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Measure for Measure - Critique
The Stratford Festival's rendition of "Measure for Measure", one of
Shakespeare's original "problem plays", can only be called mediocre at best.
While the drab, lifeless sets at first create an aura of poverty and des-
titution that may or may not have been prevailent in 17th century Vienna,
the lack of variety eventually tires the eyes, and begins to mildly
irritate the senses. With the lack of colour present on stage, one would
hope that the actor's performances would add some colour...and one would be
unfortun-atly dissapointed. The acting, again, is no better than mediocre
with few exceptions, those being most notably, the Vincentio (as Duke and
Friar) and Froth, the pudgy board-house owner. The other characters are
most obviously unassumed by the actors and are carried through with a sense
of distance and unfamiliarity, seldom seem at a a festival as prestigious
as North America's largest and arguably best Shakespearian festival. The
play carries on for almost 3 hours, and is tempered with boredom (e.g.
Isabella's laughably unimpassioned speech to Angelo), and momentary spots
of humour (e.g. the some-times hilarious exchange between Lucio, a servant
to the Duke, and the Duke disguised as a friar. This moment of ironic
comedy is certainly one of the play's highlights, and is a model for many
modern humour pieces) which all serve to create a less than enthralling
afternoon of "not so high" drama. I will not attempt to explain the plot,
as one of the play's redeeming factors is the suspense created by the soap
operatic storyline. All in all,"MFM" is an average play written by an
exceptional writer, performed no more than competantly by gifted actors, on
a boring, uninteresting stage, thus we can equate : The God of Drama - less
than excellent play
-------------------------------------------------- = X
Excellent actors - poor performance - poor staging
X = Waste of money and time...Do not see this play. If you are
truly curious about the nature of this play, save yourself the money, visit
the local library's literature section and read it...the printed word
brings out the play's ironic intricacies far more than this unexciting
rendition ever will. So, if you find yourself in a little town called
Stratford, pay no attention to an unknown play called Measure for Measure...
instead, take a walk on the banks of the Avon and enjoy what nature has to
offer...
Key
=== Acting: ¨ ¨ ¨ (3)
Set: ¨ ¨ ¨ (3)
¨ = And they get PAID Props: ¨ ¨ ¨ (3)
for this !?!¨ Costuming: ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ (4)
The Play Itself (writing): ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ (4)
¨¨ = They're not serious Overall Visual Impact: ¨ ¨ ¨ 1/2 (3.5)
are they ? Creative Interpretation: ¨ ¨ ¨ 1/2 (3.5)
¨¨¨ = Oh...that's it? Overall: ¨ ¨ ¨ 1/2 (3.5 / 5)
¨¨¨¨ = If I were easily impressed,
I'd probably be impressed right now...
¨¨¨¨¨ = Cool...
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