Measure for Measure is not one person’s story, but rather the story of everybody in the community of Vienna. Despite the apparent conflict between those who represent the law and their unruly subjects, the story cannot be so simplified. Each character remains intensely personally involved, abortively attempting to solve their problems by skipping straight to the solution. Thus, rather than being a grand story of one tragically flawed human being, Measure for Measure is instead a powerful story about many slightly flawed human beings, something closer to how our faults, unfulfilled desires, and blundering actions create problems in daily life.

When I read the play for the first time I fell in love with the tragedy of it. In the process of putting the show on, I have fallen in love with the comedy as well. It is easy to get caught up in the moral dilemmas of the Duke, Angelo, Isabella and Claudio. However, on stage it is impossible to ignore the influence of the bawds and the clowns. The two worlds are intricately interwoven and just as we see tragedy in the deconstruction of the clowns’ world we must also see comedy in the stilted awkwardness of those in power. The weight of what is at stake in the intimate scenes of the upper class makes the discovery of humor in the same scenes uncomfortable.

How can we laugh at the way a woman is asked to give up her virginity or let her brother die when we understand the enormity of the choice? Or when we watch the frivolity with which people treat life and death when we know the consequences? Today there are tyrants worldwide who have the power to use such frivolity to kill or forgive at will. Part of the power behind Measure for Measure is in its ability to remind us that however easy it is to distance ourselves from devastation that happens to others, we must still be aware of how closely any one act affects a great number of people.

Each of us has to deal with our own set of faults. Are we ever really strong enough to keep them from shaking our frames? However much we may cringe at the tragedy in our world, it is vitally important that we are also able to laugh.

- Elizabeth Nearing, Director, and Joan Cummins, Assistant Director

Cast and Crew of Measure for Measure