It was press night for Much Ado About Nothing last night and so the reviews are in! And what fabulous reviews they are with both David and Catherine being praised by the critics for their amazing chemistry.
Critical Quotables:
Don Mackay of The Daily Mirror says: "David Tennant is a comic tour de force in brilliant Much Ado About Nothing adaptation" and "There is much to love here and nothing to fault."
Michael Billington for The Guardian gave the show 4 stars out of 5 and said: "Tennant is especially good at showing Benedick's transition from the self-conscious madcap of the officers' mess into a man capable of love. He makes his entrance in a golf-buggy, dons a Lily Savage wig and tight skirt for Leonato's party but is hit amidships when he learns that he is adored by Beatrice. The great comic moment in Tennant's performance comes when, flinging his arms wide to the heavens, he declares: "I will be horribly in love with her."
Paul Taylor for the Independent gave the show 3 stars out of 5 and said: "It would be hard to conceive of a more gloriously engaging portrayal of Benedick than the one David Tennant is now offering in Josie Rourke's production of Much Ado About Nothing, a staging that transforms Shakespeare's demobbed soldiers into white uniformed naval officers on shore leave in Gibraltar during the 1980s. Revelling in the hilariously sarky, sceptical music afforded by his native Scots tones, Tennant seems to subsume the functions of stand-up and top-flight classical actor."
Charles Spencer of the Telegraph also rates the show with 4 stars saying: "The chemistry Tennant and Tate established in Dr Who survives in their performances as the disputatious lovers. Tennant, an old hand at Shakespeare, brings a fine mixture of wit, cynicism and sudden love-struck wonder to Benedick, speaks the language with Scottish-accented clarity, and proves highly sympathetic but never ingratiating."
Julie Carpenter of the Daily Express says: "Tennant is certainly on great sparring form as Benedick. He is more derisive than some but balances this by playing the clown with manic energy, displaying great comic timing and emphasis, while moving naturally from glib to grave."
James Woodall of The Arts Desk says: "No stranger to Shakespeare, then, David Tennant as Benedick fills the part and stage with a rare, seasoned confidence and is never less than watchable. He turns, Cupid-like, almost every line of his soliloquies into a "paper bullet" (Benedick's phrase) to melt the audience - could he ever fail to?"
Henry Hitchings of The Evening Standard says: "Tennant is the star. It's not just his established fans who will savour his energetic performance. He invests his lines with a mixture of quicksilver wit and wiry physical excitement."
Maxwell Cooter for whatsonstage.com says: "The masses will come to see Tennant and he's certainly worth it. This is a Benedick who's clearly a leader and yet who manages to reach into himself when he realises his love for Beatrice."
Read the press coverage in full:
Critical Quotables:
Don Mackay of The Daily Mirror says: "David Tennant is a comic tour de force in brilliant Much Ado About Nothing adaptation" and "There is much to love here and nothing to fault."
Michael Billington for The Guardian gave the show 4 stars out of 5 and said: "Tennant is especially good at showing Benedick's transition from the self-conscious madcap of the officers' mess into a man capable of love. He makes his entrance in a golf-buggy, dons a Lily Savage wig and tight skirt for Leonato's party but is hit amidships when he learns that he is adored by Beatrice. The great comic moment in Tennant's performance comes when, flinging his arms wide to the heavens, he declares: "I will be horribly in love with her."
Paul Taylor for the Independent gave the show 3 stars out of 5 and said: "It would be hard to conceive of a more gloriously engaging portrayal of Benedick than the one David Tennant is now offering in Josie Rourke's production of Much Ado About Nothing, a staging that transforms Shakespeare's demobbed soldiers into white uniformed naval officers on shore leave in Gibraltar during the 1980s. Revelling in the hilariously sarky, sceptical music afforded by his native Scots tones, Tennant seems to subsume the functions of stand-up and top-flight classical actor."
Charles Spencer of the Telegraph also rates the show with 4 stars saying: "The chemistry Tennant and Tate established in Dr Who survives in their performances as the disputatious lovers. Tennant, an old hand at Shakespeare, brings a fine mixture of wit, cynicism and sudden love-struck wonder to Benedick, speaks the language with Scottish-accented clarity, and proves highly sympathetic but never ingratiating."
Julie Carpenter of the Daily Express says: "Tennant is certainly on great sparring form as Benedick. He is more derisive than some but balances this by playing the clown with manic energy, displaying great comic timing and emphasis, while moving naturally from glib to grave."
James Woodall of The Arts Desk says: "No stranger to Shakespeare, then, David Tennant as Benedick fills the part and stage with a rare, seasoned confidence and is never less than watchable. He turns, Cupid-like, almost every line of his soliloquies into a "paper bullet" (Benedick's phrase) to melt the audience - could he ever fail to?"
Henry Hitchings of The Evening Standard says: "Tennant is the star. It's not just his established fans who will savour his energetic performance. He invests his lines with a mixture of quicksilver wit and wiry physical excitement."
Maxwell Cooter for whatsonstage.com says: "The masses will come to see Tennant and he's certainly worth it. This is a Benedick who's clearly a leader and yet who manages to reach into himself when he realises his love for Beatrice."
Read the press coverage in full: