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6 October 2023

A three-part boxset on the life of Shakespeare is set to be a highlight as the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú marks the First Folio’s 400th anniversary. Ahead of that TV event, check in to iPlayer for a feast of classic plays. Already available: David Tennant in 2008’s Hamlet; James McArdle and Saoirse Ronan in The Tragedy of Macbeth; and Dame Janet Suzman in 1965’s The Wars of the Roses. This weekend it’s the RSC’s spectacular 2022 production of Much Ado About Nothing set in a futuristic African world.

In the build-up to this visually dazzling production in 2022, Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio 4 went Behind the Scenes to find out more about Roy Alexander Weise's groundbreaking take on Shakespeare’s comedy.

Weise had a vision for Much Ado About Nothing set in an Afrofuturist world, mixing science fiction and the cultures of the African diaspora.

For the director, the audience’s unfamiliarity with the location leaves room for a fresh examination of a play that was written hundreds of years ago, revealing that the fundamental aspects of the human condition remain unchanged:

“Afrofuturism is a really broad umbrella under which people from the African diaspora are able to create alternative beginnings, alternative endings, and alternative middles to the stories that currently exist in the world.

“Afrofuturism, for me, is an opportunity to escape all of the lenses that have been placed on me thus far,” said Weise.

Designer Melissa Simon-Hartman, acclaimed for her work on , drew on her family’s heritage for the costumes.

She told Behind the Scenes that she took inspiration from characters like the Midnight Robber, who features in Trinidadian carnival:

“The scale of expression that carnival takes really lends itself to Shakespeare’s expressive language.”

Akiya Henry, who plays Beatrice, thinks that wearing Simon-Hartman's colourful and extravagant designs gave her performance a huge boost.

She said: “These costumes make me feel like I am superhuman.”

The show’s composer and music producer, Femi Temowo, drew from his African heritage to add to the Afrofuturist vision.

He took inspiration from the celebratory, modern, west-African pop style of as well as , the genre pioneered by Nigeria's master musician Fela Kuti.

In Behind the Scenes, Temowo reveals a deep personal connection to this music.

He said: “I come from a household where Afrobeat was very prevalent - my father was a huge fan of Fela Kuti. So this is like second nature to me.”

Temowo also said it was extremely important to work with people who truly understood these musical genres.

He added: “African music often gets misappropriated; and then those misappropriations are often celebrated more than the original things that they were taken from”.

Watch Much Ado About Nothing on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú iPlayer.