MEASURE FOR MEASURE by William Shakespeare (Stratford). At the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford. Runs in rep to September 28. $49-$120, some discounts. 1-800-567-1600. See listing. Rating: NNNN
Emotionally rich, thorny and at times comic, Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure deals with mercy, justice and forgiveness. The Stratford Festival production, directed by Martha Henry, captures much of its strength even if the comedy isn’t as dark as it might be.
At the play’s start, the Duke of Vienna (Geraint Wyn Davies), leaving on a mysterious mission, places the governance of the city in the hands of the staunchly upright Angelo (Tom Rooney). The Duke in fact disguises himself as a friar and stays to watch what happens in this corrupt society.
Relying on a strict reading of the law, Angelo sentences Claudio (Christopher Prentice) to death for sleeping with his fiancee, Juliet (Ruby Joy), before their banns were read. When Claudio’s sister, Isabella (Carmen Grant), about to enter a convent, pleads with Angelo for her brother’s life, the outwardly moral judge offers her Claudio’s freedom for her virginity.
Growing more complex from there, the plot draws in Angelo’s former fiancee, Mariana (Sarah Afful), the roguish, lying Lucio (Stephen Ouimette), Mistress Overdone, the bawd (Patricia Collins), and her prevaricating servant Pompey (Randy Hughson).
Despite the twists and turns, Henry’s production lays out the narrative clearly. A memorable Isabella herself in earlier stagings of Measure, she knows the work intimately.
Wyn Davies, Rooney and Grant are always engaging, suggesting the depths of their key roles. Grant begins as the innocent, open novice, sure that justice will prevail forced to rely on trickery to make things right, she has to grow and decide for herself how justice should be administered.
The Duke’s motives are sometimes hidden from everyone, even the audience, and Wyn-Davies uses charm, a sense of command and sure handling of the text to control the action and win over the audience.
Rooney’s Angelo is the most fascinating of the characters. From his first entrance, half-undressed to answer his master’s peremptory call, to the germ of interest in his eye when he sees Isabella, and the way his attraction to the novice becomes a physical pain, Rooney’s performance is masterful. Tormented by what he does but unable to stop himself, he ends up defeated and drained when the truth is revealed.
There’s good work by Ouimette, Hughson and several others, but the subplot involving Overdone and Pompey would benefit from a nastier, more uncomfortable tone.
At its heart, though, this Measure is a true one.
