Review: Much Ado About Nothing at the RSC

Transporting Shakespeare's play, Much Ado About Nothing, to the world of top-flight football and scandalous celebrity culture, the RSC presents a fresh, raunchier take on this classic rom-com which has been reimagined time and time again, in both its story and its troupes.

With salacious gossip, rumour and slandered women at the heart of this story, lead Hero (Eleanor Worthington-Cox) is set up, wrongly accused of being ‘unvirtuous’ and thrown away by her lover and betrothed, Claudio (Daniel Adesun). Meanwhile, the group also plots to bring together the ever-quarrelsome pair, Beatrice and Benedick, in a play that displays the use of deception and gossip, both for good and for ill.

Drawing Shakespeare’s original text into the modern era, this production sees some minor script edits to fit the footballing backdrop (including segments done in song). However, the majority of the script remains the same, relying on the clever set (Jon Bausor), sharp acting, props, music (Songwriter: SuRie, Composer: Richard Hammarton) and costuming (Jon Bausor) to reflect the new timing.

This tale of misogyny and scandal wrought by untruths and deception – despite being written in the late-1500s – fits perfectly with the RSC’s present-day setting. Much Ado About Nothing remains painfully relevant to the current landscape faced by women where deep fakes, edited photos and outright misinformation go unchecked on social media, and the wider world.

Photo by Marc Brenner 

The play’s sub-plot – that of Beatrice (Freema Agyeman) and Benedick (Nick Blood) – was intended to be just that, a sub-plot. Their story, however, due to the humorous, enemies-to-lovers troupe is one that also endures and is one that this play is often best remembered by. Truly, in this production it is this pair’s comedic bickering that stands out most, and in particular the acting from Freema Agyeman who commands every scene she’s in.

Set in a culture of misogyny, this latest production of Much Ado About Nothing – featuring footballers, plotting paparazzi, and ‘WAGS’ in high heeled glamour – is Footballers' Wives meets Love Island. Disguises, hedonism, glittering gossip and manipulation collide in this production that injects some ‘Wagatha Christie’ chaos into Shakespeare’s original rom-com, Much Ado About Nothing.

Much Ado About Nothing runs at the RSC until Saturday 24th May 2025. Tickets are on sale now.

This review was written following a press invite to the production