Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe

11 June to 24 October 2026

Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare's Globe, on London's Bankside, is an absolute triumph.

It is 'pitch-perfect' staging for this unique theatre and simply hilarious.

(Images : Marc Brenner)

A sparkling production

The modern-day setting of the production allows the fine ensemble to display a full portfolio of comedic skills, and my goodness do they!

That said, the ultimate success of any production of Much Ado About Nothing will ultimately rest on the shoulders of those playing Beatrice and Benedict.

And Pippa Nixon (Beatrice) and Ken Nwosu (Benedict) are sublime.

The chemistry between the two makes their distain/love relationship sizzle, and they command the stage whenever upon it. Or indeed when down with the Groundlings.

The scenes where the two are duped into thinking the other loves them is as side-splitting as anything you will see in the theatre.

As a result, Nixon and Nwosu are at the crest of a warm wave of euphoria that washes over us from start to finish.

With the exception of Act IV, which is dramatically brutal, and in the character of Don John, played with malicious venom by Joseph Potter.

While the five musicians who sit atop the stage may not called upon constantly, they are none-the-less a key component in a wonderfully memorable evening in the theatre.

Shakespeare wrote Much Ado About Nothing between 1598 and1599 and it would have been staged by the Lord Chamberlain's Men shortly after the company relocated into the newly built original Globe Theatre.

It would have been performed a number of times in the theatre back then.

But I doubt the response, to those productions, would have been any more raucous and rapturous to that currently being received by the current Much Ado About Nothing at the new Shakespeare's Globe.

The plot

The plot of Much Ado About Nothing, which is featherlight, makes it all the more accessible, and allows us to bask in the joyous nature of a play written by Shakespeare coming up to 430 years ago.

While Claudio falls in love with Hero, Beatrice and Benedict, who have vowed never to marry, but are each duped into believing the other is in love with them.

Claudio is deceived by nasty Don John into denouncing Hero at the 'alter', but all ends well.

(For a fuller synopsis : https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/shakespedia/shakespeares-plays/much-ado-about-nothing/)

More information

Much Ado About Nothing runs until 24 October 2026.

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/much-ado-about-nothing

The new Shakespeare's Globe

The new Shakespeare's Globe, on London's Bankside, is as faithful a reproduction of the original 1599 Elizabethan playhouse.

It was opened in 1997 some 750 feet (230 meters) from the site of the original

An Elizabethan-style 20-sided wooden amphitheatre, it was built using traditional 16th-century timber-framing techniques and English green oak, and with hand-cut mortise and tenon joints avoiding the need for structural steel.

It has the only thatched roof permitted in London since the Great Fire of 1666.

The layout features a central, uncovered' yard' where standing audience members (groundlings) gather, surrounded by three levels of covered galleries.

The Globe provides modern day audiences with a real feel of what it must have been like to go to the theatre in Elizabethan times.

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/blogs-and-features/2017/06/12/building-shakespeares-globe/

Other Shakespeare productions at the Globe

A mid-Summer Nights Dream

Laugh out loud and very proud

This is a joyously carefree production of irrepressible exuberance, improvisation, song and dance and with audience rapport and participation at its very heart.

Achieving something that appears almost haphazardly staged can only be achieved by a consummate cast of performers possessing genuine comedic skills and great comic timing.

A mid-Summer Nights Dream is playing at Shakespeare's Globe on Bankside London until 29 August 2026.

Read the review : https://www.allwaystraveller.com/allways-features/laugh-out-loud-and-very-proud

Love's Labour's Lost

(17 July to 13 September 2026)

A new flamenco-inspired production of Love's Labour's Lost.

Passion and power collide as four women arrive in Navarre, testing the vows of the King and his lords.

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/loves-labours-lost/

As You Like It

(14 August to 25 October 2026)

When the Duke's court proves cold and cruel, Rosalind, Celia, and their friends escape into the Forest of Arden – a place alive with lust, revelry, and live music.

A new production of Shakespeare's As You Like It in the Globe Theatre

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/as-you-like-it/

What's on at Shakespeare's Globe :

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/

About Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare's Globe is a world-renowned theatre, education centre, and cultural landmark based on London's Bankside.

The organisation celebrates Shakespeare's transformative impact on the world by conducting a radical theatrical experiment.

Shakespeare called his theatre a 'wooden O' and like his historic playhouse, the Globe Theatre is a 360° auditorium.

With no roof over the central yard, the theatre is open-air, and audiences who attend performances and tours are told to dress for the weather!

The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is located on the same site in London, next to the Globe Theatre.

Named in honour of its founder, the Playhouse is based on indoor candlelit theatres known to Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Lit by over one hundred beeswax candles, the intimate Sam Wanamaker Playhouse hosts plays, concerts, education workshops and events throughout the year.

Made up of the outdoor Globe Theatre and the indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare's Globe remains one of the most unique, remarkable and breathtaking theatrical spaces in London.

Inspired and informed by the unique historic playing conditions of two iconic theatres, its diverse programme of work harnesses the power of performance, cultivates intellectual curiosity, and excites learning to make Shakespeare accessible for all.

At Shakespeare's Globe, more people engage with Shakespeare through their work than through that of any other organisation, with its education department one of the most active in the UK.

Activities include school workshops, public events, university courses and community projects, fulfilling Founder Sam Wanamaker's wish to bring Shakespeare and his work to a new generation.

Shakespeare's Globe's productions of Shakespeare now tour throughout the UK, Europe, the United States and Asia, and its educational work is extending overseas, notably through forthcoming teaching centres in the USA and China.

https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/discover/about-us/globe-theatre/

More information :