Much Ado About Nothing

Claudio and Hero are about to marry. But a resentful prince constructs a slander to break them apart and the wedding turns to disaster. In the same house are Beatrice and Benedick, both opposed to marriage, needling each other at every meeting. Everyone around them makes a plan: each will be told the other is in love with them, and then they will watch what happens. This recording is the filming of a Shakespeare production staged by Josie Rourke and playing in London. The staging moves the play to Gibraltar in the 1980s, with soldiers, disco music and period costume. David Tennant plays Benedick and Catherine Tate plays Beatrice. The rapport the two brought from television sits directly on these characters' sparring, and it is the production's main draw. Who it's for: Viewers who like Shakespeare adaptations, filmed theatre, and David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Who it's not for: This is a stage recording rather than a film; the camera is fixed and the space is single. The moral frame of the Claudio and Hero plot is also uncomfortable by present-day eyes.