are back on their bull, and the energy never lets up.
Beatrice (Bobby Hughes) and Benedick (Zak Rosen) are capricious, ridiculous, and captivating rivals, locked in pursuit of the audience’s laughter with hearts destined to fall no matter how much they kick and scream on the way down. Rehearsed and performed in only a handful of hours, this high-octane production is relentlessly energetic, powered exclusively by the forceful charisma of its cast. Stripped of set, costumes, and props—beyond what is respectfully purloined from audience members’ laps by its magpie performers—the actors themselves take centre stage.
The gender-bending of certain core characters proves particularly entrancing. A winsome yet unwieldy Claudio, played not just for laughs by the lively Lottie Bell, stands opposite an unusually but not unpleasantly lascivious Hero (Shayna Beaudière). Paige Hann also makes a striking impression in her brief appearance as Friar Francis, delivering a monologue often relegated to plot-moving montage with a forceful immediacy. Her unapologetic femininity in the traditionally male role lends the speech an added potency.
There is a great deal to unpack in this play, and Shakespeare Unstaged lays it all on the line.
Reviewer: Kira Daniels
Reviewed: 13th February 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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