One of the many advantages of living in Vancouver in the summer is that Bard on the Beach is ready to entertain with its presentations of a selection of Shakespeare’s plays. And since Bard on the Beach has been doing this for many years, it is right and fitting that each production attempt to provide a new insight into the plays by giving them novel treatments. This is certainly true of two productions presented on the Howard Family Stage.
In fact, Measure for Measure is a play so rarely performed that a straightforward production would have been welcome. As it is, Jivesh Parasram has given an entirely new slant to the play, which is essentially about a surrogate ruler (Angelo) who dictatorially decides to impose a set of moral laws which have long been allowed to lapse, making the breaking of them punishable by death.
The fact that the heroine is asked to sleep with the hypocritical Angelo to save her brother from execution caused F. T. Boas, the Shakespearian critic, to term Measure for Measure one of the “problem plays” over 100 years ago. Perhaps that is one reason it is one of the bard’s less popular works, its heavy concerns with legal and moral conflicts being hard to reconcile with comedy.
In the original play, the law most emphasized is a law against adultery and fornication. However, inspired by the movie Footloose, Parasram has reimagined the play as being about a state ban on dancing. This at times becomes decidedly ridiculous as a plot element, but it does allow the production to centre on night clubs, disco, wild choreography, and decidedly inventive costuming.
While the result is lively, colourful, and novel, this seems to me to be a lost opportunity to present the play with a timely political emphasis. Some may enjoy the pop culture elements, but I found them to be a distracting nuisance rather than an enhancement of what is, admittedly, a challenging play.
The play that Shakespeare wrote raises serious questions regarding corrupt politicians, the death penalty, and the role that the state should play in regards to moral issues.
Some of these concerns are registered as the plot revolves around a young woman (Isabella) trying to intercede with Angelo as she attempts to save her brother (Claudio) from a death sentence. But much of the important aspects of the play are lost in this revision of the work. Despite the efforts of the cast, the important themes of the play tend to get buried in a raucous, wildly choreographed, and fancifully costumed welter of activity, though Meaghan Chenosky as Isabella and Jeremy Lewis as Claudio do much to preserve the serious and moving crises through which their character pass. Sadly, however, this ultimately acts only as a reminder of what might have been.
More successful is director Rebecca Northan’s original take on The Comedy of Errors. Many familiar with the play will know that its story of two sets of twins, resulting in a multitude number of cases of mistaken identity, is a comical romp. Northan has determined therefore to give emphasis to the farcical aspects of the piece.
Though it is difficult to make comedy of the opening components, the production gives it its best shot, making an executioner a comedic character and attempting to move quickly beyond the decidedly awkward exposition. Part of the problem is just that a character attempts to provide the exposition necessary for the play to advance. It is surprising how difficult Shakespeare found it to make exposition dramatically effective. One has only to think of the awkward narrative by Prospero near the beginning of The Tempest to know that this remained an ongoing challenge for Shakespeare.
However, the current production, once past the unavoidably flat start, works hard to make the opening scenes attractive. Thus, they are enlivened by plunging the audience into an exotic street market, launching into a colourful, fanciful “mid-Eastern” inspired, richly costumed setting, and proceeding to inventive and fast-moving entertainment which becomes a full-blown and rib-tickling farce.
Essential to the great success of Northan’s production is her marvelous use of the stage, with perfect blocking, lively action, and a general atmosphere of fun. At the same time, Jeremy Lewis and Tal Shulman as Antipholus and Dromio (the two sets of twins) engage lustily and effectively in the wild proceedings. It’s lots of fun and provides a golden opportunity to revisit one of the bard’s most popular comedies.
With four productions being staged until late September, once again Bard on the Beach offers visitors great entertainment and a wide range of plays to choose from. What more can one ask for?
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