 Measure for Measure
First, my disclaimer: we can’t always do shows that only appeal to the little people! So, if wešve offended you in some way, I apologize, but theater can’t always be comfortable. Sometimes we have to stir things up a bit in order to get you to examine something new, some different point of view, that you might not have experienced before. I hope that with this production we have in turn delighted you, shocked you, made you laugh and piqued your interest. It has been a journey of this and more for me and the Rogues this fall.
On first reading, I found Measure for Measure completely dense and confusing and therefore swore I would never do it. Never say never. After seeing a marvelous production of it last fall at the Theater for a New Audience I changed my tune. Which only proved to me once again that Shakespeare’s plays were never really meant to be read alone and pored over like serious works, but rather seen live and in the company of fellow human beings who will most certainly color your opinion of the experience with their laughter and reactions.
As to this whacky interpretation I came up with, the evolution of it stemmed from wrestling with the place of action. What did I know of Vienna? Hitler. Freud. Mozart. And although Mozart is inspiring indeed, these references did not give me enough to inspire costumes and action. I was on the verge of scrapping it all and just setting it in London or somesuch, but my infuriating stickler of a friend, Vincent, said I couldn’t do that because it would change the meter of the verse too much. Grad students! Sheesh! So thereby was born the weird environment of the distant and bizarre planet Vienna! I hope you find it entertaining if nothing else. Sometimes that is enough!
Year after year I hear our audience members tell me that they never really understood a particular play until they saw us perform it. To me, this is the best review we could get! I hope that we have again given you a story to delight and an experience to remember.
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