The Robert J Williamson company returns to Nottingham Castle once again to relieve the theatre drought of the Summer months. Disappointingly, they are presenting two comedies - Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night - this year instead of one tragedy and one comedy. The comedies do tend to pull in larger audiences but are less interesting experiences...
As usual, there are some celebrities thrown in amongst the decent actors. Wayne Sleep starred as Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream a couple of years ago. Since then, of course, he has relaunched his career with an appearance in "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here". How successful a relaunch that was can be judged by the fact that he is back here again playing the fool in Twelfth Night.
Carly Hillman (Nicky Di Marco from Eastenders) makes quite a decent stab at the role of Hero in Much Ado and Norman Pace's comic timing and presence enliven both plays. Unlike some previous years, the celebs don't detract from the quality of the acting and there are some superb performances here - particularly from John Ioannou and Penny Woodman.
Robert Williamson himself usually takes on the exhausting job of organising, promoting and producing this Festival, which tours several cities, as well as often playing the leading parts. This year, he grabs the fun role of Benedick in Much Ado. However, from now on he will be concentrating on his off-stage activities, which is a shame because he is an excellent and versatile actor.
As ever, many more laughs are wrung out of these plays than can be found in the script, with much physical humour and comic touches. There is a real feeling of quality about both productions. It's a real privilege to have productions of this standard coming to Nottingham each year. They are having a miserable year with the weather so why not pull on your thermals and get down to the Castle to give them some support? - Nottingham would be a poorer place without it's Shakespeare Festival.
The Shakespeare Festival runs at Nottingham Castle until 1 August 2006.
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