Re-review: Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare's Globe & tour)

Having become a bit of a Globe completist in recent years, I've tended to return to its small-scale touring productions anyway, but it was especially inevitable I'd want to see Max Webster's fresh take on Much Ado About Nothing again, which made it into my Top Ten shows of 2014, and was my joint favourite Shakespeare of the year. You can read my original review here; for the 2015 tour three of the original cast of eight have returned: Robert Pickavance's Leonato, Jim Kitson's Don Pedro, and the stalwart of these touring comedies, Emma Pallant's superbly acidic Beatrice. Sadly the original #SexyBenedick Simon Bubb hasn't returned, but Christopher Harper gives Benedick a geeky edge that contrasts well with Pallant's po-faced deliveries. In any case, the addition of Aaron Anthony as Claudio (tonight dealing well with an epaulette-based mishap) means the show's not short on eye-candy.

Theatre review: I Know How I Feel About Eve

After shows lasting 3 hours 10 minutes on Friday and 3 hours 15 minutes on Saturday, a play that gets its themes across, in its understated way, in just over an hour is a welcome change. Jo (Kirsty Bushell) and Alex (Christopher Harper) are a couple whose marriage is suffering in the wake of a personal tragedy. Alex, a novelist, is trying to get back to work and back to normal, but is struggling with his current book. Jo, a barrister on extended leave, spends her mornings jogging but in the rest of her life seems to have lost all energy, she's unwilling or unable to shop for food and has decided that toast and gin are all the sustenance anyone needs. The two bicker and snap at each other, Jo seems repulsed by the very idea of Alex making a sexual advance, but the two also seem determined to keep their marriage going.