MEASURE FOR MEASURE - RSC till 16 Sept, then touring

MEASURE FOR MEASURE: William Shakespeare
Peter Hall Company/ Theatre Royal Bath – part of the Complete Works Festival
Runs: 3h, one interval, Stratford Upon Avon till Sat 16, touring
Review: Rod Dungate 14 September

Sound and sensible, but not inspiring
In MEASURE, Shakespeare debates big ideas – morality and immorality; justice, mercy, sin, human frailty; intellectual concepts and life in the real world. Yet the play is full of loose and fraying ends that are hard to tidy up. What motivates the Duke, for instance, or is he more plot engine than character? Or is he God – which increasingly he seems as he decides who lives and dies and when, who should marry whom, and metes out justice. Not for nothing is this recognised as one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem’ plays.

Peter Hall’s production is steadfast, a sound and sensible production. Yet it feels old-fashioned, there is nothing surprising nor illuminating in it, it doesn’t reach out and grab you. With heavy organ music and unremitting black, black, black the over all effect is of meaning being laid on with a trowel. The setting looks towards the time of the puritans; fine, but we get this message in the first ten seconds and after that the costumes become irritating. Even more so in Trish Rigdon’s designs some of which (Mariana’s 2006 leaning Jacobean dress for instance) are completely ghastly.

There are some fine performances; though they rarely soar – Hall’s production boxes them in, suppressing the actors’ energy. Too often the relationships between the characters appear absent.

James Laurenson is a marvellous Duke. He has a relaxed and quiet, natural authority about him. He eases us along on his journey and we find we happily go along with him. Barry Stanton’s Escalus is a grand old courtier. He has no airs and graces, but quietly gets on with his job; this is the man we would all trust.

Richard Dormer’s Angelo is icy-cold, but frightening in the grip of his lust for Isabella; however, he never seems fully to inhabit the character. Andrea Riseborough produces a carefully created Isabella; she clearly shows us the difference when Isabella speaks from the head or from the heart, though clearly believing all of what she says. Most accomplished. Paul Bentall’s Provost is always a pleasure; gentle and caring.

The final act of the play (the Duke’s return) is marred – at least in the RSC’s terrific Courtyard - for a large block of the audience by inept staging. Both the Duke and Mariana were completely hidden by one, then two characters. And it isn’t just me complaining, you should have heard the row of people in front of me.

The Duke: James Laurenson
Escalus: Barry Stanton
Angelo: Richard Dormer
Lucio: Michael Mears
Mistress Overdone: Annette Badland
Pompey: Teddy Kempner
Claudio: Ben Turner
Julietta: Susie Trayling
The Provost: Paul Bentall
Friar Thomas: Malcolm Ridley
Friar Peter: Simon Thorp
Isabella: Andrea Riseborough
Francisca: Pauline Turner
Elbow: Edward Bennett
Froth: Malcolm Ridley
A Justice: Simon Thorp
Angelo’s Servant: Robert Gill
Officer: Andrew Coppin
Mariana: Caitlin Mottram
Abhorson: Simon Thorp
Barnadine: Malcolm Ridley
Varrius: Peter Cadden

Director: Peter Hall
Associate Director: Rachel O’Riordan
Scenic Designer: Kevin Rigdon
Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford
Costume Designer: Trish Rigdon
Sound Designer: Gregory Clarke
Composer: Mick Sands
Casting Directors: Gemma Hancock, Sam Stevenson

2006-09-15 17:52:34