Measure for Measure

Overview

A harshly lit, harshly generic hotel room is visible behind drawn, translucent curtains. The scene is at once concealed and on display as the young Claudio and his betrothed Julietta commit the fornication that will later have him condemned to death. We feel like we shouldn't really be watching, but that doesn't stop us. A hand-held camcorder films their every move, with the footage transmitted live on external screens, offering us something we don't usually get at the theatre — extreme close-ups.

While the odd purist has accused Benedict Andrews of disrespecting classic texts in the name of sensation, the director's genius actually lies in his ability to locate exactly what it is in a Shakespeare play that will speak most directly to us today. In Measure for Measure, the Duke of Vienna hands over his power and becomes an unseen spectator in his own city. Disguises are built, costumes are swapped and alibis are forged in the elaborate tale of power, desire, law, surveillance and sex that unfolds.

In Andrews' hands, the multiple layers of watching and being watched build slowly on each other in wonderfully intricate ways. At times, the actors look directly down the lens of the ever-present camera, a convention borrowed from pornography that makes evident their awareness of our gaze. When someone looks into the bathroom mirror, they are projected on the screens and we see them seeing themselves, while on a broader level, what we are really looking at here is a reflection of ourselves.

With design by Belvoir's soon-to-be artistic director Ralph Myers, all the beautifully choreographed action takes place in the single claustrophobic hotel room atop a revolving stage. The performances are consistently intense and raw, with highlights from Robert Menzies as the unyielding Duke and Robin McLeavy as the pious nun Isabella, whose motivations remain ambiguous. The role of the hilariously petulant dimwit Lucio seems to have been created for Toby Schmitz, or he for it. Colin Moody as the nihilistic inmate Barnadine also does a brilliantly furious drunken tantrum while the Birthday Party blares as invasively loud as it is supposed to.

Certainly one of Shakespeare's strangest, Measure for Measure has been classified by scholars as a 'problem play'. The theatrical and moral challenges it poses are confronted head on in this highly charged production where nothing escapes scrutiny, not even us. While Duke Vincentio retreats to invisible voyeurism to gain a sense of the corruption and hypocrisy going on around him, like all good theatre this production confirms that illusion and make-believe can be necessary in revealing the way things really are.

Robin McLeavy and Arky Michael. Photo by Heidrun Lohr.