Rose Theatre Kingston today announces the centre piece of their ten year anniversary will be Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, a Rose co-production with Granville & Parham Productions and antic | face.
Mel Giedroyc stars as Beatrice, reuniting with director Simon Dormandy following Luce at Southwark Playhouse in 2016. The production opens on Wednesday 18 April, with previews from Friday 13 April, and runs until Sunday 6 May.
Don Pedro is victorious. Having won a turf war down in the city, the Mafia overlord and his entourage take over the luxury spa hotel Messina in order to hide-out, party and recover deep in the Sicilian hills. As hotel owner Leonato fawns over his clan boss, his beautiful daughter Hero wins the heart of Claudio, the Don’s young protégé. Meanwhile the no-nonsense, customer experience manager Beatrice has unfinished business to attend to with Benedick, Pedro’s commitment-phobic consigliere. But when Hero is disgraced, the party is over, love turns to hatred and new battle lines are drawn.
Executive Producer of Rose Theatre Kingston, Jerry Gunn said today, “We are delighted to be producing Shakespeare’s most popular comedy Much Ado about Nothing for the first time, and in our tenth anniversary year, with the superb Mel Giedroyc. I’m very excited to see Mel put her stamp on the role, and it is entirely fitting to have such a popular actress and performer playing Beatrice, something our Founding Artistic Director Sir Peter Hall would have been enchanted by.”