Sydney Reviews

Photo by Katy Green-Loughrey

The Sydney Shakespeare Festival’s production of Measure for Measure is a little uneven in places, but overall, it’s a lot of fun. When it isn’t getting bogged down in Shakespeare’s verbiage, it’s light-hearted, funny, and kind of gloriously anti-romantic.

If you don’t know the play, here’s a brief summary. Duke Vincentio (John Grinston) has left town, leaving Angelo (Nick Hunter) in charge. But he stays in town in disguise as a friar (in this case, his disguise consists of a pair of $10 hipster glasses from Typo), because that’s the kind of wacky shenanigans that happen in this kind of play. Claudio (Alexander Spinks) is condemned to die because he knocked up his girlfriend, and Angelo is firm on this point… until Claudio’s hot nun sister Isabella (Danielle Baynes) comes to plead for Claudio’s life. Angelo tells Isabella that he’ll spare Claudio if Isabella sleeps with him, and the plot kind of goes from there.

Oh, and there’s a guy called Lucio that hangs around who makes a lot of sex jokes (heavily emphasised in this production by James Townsend). He’s pretty fun.

Measure for Measure is an unusual Shakespearean comedy because it’s not based on romance. Not everyone gets together, and the people who do end up together at the end aren’t especially happy about it. I think the reason this production succeeds is because it realises this. The ending of Measure for Measure is notoriously ambiguous – you could stage it any number of ways, because it sort of ends on a question. A lot of productions have followed the temptation to make it schmaltzy. I won’t spoil the ending of this production for you, but it’s exactly – and violently – the opposite of schmaltzy, and I loved it.

Director Richard Hilliar has directed a really fun production of this infamously difficult play. The script probably should have been more aggressively cut, especially at the beginning, but once it gets going it’s really enjoyable. It has that light-hearted feel that all good productions of Shakespearean comedy should have, the feeling that allows you to suspend disbelief for all kind of wacky shenanigans because you’re having such a good time. But it’s not all slapstick and farce – it has a heart, and that’s what makes the ending work so well: you understand not just why this play is anti-romantic, but that it should be anti-romantic.

The same ensemble are performing King Lear in repertory, and I think they are shown to better advantage here than they are in that play. Once again, the three actresses – Danielle Baynes, Amy Scott-Smith and Hailey McQueen – shine, even though the latter two are only occupying smaller roles. James Townsend as Lucio is also a highlight, allowed much more opportunity here than he was as Cornwall in King Lear. Similarly, Kieran Foster has a lot of fun with the role Pompey that he was not permitted to have as Edgar, and it shows. The show can feel slow at times, a little ponderous and wordy, but it is at its best when it is dominated by these performers.

This production of Measure for Measure isn’t mindblowingly groundbreaking or experimental, but it is a whole lot of good times. Actors and director clearly understand what they are doing with the show, which is a large part of the reason it works so well. While it would probably be better with a firmer, more assured cut of the script, this production is big fun and well worth seeing – if only for the OMG BIG REVEAL at the end when the Friar is unmasked as the Duke!


Sydney Independent Theatre Company (SITCO) presents Sydney Shakespeare Festival
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
by William Shakespeare

Director Richard Hilliar

Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling St (cnr Cathedral St), Woolloomooloo
Dates: Nov 21 – Dec 21, 2013
Tickets: $32 – $26
Bookings: www.sitco.net.au | 1300 307 264