Measure for Measure

Bard on the Beach (Vanier Park) to September 20, 2024
Tickets from $30 at 604-739-0559, toll free at 1-877-739-0559 or www.bardonthebeach.org

Posted July 16, 2024

On opening night of Measure for Measure I found myself amidst a crowd of theatre goers laughing their faces off and woo-hooing with glee while I’m thinking, “This is just silly.” And not in a good way.

Measure for Measure is one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’. It sits awkwardly between tragedy (dealing with abuse of power and sexual coercion) and comedy (ending with a couple of marriages). It’s very difficult to pull off. So maybe it’s time to put it away. Or treat it seriously which is not what this production does; it could shake us up to the fact that sexual coercion happens and the fallout is tragic.

I don’t know exactly how the decision is made to include certain plays in the season, but it was director Jivesh Parasram’s to adapt and direct.

In Shakespeare’s original script Angelo, the interim ruler of Vienna, agrees to cancel his order for the execution of Claudio if Claudio’s sister Isabella agrees to sleep with him. Uptight Angelo is temporarily in charge because Vincenzio, the real Duke of Vienna, has left him to clean up the corrupt mess that Vienna has become. But the Duke, disguised as a friar, hangs around to watch the purge.

Acknowledging how distasteful Shakespeare’s plot is, Parasram freely adapts the play and “fornicating with” becomes “dancing with.” But that’s just weird. Claudio is, in Parasram’s version, condemned to death for “dancing with” Julietta. “He boogied down so hard”, says Lucio, that Claudio got Julietta pregnant.

In Shakespeare’s play, the brothels are closed; in Parasram’s play, the clubs close down. (Echoes of Puritan England when, in 1642, the theatres were ordered to shut down.)

According to the director’s program notes, this Bard production is set (by Ryan Cormack) somewhere in modern-day Eastern Europe – neon signs on ancient architecture. But the only European note that’s really obvious is Elbow (Tess Degenstein), a constable who speaks with a German accent. Why German? Seems rather clichéd. But Degenstein takes great advantage of a mustache that starts coming off when, wincing, she rips the thing completely off. And then there’s Pompey Bum who, here, is Ass Man (Jeremy Lewis), a sort of Texan in a Stetson. Gorgeous concoction of a costume (by Alaia Hamer) on Mariana (Leslie Dos Remedios) but she talks like a California teenager. So, Eastern European?

The club scene, however, presents lots of opportunity for music, dance and costumes. The DJ appears in a space-age silver onesie with a helmet made of mirror plates. Vincenzio (Scott Bellis – the best thing in this show, hands down) appears in a dazzling black and silver suit and he busts some great moves. Karthik Kadam’s impressive dancing brought roars of approval from the audience every time he shook his booty.

As the novice nun Isabella, Meaghan Chenosky doesn’t have a lot of gravitas and her bright pink habit, white wimple, white ankle sox and pink sneakers don’t help. Always reliable Craig Erickson does fine work as Angelo but, really, is it necessary for Angelo to appear to conceal a hard on when he sees Isabella? Really? I was embarrassed for the gentlemanly Erickson. And although Chenosky, double cast as Mistress Overdone, seems to come straight out of a 40s film with Humphrey Bogart, I like what she does with the character.

At the end of the play as Shakespeare wrote it, Vincenzio proposes marriage to Isabella and she does not reply. Generally, it is felt that – even though she has chosen to be a nun – Isabella probably accepts. But here, with a gesture that leaves nothing to the imagination, we know just how this Isabella feels about marriage to this Vincenzio.

There are some funny bits and given the task at hand, the performers do their damndest. But the whole time, in my head, I was trying to make “dancing” equate with “fornicating”. I never got there. And the serious nastiness of Measure for Measure disappears under a mess of ‘business’.

Recently, Bard has succeeded in drawing in a younger audience; it’s cool and trendy for the young and beautiful to go to Bard these days. And that’s a good thing.  But where does that leave those  who really love Shakespeare? I have seen three of the four 2024 Bard on the Beach productions. Thus far, I recommend director Stephen Drover’s Hamlet to anyone who asks. Full stop.