Much Ado About Nothing: 1976, Royal Shakespeare Company.

Much Ado About Nothing: : Beatrice, Judi Dench; Benedick, Donald Sinden; Director, John Barton; Designer, John Napier;Photographer, Tom Holte (ahds.ac.uk/performiongarts); Royal Shakespeare Company,1976.

"The play has been lifted bodily into mid-nineteenth century India...just as the sons of the Empire were sent into the colonies to 'find themselves' a century ago, so we now send our theatrical classics there in hope of finding them again. And it works: the timbered balconies of John Napier's permanent Stratford setting, used last week for the declaration of Juliet's love, now become places to hang awnings and sun-shades out in the midday sun." Sheridan Morley, Punch 21.4.76. Opening Date: 5 April 1976.

The now archaic manners of the British Raj in India plausibly update the formality of the Spanish rulers of the play's original setting in Southern Italy in the 16th century. HMR