Opening at the RSC this month is Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, set in the glamorous and ultra-expensive world of top footballers - and WAGs. When you enter the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to take your seats, the match is already on, just off-stage. After a hard won victory by Messina, thanks to young star Claudio, the players leave the pitch - and the real drama begins. In a play full of rivalries, jealousy, hyper masculine pursuits and public scandal, director Michael Longhurst's setting fits as snugly as a shin pad.

The plot centres around the celebrity wedding of Claudio (Daniel Adeosun) and Hero (Eleanor Worthington-Cox), daughter of the club’s owner, Leonato (Peter Forbes). In the days leading up to the wedding, the team decided to engineer a romance between Captain, and sworn bachelor, Benedict (Nick Blood), and pitch-side pundit Beatrice (Freema Agyeman), after years of the pair’s rivalry and bickering. So far, so light-hearted, but someone is plotting upset…

While Olivier Huband oozes charm as the team's manager, Don Pedro, his brother Don John (Nojan Khazai) has an injury boot on his foot, and several chips on his shoulder. Conspiring with Borachio (Jay Taylor), they come up with a plan that will enrage Claudio, and cause a public scandal to destroy Leonato - all by ‘proving’ that Hero has been sleeping around.

The setting seamlessly brings the story up to date, into a world where there are stark double standards in expectations between men and women. This is encapsulated by Leonato's wife, Antonia (Tanya Franks), who is powerless to protect her daughter, and must turn a blind eye to her husband's extra-marital pursuits. Bringing the story into the modern world involves some witty amendments to the play - rather than being Shakespeare's ‘Prince’, Don Pedro is referred to as the ‘Gaffer’.

Nick Blood is charming and very funny as Benedict, with bemused asides to the audience as he convinces himself away from the bachelor lifestyle. Freema Agyeman is absolutely his equal as sharp-witted Beatrice. A great deal of comedy and slapstick silliness is injected into the play in the form of the over-serious Head of Security Dogberry, played by Antonio Magro, and his sidekick Verges (Nick Cavaliere). Dogberry tries to talk big, but doesn't quite have the vocabulary, while Verges’ ever-increasing selection of military equipment is definitely overkill.

This inspired adaptation brings a fresh perspective to the play, in which the scandal is magnified via the 24-hour news cycle, and social media. With plenty of visual humor alongside the slanging matches, if you've never given Shakespeare a try, this is the time to do it. Back of the net. 

Five Stars

Much Ado About Nothing was reviewed on Thursday 24 April by Jessica Clixby, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it shows until Saturday 24 May