Now in its 33rd season, The Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival reaches deep into the Bard’s folios for a less frequently performed dark comedy, Measure for Measure, a particular favorite of the company’s artistic director, Trent Stephens.
“I might have a bias. I might seek these less frequently produced plays out,” he explains. “There are many works of Shakespeare’s that don’t get the same amount of airtime, but are absolutely as worthy of our time and attention. This definitely falls into that category.”
Measure for Measure, which dates back to 1604, is set in Vienna at a time when the city was teeming with loose morality and brothels. The reigning duke delegates the cleanup of the realm to his deputy Angelo, who promptly imposes strict new laws including a threat to demolish all the brothels.
Before the crackdown can be implemented, however, a young man named Claudio who has impregnated his fiancée is sentenced to death by an antiquated, but recently re-enacted law. However, the lecherous Angelo agrees to spare Claudio’s life if he will persuade his sister, Isabella, a lovely but chaste nun, to sleep with him.
As Stephens notes, Measure for Measure feels quite timely now. It “tends to surface during times of examination of sexual agency, times of skepticism of government,” he says.
Stephens feels he does not have to put too heavy a stress on the parallels to have theatergoers think about the play’s commentary on contemporary issues. “We’re having a dialogue today about agency and women’s bodies, (with) the Supreme Court rolling back decades-old law. A lot of discussion about women’s rights — especially in this state,” he says. “That’s something that our play is going to address head-on, the sort of cultural reverberations that the audience will feel.”
In addition to offering them food for thought, Stephens hopes to entertain the audience. “My goodness, we’re hoping to put on a comedy,” he says. “I think that’s a healthy thing for our audiences. We could talk about the precarious, and even problematic, parts of this play, but I don’t want that to be the thing our audience dwells on. I think a joyful night in the theater is what we all deserve and I think that these various themes and motifs in the play, they’re best served in comedy.
“What I’ve come to love about the play is its context in Shakespeare’s life,” he says. As a young man, the Bard wrote comedies that trafficked in mistaken identities, love potions, sexual frivolity in the woods. “At the end of his life, he has a very mature and nuanced exploration of comedy that has a lot to do with the sobriety that comes with age.
“Think about it. He was 40 years old when this play was first produced, at a time when the average age of death for men in England was 40. So he has to be thinking much more somber and sober thoughts.”
For Measure for Measure to succeed, the production must be both comic and tragic, often at the same time. “I think comedy and tragedy can exist together side by side seamlessly, and I think that’s what this play does really well,” says Stephens.
Shakespeare may have set the play in Vienna, but Stephens has moved it — as the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival often does — this time to New Orleans at Mardi Gras.
“Doing American Shakespeare, setting it in an American city like New Orleans, it feels right,” he says. “The play has an equal footing in the secular and the sacred, in the holy and the hedonistic.
“If you’ve ever been to New Orleans, especially during Mardi Gras, those things exist side by side. That’s this play — the devout and the debauched and everything in between.”
In adapting the text to fit the new setting, Stephens found that little change was needed. “There are maybe six words in the play that have had to be altered to support this setting,” he reports.
The larger challenge was how to eliminate or consolidate minor characters to keep his cast size down to a dozen, about the same as in Shakespeare’s own troupe.
“I trimmed a few characters who were unnamed, so I don’t feel too bad about that, I guarantee you won’t miss any of them. I think our audience appreciates streamlining,”
Among the several new faces in the company, Stephens is especially high on the actress playing Isabella. “Please keep your eye on Caroline Dopson. I’d never worked with her before, but she had a stellar audition and continues to be impressive. A returning face that I think is just tailor-made for this play is Darryl Willis. I think he could hold an audience for two hours reading a phone book. Doing the duke, as much text as he has, I think we’re grateful to have him in that role.”
Since Stephens expects that this will be the first encounter with Measure for Measure for many attendees, his advice is to relax and enjoy the experience. “I think everyone deserves to laugh and to enjoy the world of this play. You can always think about the darker elements later. I’m hoping the audience has a thoughtful conversation on the drive home. I certainly don’t want to bum anybody out.”
MEASURE FOR MEASURE, Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival, Seabreeze Amphitheatre, Carlin Park, 750 South, AIA, Jupiter, July 6-13. Commons Park Amphitheatre, Commons Park, 11600 Poinciana Blvd., Royal Palm Beach, July 20-23. Free of charge, $5 donation recommended. 561-762-8552.