Much Ado about Women

 A day out in London took me first to see the new Marilyn Monroe exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, followed by a brief wander through Tate Modern before ending the day at the Globe for a glorious production of Much Ado About Nothing.

First, the Monroe exhibition which was extensive, organised by her life story and relationships with different photographers over the years including Philip Hausman, Cecil Beaton and her close collaborator for on-set photography, Eve Arnold.  

It was interesting how closely she curated her image, having control over which proofs got to see the light of day and which were banished (until now) to obscurity by Monroe's pen through the image. Ironic how that control vanished after her death. There were plenty of stories about her being difficult and fighting with the studios, but it is interesting to see how many of them were her not wanting to be put in the dumb blonde box.  Her story is so well known but there were plenty of photos and stories I hadn’t seen before.  Expensive but extensive, so well worth a visit.   

Then I had a wander along the South Bank in the sunshine and just breezed through the Tate Modern but did keep the Monroe theme going with this restored Warhol piece.

Much Ado About Nothing

On to the last event of the day at the Globe.  This play is pretty much a staple, and the theatre was packed as usual, with a lot of tourists but a fair sprinkling of Brits too which always helps I think (it’s helpful if at least a chunk of the audience understands the jokes!).   Anyway, this is a sparkling production which leans heavily into the romcom vibe, downplaying the darker themes and the appalling misogyny and treatment of Hero.  I did like Claudio’s penitence though which gave a bit of substance to his sorrow.  Beatrice is nicely independent minded and Benedict is charming.  In this case the barbs aren’t as sharp as they can sometimes be, which made the scenes when each have their change of heart just as funny but not such a large turnabout as sometimes.  And Dogberry and Verges managed to actually make us all laugh, and not in that polite way. The whole thing tripped along beautifully, we all laughed pretty much all the time.  Lovely production, great choreography, costumes and music and great performances.  Highly recommended as a summer treat.  And, if like me, you don’t mind standing for the best view in the building it's only a tenner.