AN AWARD-WINNING theatre company is to bring its production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing to Ripon Cathedral.

The production will take place at the North Yorkshire cathedral on July 20 and 21, when it will be brought to the dramatic venue by Antic Disposition.

Set in a sun-drenched French village celebrating the new peace of 1945, their version of Much Ado About Nothing draws its inspiration from the films of French comic genius Jacques Tati.

Performed by a company of actors and musicians from both sides of the channel, it is set around the village square of Messina, which becomes the battlefield for the “merry war” between Beatrice and Benedick, whose love-hate relationship forms the comic heart of the play.

The company is touring a total of seven cathedrals in England with its production and will finish its tour at London’s Gray’s Inn Hall, one of the few remaining original Shakespearean venues which hosted the first recorded performance of The Comedy of Errors in 1594.

The evening at Ripon Cathedral begins 7.30pm and tickets are £20 to £30, with a £10 reduction for those under the age of 26.

Tickets are available from the box office on 0333 666 3366 or via; much-ado.co.uk