Chesil Theatre 
Playing fields adjacent to Wolvesey Castle, Winchester
Jon Cockeram
15 July 2026
No matter who you are, if I was to ask you to name England’s most famous playwright, the odds are that you’d name William Shakespeare. Famed for his broad range of comedies, tragedies, sonnets and poems, he’s a household name. On this beautiful summer’s evening (whilst there may or may not have been some form of sporting event on), Chesil Theatre have put on an outdoor performance of one of his most famous comedies, Much Ado About Nothing.
For those of you unaware of the story, it’s about love; both a quick love-at-first-glance kind of love and one that takes a lot longer to be recognised (grudgingly so!). Young nobleman Claudio returns from war and meets Hero, instantly falling head over heels for her and the pair make plans to marry as quickly as possible. However, the villainous Sir John, jealous of Claudio’s success, seeks to disrupt this and cause as much misery as possible. Thrown into this is the will-they-won’t-they relationship between Beatrice and Benedick, who are locked into a battle of wits and insults that neither is willing to back down from; however, thanks to some meddling from their friends, the two are tricked into believing that the other is madly in love with them, leading them to drop their own barriers and open themselves to the possibility of love. Add in some identity swapping and more twists than a soap opera, and you’ve got a great story ahead.
There’s a whole host of characters in this play, ranging from watchmen and messengers to princes and lords, and everyone has done a wonderful job of bringing them to life. There are, however, a few standout performances amongst the great talent that Chesil Theatre has brought to the stage. Beatrice and Benedick are the comedic backbone of the entire play, and their “merry war of wits” was brilliantly realised by Francesca Waters and Arthur Wood, both with the perfect amount of biting banter and their physicality on stage too, especially in the scenes where they’re trying not to be noticed. Jozua Berkelaar is clearly having the time of his life as Borachio, with a wonderful stage presence, and the comedic duo of Peter Andrew and Tez Cook playing Dogberry and Verges will stay with me for a long time.
Chesil Theatre have chosen to set this in a 1940s setting just after the end of the Second World War, and the costuming, hair and makeup worked perfectly for this, keeping us very grounded in the time period. The staging is simple – a large, raised diamond with a few doorways, a window and a few ramps and steps leading up and down, as well as a large tree (used to great comedic effect by Benedick) and some benches and blocks for seating. However, when set against the backdrop of the ruins of Wolvesey Castle (a former bishop’s palace) there’s a wonderful sense of age and importance that transforms the simple into something both versatile and stately.
Outdoor theatre can be a bit of a double-edged sword; namely, that the outside world has a nasty tendency to intrude. Winchester Cathedral apparently decided to have some extended bellringing practice throughout the first half of the play, and a few slightly less than period appropriate helicopters flew overhead as well. Naturally, none of these were within the control of Chesil Theatre, however this served to only further draw attention to the biggest problem I had with the show; the sound. Chesil have not miked the individual performers, choosing instead to have a couple of low-level stage microphones to pick up the dialogue instead. This did, sadly, cause a few problems; anyone walking on the blocks that made up the diamond near one of the floor mikes left some very audible footsteps, especially the women in their heels, but mainly it was cast volume that proved problematic. Whilst some people project very well and are easily picked up by the microphones (in some cases, possibly not even needing the mike to be heard), anyone who is not facing towards one of the microphones or is further back on the stage away from the microphones sometimes struggled to be heard, with some plot details sometimes hidden as a result.
For the most part though, the cast and crew have done an excellent job of bringing this show to life, with great attention paid to detail and a thoroughly entertaining performance. Director, Jennifer Hale, and her team deserve to be thoroughly congratulated, as do the cast. The show runs until the 18th of July on the playing fields near Wolvesey Castle – enjoy it and make the most of the wonderful weather!
