'Measure For Measure' is a comedy of 1604, written just before two of his tragic masterpieces, 'King Lear' and 'MacBeth'. The play is very formulaic, and follows a similar plot / contrivance structure to many of his other works. The play is set in Vienna and the main plot revolves around the Duke of the city reluctant to clean the city up by ridding the outskirts of its brothels and skulduggery; and so tells his deputy, Angelo, that he should take charge while he leaves the city for a while. Angelo, grasps the reign of power with both hands and immediately reinstates long-forgotten laws, and threatens to burn down the whole 'red light district'. Meanwhile, the Duke disguises himself as an itinerant priest and watches, without revealing his identity, as Angelo imprisons Claudio and sentences him to death for getting his intended pregnant before marriage (one of the old now-reinstated laws), and agrees to visit his sister, a nun, to appeal and try and 'smooth things over' but it seems the only way Claudio will be released is if his sister, Isabella will agree to sleep with Angelo...! and so the plot thickens... but of course, this is, by and large, a comedy, and so, to quote a famous playwright, all's well that end's well.
This evening Stockport Garrick company tackled this rather difficult script, and under Martin Pritchard's direction, we were unclear as to the 'genre' of this play. I have thus far referred to it solely as a comedy; however scholars have mused over this play many a time, trying to understand whether or not Shakespeare meant it to be a comedy or not, as there are long passages of much more serious writing, more suited to his tragedies. It is also one of his more political plays too, and so he might also have been taking a stab at the British government of the time in much the same way (but perhaps less obviously) that Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan did with their comic operas. Is it a straight play? No. Is it a tragedy? clearly not. So let's just all agree that it is a comedy! Pritchard therefore did not find enough comedy in the script this evening, in this reviewer's humble opinion. There was a distinct lack of pace throughout, and sadly, there was little in the way of dynamic changes, making it a rather 'worthy' and heavy watch.
This was not really helped by the use of an uninteresting and uninspiring static composite set. A pale brown set of flats surrounded a set of pale brown steps at the rear of the stage, and the only things to change the colour of this were a few times when the lighting department gave us a different hue on a part of it. No carry-on set items were used throughout, making the cast either stand or use the steps at the rear to sit. Minimalism was the order of the day, however visually it was most unsatisfying. A decision had been made to update the play too, and so we were no longer in Vienna (or were we?), but we were in a 20th century city, with costumes (and music) more reminiscent of the 1980s than anything.
What started to work extremely well, before it vanished without a trace, was a rather Brechtian idea of having the cast seated on the rear steps as silent witnesses to the action unfolding in front of them, and then coming down from the steps in character to continue the narrative. However, this idea disappeared almost as quickly as it had been started, and sadly never reappeared.
The large cast worked well with each other, and despite the gravitas, managed to find some lovely comedic moments which this evening's audience eagerly lapped up. Performing Shakespeare can be - even for the seasoned professionals - a bit hit and miss at times, as the fashion seems to be constantly changing as one how really ought to perform the Bard's works. Here it seems that the older, and perhaps more experienced actors on stage this evening were more inclined to observe the metre and speak in a more 'standard English', whilst the younger cast members favoured naturalistic dialogue and used their own accents. The cast all had their own distinct characters and characteristics which worked nicely, and the storyline was well measured and easy to follow.
Overall, a strong and dedicated cast worked hard to bring as much to the play as they did, delivering a sincere and indeed enjoyable evening, even if it was a little unclear exactly what the director wanted.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 27.3.23
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