David Tennant and Catherine Tate win over critics – WBNews

Reunited former Doctor Who stars David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s Much Ado About Nothing has opened in the West End to a largely positive reception from critics. Josie Rourke’s production transports Shakespeare’s comedy to 1980s sun-drenched Gibraltar – complete with Rubik’s Cubes and disco dance floors. Tennant and Tate portray reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick. The Guardian’s Michael Billington said the casting “pays off superbly”. Image caption David Tennant’s Benedick time travels to the 1980s in this production. The production at Wyndham’s Theatre comes only a few days after a more traditional take on Much Ado opened at Shakespeare’s Globe to rave reviews. Billington called Rourke’s adaptation “more socially specific and much sexier”. His review adds: “The pairing of David Tennant as Benedick with Catherine Tate as Beatrice is a marriage that, if not made in heaven, is certainly cemented by television and pays off superbly.” Telegraph critic Charles Spencer described the production as a “populist Shakespeare with both intelligence and heart”. He said: “Purists will doubtless baulk, but there is an outstanding traditional production of Much Ado now playing at the Globe, and Rourke’s production has a freshness and wit about it that is often irresistible. “The chemistry Tennant and Tate established in Dr Who survives in their performances as the disputatious lovers.” Golf buggy Director Rourke loads the play’s first half with a string of slapstick scenes before events take a tragic turn at the wedding of Claudio (Tom Bateman) and Hero (Sarah MacRae). Image caption Catherine Tate…more detail