The opening night of Melbourne Theatre Company’s Much Ado About Nothing was a night of glamorous spectacle. A full house packed into the Sumner Theatre to witness the latest offering from the state’s premier theatre company.
The comedy at the centre of Much Ado About Nothing is very farcical and melodramatic, but director Mark Wilson has taken great care to shine a focus on themes that have taken greater shape over the centuries since the play was written.
Much Ado About Nothing, at its heart, is a romantic comedy, as two couples struggle through scandal and gossip to ultimately find love with each other. While the Prince (John Shearman) and his followers stay in Leonato’s (Syd Brisbane) villa, Claudio (Remy Heremaia) and Hero (Miela Anich) meet and fall for each other and prepare to be wed. But thanks to a scheme hatched by the Bastard (Chanella Macri) and her follower Borachio (also Miela Anich), they struggle to tie the knot.
Meanwhile, the Prince hatches a scheme of his own to trick Benedick (Fayssal Bazzi) and Beatrice (Alison Ball), who have long hated each other, into falling in love.
As an ensemble, these performers share fantastic chemistry as they fall in love and fight with each other. In particular, Alison Ball and Fayssal Bazzi are a superb on-stage couple, perfectly playing into the ‘will they won’t they’ antics that carry through the show.
Special mention must go out to Julie Forsyth, who plays the maid Ursula, the constable Dogberry, as well as a handful of ensemble parts.
In a cast as talented across the board as this, it’s really something that Forsyth still manages to stand above the rest. Forsyth has a wickedly powerful sense of comedic timing, teamed with a physicality that is beyond description. Whenever she was on stage, the audience was either howling with laughter or poised to do so.
The original play features over a dozen characters, but this cast of eight effortlessly slips between roles to the production’s advantage. It is hilarious to see Miela Anich go from the elegant gowns of Hero to the cargo shorts, XL black t-shirt and mullet of Borachio, sometimes even pulling this transition off live on stage. Moments like this make the constrained cast and the need for them to multitask a great strength.
Entering the Sumner Theatre during the pre-show, the audience is immediately struck by Anna Cordingley’s grand approach to set design. The entire set is open and exposed. The audience is invited to see into the wings: the props tables, the costume racks, the rear doors leading further into the Sumner’s depths.
At the centre of the stage stands a house featuring a mural of Pamela Anderson’s face on its front. It’s a reference to former football player and television presenter Sam Newman’s home in St Kilda.
This, along with a painting inspired by Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus that is bubble wrapped and carried off stage at the start of the production, is a clear nod to central themes about the treatment of women. Throughout the show, women are treated like property; things to be exchanged between men to enhance their own wealth and status.
These themes are handled with a delicate, often humorous touch; this is, after all, a comedy. We see the men run around in traditional Shakespearean costumes with the addition of inbuilt erections. Beatrice lounges on a sun bed while reading The Second Sex.
Moments like these are what makes this interpretation of Much Ado About Nothing special. The reverence for the text and its meanings are clear and present, but it never gets overly wrapped up in those themes. It is still determined first and foremost to be an entertaining show.
Costuming by Karine Larché is a mix of modern attire with a splash of more traditional styles. When the Prince and his friends arrive in Messina, they are dressed in camouflage army fatigues, while Dogberry and the other members of the guard are dressed like Australian police officers.
The rest of the cast wears modern fashion, save for moments like the masquerade ball, where they don more traditional Shakespearean costumes (featuring the aforementioned erections).
Joe Paradise Lui delivers a strong, traditionally inspired soundtrack that perfectly underscores the production. The booming motif that plays whenever the Bastard unexpectedly enters the scene always got a rise out of the crowd.
Additions like these and Katie Sfetkidis’ strong but largely subtle approach to lighting design round out this high-budget production by lifting up the more core focal points of the show.
Melbourne Theatre Company’s Much Ado About Nothing is a fantastic adaptation of a classic text, thanks to a hilarious cast and a thoughtful approach to interpreting its themes. It is well worth a look and a fantastic ending to a successful 2025 season.
Much Ado About Nothing runs to 19 December 2025 at the Southbank Theatre, The Sumner. 140 Southbank Boulevard, Southbank Vic 3006.
Tickets: https://tickets.mtc.com.au/production/18875
Website: https://www.mtc.com.au/plays-and-tickets/whats-on/season-2025/much-ado-about-nothing/
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/melbtheatreco/
Photo credits: Gregory Lorenzutti
