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July 19, 2013
Measure is a summer must see
Bard on the Beach’s 24th year is underway at Vanier Park.
TOVA G. KORNFELD
It’s finally summer in Vancouver and with it comes the magic of Bard on the Beach under the red and white tents at Vanier Park. For its 24th season, Bard is offering three William Shakespeare plays – Twelfth Night and Hamlet on the BMO Mainstage and Measure for Measure, along with Canadian playwright Timothy Finley’s award-winning Elizabeth Rex, on the Douglas Campbell Studio Stage.
The Jewish community is well represented on all fronts with actors Richard Newman in Twelfth Night and Anton Lipovetsky in Measure for Measure and Elizabeth Rex, director Rachel Ditor (Elizabeth Rex) and choreographer Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg (Measure for Measure).
Shakespeare’s works are typically classified as tragedies or comedies. Measure for Measure, however, can be considered to be one of his “problem plays,” one not easily categorized. That said, on preview night, the audience had no problem whatsoever with director John Murphy’s inspired take on this classic tale of state power, hypocrisy, truth and justice.
Murphy sets the play in 1900 New Orleans in the red-light district of Storyville, the birthplace of jazz – an area that had descended into moral turpitude awash with brothels and gin joints. In his director’s notes, Murphy explains that he “set the play in 1900 to capture the sexual repression of Victorian times and in New Orleans to capture the sexual excess of the red-light district of Storyville.”
The plot: Duke Vincentio, the ruler of New Orleans, on the pretext of travel abroad, hands over the mantle of power to a puritanical judge, Angelo, with a mandate to clean up the city. Angelo proves zealous in his appointed task. He orders the brothels closed, chases the prostitutes and pimps out of town and goes after citizens who have flouted the city’s moral code, in particular, Claudio. His crime: impregnating his fiancée outside of the bonds of holy matrimony. His punishment: death by hanging. When Claudio’s sister, Isabella, a novitiate nun, pleads for her brother’s life, Angelo, in a case of lust at first sight, agrees to pardon Claudio if she will surrender her virginity to him. Of course, this indecent proposal creates a dilemma for Isabella – her chastity or her brother’s life. The plot twists and turns to a surprise ending.
Murphy’s adaptation should be heralded as Measure for Measure: The Musical. I have never seen a Shakespearean musical but, somehow, it works. Murphy and Anthony Pavlic have written original songs for this production, and musical director Benjamin Elliott tinkles the ivories along with his five-piece band, which includes a banjo-strumming Lipovetsky. Bonnie Northgraves is terrific on the trumpet. The repertoire of songs runs the gamut from honky tonk to ragtime to blues – all of this interwoven with Mardi Gras masks, divine Mara Gottler costumes that juxtapose the provocative with the pious, a simple but charming Drew Facey set and Friedenberg’s haunting choreography.
It is the acting (along with the requisite southern accents), however, that makes this production the must-see show of Bard. Andrew Wheeler is a handsome, compelling Duke. David Mackay makes an unctuous Angelo. Lois Anderson as Mistress Overdone, the brothel madam, sassily bumps and grinds her way through her solo, “I am a Professional.” David Marr, as Pompey the Clown, with his floppy shoes, droopy drawers and black-and-white face captivates with his antics. Luc Roderique portrays a sympathetic Claudio and Sereana Malani as Isabella wows with her solo. But it is Lipovetsky who steals the show in his role as Lucio. His character has some of the best lines and he has an opportunity to show off his musical skills with a very funny, although slightly risqué – and not-quite politically correct – banjo solo. Bernard Cuffling, Haig Sutherland, Colleen Wheeler, Dustin Freeland, Susinn McFarlen and Chris Cochrane round out the cast.
The moral of the story: power corrupts and those in power essentially do what they please – because they can. However, in the end, justice prevails, measure for measure.
What better way to spend a summer’s eve than under a tent by the sea with a drink in hand basking in the Bard’s great wit? Measure for Measure is on until Sept. 13. Performance details and tickets are available by calling 604-739-0559 or by visiting bardonthebeach.org.
Tova G. Kornfeld is a Vancouver freelance writer and lawyer.
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