Tickets Telford

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing

Pedalling from venue to venue with all of their set, props and costumes on the back of their bikes, the HandleBards are a four-strong troupe of actors who are spending the summer bringing environmentally sustainable Shakespeare to venues across the UK.

Join the troupe at Bowring Park for a bicycle-powered production of Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ like you’ve never seen before. In usual HandleBards style, expect riotous amounts of energy, a fair old whack of chaos, and a great deal of laughter.

And what’s the play about? Well – a group of soldiers return from the war to a household in Messina, kindling new love interests and re-kindling old rivalries. The parallel love stories of Beatrice, Benedick, Claudio and Hero quickly become entangled with scheming, frivolity and melodrama in Shakespeare’s famous comedy.

Book Tickets
  • Sun 7 Sep 5:00 PM


Venue Levy

Where applicable, advertised ticket prices are inclusive of a venue levy, retained by the venue to maintain our programme of arts and entertainment.



Most performances go ahead rain or shine! But please note the following:-

If it’s raining at the start time, we’ll forge ahead in the hope that the rain will clear up soon. It will have to be raining very hard indeed (with thunder!) for the start to be delayed.

If conditions become genuinely unsafe, for example if the performance space is flooded or there is a lightning storm, we will stop the show.

Light to heavy-ish rain won’t put us off, but if rain is torrential (and the audience can’t hear the performance) we will stop the show until the rain clears sufficiently for us to continue.

If we can’t go ahead due to the weather, we will transfer your tickets to another performance or refund your ticket money. If we get through most of the performance and then have to stop because of heavy rain, we’ll transfer your tickets to a different performance.

The HandleBards began with a sense of adventure, a love of Shakespeare and a nifty little pun.. Since four fearless friends (Paul Moss, Callum Cheatle, Tom Dixon and Callum Brodie) pedalled Twelfth Night to twenty UK venues in 2013, we have grown to become an internationally renowned theatre company, bringing our uniquely irreverent brand of Shakespeare to audiences all over the globe.

Our shows have received critical acclaim from national press, regional press and audience members alike. The Stage called us “gloriously eccentric and very, very funny”. The Shields Gazette found us “chaotic, clever and charming”. And one young audience member confessed that we had “converted an 11 year old boy into a Shakespeare fan”.

We travel by bike because we care about the planet and we want to promote sustainability and healthy living. In 2014, we won the Edinburgh Fringe Sustainable Practice Award. We were nominated again in 2015, and in 2016 we were nominated for The Stage’s inaugural Sustainability Award.

Our take on Shakespeare is fast, funny and fearless. If you’ve never seen Shakespeare before, there’s no better introduction. If you’re a Bard buff, you’ve never seen it done like this…

Book Tickets
  • Sun 7 September 5:00 PM

Adult £19 / Child £11.50

This is an outdoor production, so please bring a chair or blanket to sit on, a picnic to dig into, and dress for the weather!

  • “It is cheeky, it is hilarious and it is touching (sometimes literally).”
       
    The Reviews Hub
  • “Gloriously eccentric and very, very funny.”
       
    The Stage
  • “An unexpected delight and a must-see!”
       
    EdFringe Review
  • “They make great use of the fourth wall…bringing the audience right into the action.”
       
    Fringe Review

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