THEATRE REVIEW - Measure for Measure

7 Arts Centre until 20/11

By Hannah Astill

Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure is a play which tackles some major moral dilemas. For example, which would you choose: to let your brother die, or to save his life at the cost of prostituting yourself?

Exactly. I wasn’t sure either. And yet somehow Shakespeare finds a way to answer this impossible question dousing it in several gallons of comedy. It is a perfect balance of ethical debate and laughter, focusing on life-dependent decisions but mixing it with some highly amusing dialogue. The play itself centres around the plight of Isabella, a would-be nun whose brother is condemned to die at the hands of Angelo and his steadfast laws. The only way to protect her brother from death is to give up her body to Angelo and this, considering Isabella’s potential admission into the Church and focus on the importance of chastity, would be the last thing that she’d consider doing. However with the aid of a dis

guised Duke, a spurned bride and a flamboyant bachelor, Isabella’s dilemma is eventually resolved.   

As is typical with Theatre Group productions, the characterisation is brilliant. The two protagonists of the play, Isabella and Angelo, played respectively by Francesca Knight and Edmund Digby-Jones, effortlessly create and combine the intensity, the passion and the sexual tension needed between. In particular, the scene in which Angelo sexually propositions Isabella is masterfully executed, depicting the fear of Isabella and the physical desperation of Angelo. But such is both the directorial and performative skill that we feel sympathy for both characters, however difficult this notion may be to conceive.   

Comedy is provided easily in the forms of Lucio, the disguised Duke, and Mariana, played by Jonny Cordingley, Edward Smith and Lorna Tinsley. All of these characters waltz continuously in and out of the various scenes, bringing humour and colour to the darker areas of the play, often when it is most needed. This small cast are brilliant and work well together, seen most obviously in the play’s final scene and the resolution of numerous loose ends.   

Another striking aspect of TG’s interpretation was the very modern, very topical approach that the directors, Georgia Murphy and Laura Rolinson, decided to adopt for the play. Costumes and settings seemed to be lacking in context, but the use of business suits, mini-dresses, t-shirts and jeans suggested more modern day than the breeches-abundant world of the quintessential Shakespeare setting. Also from directoral point of view, the characterisation of Angelo as a dictator-style figure and the subsequent plastering of his face as the plays only backdrop, was an ingenious touch from the set design of Nathan Perkins.   

Measure for Measure might be one of Shakespeare’s lesser known comedies, but this production and its cast makes a brilliant case for why it belongs up there with the rest. It is a play which is both funny and thought-provoking, combining morality with a lot of laugh-out-loud comedy and well worth making the trek to Chapel Allerton for.