Much Ado About Nothing
Directed by Alan Cooke, Franco Zeffirelli (stage director)Writers: William Shakespeare, Robert Graves (adaptation)
1967
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Alan Adams ... Inanimate
Chloe Ashcroft ... House maid
David Belcher ... Watchman #3
Michael Byrne ... Claudio
Wynne Clark ... Ursula
Graham Crowden ... Verges
Paul Curran ... Friar Francis
Denis DeMarne ... A Lord
Barry Evans ... Coffee boy
Janina Faye ... Inanimate
Frank Finlay ... Dogberry
Neil Fitzpatrick ... Balthasar
Kay Gallie ... Inanimate
Michael Gambon ... Watchman #4
Mary Griffiths ... House maid
John Hallam ... Watchman #5
Luke Hardy ... Inanimate
David Hargreaves ... Borachio
Alan Hutt ... Trombonist
Derek Jacobi ... Don John
Gerald James ... Leonato
Caroline John ... Hero
Roger Kemp ... Watchman #1
Harry Lomax ... Antonio
John McEnery ... Gentleman
Ron Pember ... Watchman #2
Edward Petherbridge ... Conrade
Ronald Pickup ... Don Pedro
Malcolm Reynolds ... Messenger
David Ryall ... Sexton
Maggie Smith ... Beatrice
Robert Stephens ... Benedick
Christopher Timothy ... Server
The screen version of the famed National Theatre production by Italian director Franco Zeffirelli. It was pre-recorded in the studio on January 11, 1967. The cast of forty three actors spent three weeks in rehearsal for the tv performance. Hence the production passes over the line from being a mere "recording" of a stage play to the status of a full-scale television drama.
It is thought to be the earliest British television broadcast of the whole play and was assumed to be lost. However in 2010 a copy was discovered in the Library of Congress in Washington DC having been loaned to PBS, America's public broadcasting channel. The restoration of Much Ado About Nothing was completed by the BBC Archive Development in a collection of programmes from the 50s and 60s which were screened at London's Barbican.
A phenomenal cast that includes Maggie Smith, Robert Stephens, Derek Jacobi, Graham Crowden, Edward Petherbridge and Ronald Pickup with Christopher Timothy and Michael Gambon in minor roles.