Reviewed by James Karas
Measure for Measure is the second play
by Shakespeare offered by the Stratford Festival this year. It is directed by Martha
Henry at the Tom Patterson Theatre. The production has many virtues but it also
many points for disagreement which do
not necessarily qualify for the ascription of vices.
Henry sets the play in Vienna in 1949, as
good year as any place, I suppose, for a society to give itself over to rampant immorality and vice. Henry displays a good
grasp of the possibilities of the play and treats it with imagination and
creativity. Most of her ideas work.
When the lights go on a robust woman with too
much makeup and a hideous blonde wig walks on stage. She takes off the wig and
her dress to reveal that it is the Duke Vincentio (Geraint Wyn Davies) in drag.
This explains quite deftly how the virtuous and softhearted duke has learned
that his city has become licentious and that his laws are simply not enforced. Excellent
opening.
The Duke appoints the virtuous and upstanding
Lord Angelo (Tom Rooney) as his temporary replacement. Angelo shows up in
military uniform with his jacket off and his hair disheveled. Hmmm.
The upshot of the plot is that Isabella
(Carmen Grant), a novice, will come to Angelo to beg for her brother Claudio’s
(Christopher Prentice) life. He has been condemned to death for getting Juliet
(Ruby Joy) pregnant without being married to her.
Angelo develops an overwhelming lust for
Isabella and he proposes to free her brother if she has sex with him. Lust is
no respecter of anything but for Angelo to desire Isabella so fiercely there
must be something in her to make her irresistible. She must have some sexual
magnetism that Grant simply does not project. This is no doubt a tall order
because Isabella has chosen monastic life but I still hold that there has to be
a certain latent sexuality in her to make Angelo renounce all sense of morality.
Otherwise, Isabella is fine as a thin-lipped upholder of her morals even if it
means her brother’s death.
Grant has a mannered way of speaking which
includes nodding her head a shade too much and grimacing a tad more than necessary.
A future nun should speak with a virtuously straight or at best sanctimonious
expression.
Davies is quite straightforward as the Duke
as is Peter Hutt as Escalus. They are both men who hold high office but the
Duke gets a lot more fun by disguising himself as a monk and watching
immorality in action.
In tandem with the Duke-Angelo-Isabella plot
is the story of the low-lives of Vienna. They are the pimps, prostitutes and
officer Elbow who are far more entertaining than the ruling class. Stephen
Ouimette makes a marvelously slimy Lucio. He is a liar, a fantasizer and a
delicious scoundrel. He is in good company with Mistress Overdone (done splendidly
by Patricia Collins) whose character is summarized by her name and Pompey (a
superb Randy Hughson) whose specialty is getting beaten up.
Constable Elbow, played to perfection by
Brian Tree, is a strutting and completely
ineffectual martinet who produces laughter with every over-done salute.
What Isabella lacks, Mariana (Sarah Afful)
has in abundance. She exudes sexuality and is dressed for it. She was betrothed
to Angelo but he dumped her because her dowry fell through. If Angelo is a man
of lust, Mariana is the woman to satisfy his desires. It may be that he is
attracted to Isabella’s forbidding virtue rather than her sexual appeal.
Another example of Henry’s directorial talent
is her treatment of the secondary role of the Provost (Stephen Russell). Henry
finds a brilliant way of humanizing the straight-backed, stiff Provost shortly
after he comes on stage. He notices that one of the shoelaces of the pregnant
Juliet is undone and he bends down and ties it. The functionary becomes a mensch.
A few words about Stephen Russell. He is in
his 31st season at Stratford and at one time played leading roles such as
Richard II and Julius Caesar and did them well. That was a long time ago and
recently he has been demoted to practically walk-on roles. The part of the
Provost and the upcoming Duke of Venice in Othello
are better roles than he has been getting for some time. The question is why is he given such minor and
frequently crappy roles?
The Duke’s last words to the Provost in Measure for Measure are equally
applicable to Russell: “Thanks, Provost” says the Duke. “We shall employ thee
in a worthier place.”
Antoni Cimolino should heed the Duke’s words
vis-à-vis Russell.
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