"Measure for Measure" at California Shakespeare Theatre

California Shakespeare Theatre photo by rr jones

Cal Shakes wraps up its season with a bit of Shakespeare, albeit one of the odder comedies, given that it sort of flaunts a lot of the conventions of the comedic genre: Measure for Measure. But on the heels of such strong productions earlier in the season, my expectations were quite high. I have to say this production was a bit of a let-down from the quality I've come to expect, but it was not without merit.

The Play

I call Measure odd for a comedy in part because it's quite dark, with characters condemned to death and relatively little of the lighthearted banter I associate with Shakespearean comedy. And even the "happy" ending with marriages is not quite the mega-happy outcome one might expect. Director Tyne Rafaelli's states in the program that she sees the play as being "essentially about a political regime change," which really is pushing it. Although the interim duke (Angelo) aspires to wield power, it reminds me more of when Mike Curb was California's Lieutenant Governor under Governor Jerry Brown (the first time around). Every time Brown would leave the state, Curb would issue orders as Acting Governor, which Brown would then countermand as soon as he returned.

This is much like the play, where Angelo rather runs amuck, though the actual Duke is disguised and watching the whole thing play out. Although Angelo is literally playing with matters of life and death, we know the Duke is going to unravel it all, so there is no real regime change here, just aspirations of power. The other themes she cites, though, justice versus mercy and love and (especially) forgiveness, are all quite clearly there, and (to me) much more important to the play.

Although the production makes some attempts to soften the edges of some of the more atavistic aspects of the play such as bartering a woman's chastity for the life of her brother, the choice of setting the action in a distinctly modern setting makes much of the action seem even less plausible than normal. This strikes me as a needless attempt to make a play feel more relevant and approachable to a modern audience. It's really quite clear how all of this pertains to contemporary life without the modern costumes and music and such.

The Production

I've already strayed into some of the aspects of the production, but now let's focus. The set design by Annie Smart is quite nice, though a little busy, requiring a fair amount of running up and down stairs that seemed gratuitous. And Cal Shakes seems to have a thing about sliding doors. It was better here than in some of their previous designs (I'm looking at you, Glass Menagerie), but still rather excessive.

But visually and audibly, the production clashes with its setting. In the absence of the Duke (Rowan Vickers), who wears a rather normal, modern suit, Angelo (David Graham Jones) and Escalus (Tristan Cunningham) and the Provost (Patty Gallagher) go quasi-Nazi drag in outfits that look like Scandinavian Airlines dressed its flight attendants at the Folsom Street Fair or something. It sort of works when we get to the various scenes of police brutality and such, but hardly in line with the strict piety that Angelo supposedly presents. Similarly, Isabella (Lindsay Rico) is dressed appropriately in a white shift, about to take her vows as a nun, but at the same time is searing black boots with clear heels that look most un-nunly, like she's about to hit the disco. And the music...even after reading sound designer Brandon Walcott's statement in the program, I can't fathom how the blasts of music were meant to advance my understanding. The early sounds were so jarring that I just forced myself to tune them out later.

And finally, the language. In this summer's OSF production of Off The Rails, an adaptation based on Measure for Measure, many of the best bits were the parts that were actually Shakespeare's language, the beauty of which was soothing and lovely, in spite of being set in the American west. But in this Cal Shakes rendition of the actual play, the poetry and majesty of the language seem to have been sacrificed to the modernization of the setting. I'm not clear whether it's the intention to deliver the lines this way, or whether the actors just aren't up to the challenge of the text, but most of the language comes across flat, almost stilted. And that's too bad, because one of the redeeming features of this rather troubling play is the beauty of the language behind much of it.

Bottom Line

As you can tell, I was disappointed. The strong, extremely professional productions of the first three plays of the season really set my expectations high, and this just didn't measure up to that. Although I liked the set and the lighting was effective, the rest of the design and direction just weren't of the same caliber, and the acting was OK, but not nearly at the level seen earlier in the year.

So it was definitely a disappointing end to the season. Overall, I thought the quality of the shows at Cal Shakes this year was terrific, much better than in past seasons. I hope the earlier shows are a better indication of what to expect in the upcoming year, because they have committed to some very challenging material. We'll have to wait until next summer to see how it turns out.