1968 — High Renaissance

Abstract

Trevor Nunn’s production of Much Ado About Nothing at Stratford in 1968 can be seen as a reaction against the flamboyantly modern and controversial interpretation staged by Zeffirelli. Believing in the essentially English tone of the play he and Christopher Morley, the designer, set it in Renaissance England. The acting area was contained in a square box of scrim consisting of rectangular panels and fitted with sliding doors. This enclosed set was lit predominantly in the reds and russets that were also used for the costumes. The scheme created the mood of the ‘rose and flame of the high Renaissance’ (Birmingham Post, 15 November 1968). Changes in lighting could create a world that was warm and intimate, or one that was stifling, claustrophobic and more suggestive of Middleton or Webster. The lack of visual enchantment displeased some who did not expect to find Much Ado at home in an oppressive. sombre, vault-like environment.