THE ferociously talented Nuffield Southampton Youth Theatre take on Shakespeare’s funniest comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, giving it a gender swapping twist at NST City 19-21 July, next week.

Much Ado About Nothing is about love and misunderstanding, scheming and intrigue, plans and secrets, and men and women matching wits.

Liam Gifford, director of NST’s Youth Theatre has taken inspiration from Michelle Terry’s vision with the Globe, adopting a gender blind approach to the casting and altering the gender of some of the characters in the play to reflect the greater levels of quality in today’s society.

He said: “By changing the gender of Don Pedro, Friar Francis and Balthasar respectively to female has meant that these characters now have a greater level of depth with their conflicts of interest in serving their respective positions and gender.”

“The production will broaden the focus from mistreatment of females by males but to a wider discussion of manipulation and disregard of the vulnerable by those in power.”

Tickets at: nstheatres.co.uk.