Measure for Measure

By the end of this comedy, Angelo must be reformed and resurrected from venal, menacing tyrant to repentant ex-sinner for a happy finale.  Even that astounding actor, John Cazale, the first Angelo I ever saw (opposite Meryl Streep as Isabella) couldn't quite make Angelo's transitions entirely plausible.

The supposedly all-wise Duke Vincentio, who takes leave of his city and orders Angelo to maintain order and morality therein, sets up this dilemma.  The Duke actually stays in town, in disguise, and observes and aids those who appear to be victimized. But he has apparently been a very weak ruler, permitting his city (a mostly mythical Vienna) to become so corrupt that his temporary abandonment of command has to rely on Angelo to establish a moral order. When the Duke  observes Angelo’s failure and surreptitiously takes steps to correct matters, he seems to be playing with people rather callously.  He permits Isabella to believe that her brother was killed, he rebukes Angelo's former fiancee who tries to restore Angelo’s love for her, and he withholds the truth for a dramatic finale. And it's less-than-admirable behavior, at that.

Stratford’s great chameleon, Geraint Wyn Davies, almost entirely removes such quibbles, however, in a wholly appealing, commanding performance as the Duke, who, belatedly or not, is trustworthy to make things right. His disguise as a friar includes a different look and speaking voice and accent, and a separate, winning characterization. So, unless we take time to distance ourselves and question his schemes, we end delighted with him as the good guy who wins out.  Perhaps later we might reflect on his questionable ability to rule thereafter and wonder at his sudden happy-ending proposal of marriage to Isabella (who doesn't answer and has never wanted to marry).

Director Martha Henry, one of Canada’s great actresses, director of Stratford’s acclaimed school of classical theater training, and veteran director of Shakespeare, helms a rich, dignified, dark, production which nonetheless bubbles up with the bawdy clowning demanded by Measure for Measure’s low-comedy joking. Choosing an ominous post-World War II Vienna setting which designer John Pennoyer makes both dangerous and licentious looking, Henry doesn’t allow the frippery of the comic interludes to overly brighten the play's nasty tone.

But we certainly enjoy Patricia Collins’ wonderful aging bawd, Mistress Overdone, and her clownish servant Pompey (Randy Hughson). And we can savor the stupidity of Brian Tree’s hilariously deliberate constable Elbow. Usually, the lying pretender Lucio, who badmouths the Duke to the Friar, not knowing that he is the Duke, seems a tedious device to me. But as intensely pretended by Stephen Ouimette, he is not only really funny but involving: we want to see his comeuppance. So those four actors manage an almost separate comedy of their own.

The cast looks to be hand-picked with Peter Hutt’s distinguished, wise Escalus and Stephen Russell’s stalwart Provost lending dignity and believability, and Ruby Joy’s Juliet and Sarah Afful’s Marianna giving character and empathy to the two underwritten female roles of Claudio’s betrothed and Angelo’s former betrothed.

Newcomer Christopher Prentice is rather touching as Claudio. And Robert Persechini is so large, powerful looking, and intense that he actually made me believe in the crazy condemned prisoner Barnardine. That’s, by the way, another oddity of this plot that raises questions about how the Duke has been ruling: a man condemned to death and willing to die, but whom no one can execute because he says he isn’t ready?

A relative newcomer to Stratford – but obviously uncommonly gifted from her first appearance there two years ago, Carman Grant is a lovely Isabella and gives an unusually layered and involving performance in the role. The always fascinating and intriguing actor Tom Rooney makes Angelo an odd study in almost neurotic hypocrisy, rapidly shifting from anguished confusion to ice cold predator. In the difficult shift at the end, he seems almost numbed. As noted, Wyn Davies is, as always, pretty much ideal as the Duke. And I have to admit to a personal bias in favor of the really stunning contribution made here by lighting designer Stephen Hawkins.