Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Week 3: Declan Donnellan’s timely MEASURE FOR MEASURE turns the play’s problematic ambivalence into a defiant strength

• By drediman
• October 18, 2018
• No Comments

The company of Cheek by Jowl and Pushkin Theatre’s co-production of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” at the BAM Harvey Theater.

The highlight of week three of BAM’s Next Wave Festival is sure to be Declan Donnellan’s staging of Measure for Measure at the BAM Harvey Theater, a co-production between Cheek by Jowl and Moscow’s Pushkin Theatre (it’s only slated to run through this weekend). Historically considered one of Shakespeare’s “problem” plays, Measure for Measure has in recent years interestingly enjoyed a plethora of productions – idiosyncratic New York-based companies like Fiasco, TFANA, and Elevator Repair Service have each put their unique stamp on the play – and has even inspired a musical (the delightful Desperate Measures, now running at New World Stages).

Now we have Cheek by Jowl and Pushkin Theatre’s Russian-language production, which is probably the most effective and potent of these recent disparate stagings. With Measure for Measure, Shakespeare, ahead of his time, has essentially written a play custom-made for the current #MeToo movement era. And in light of the recent Kavanaugh debacle, I can’t imagine the play being more timely than it is right now. Mr. Donnellan’s dizzyingly-paced direction turns the play’s unsettling ambivalence about the status of women in a male-dominated society – long thought of as the play’s weakness – into a fiercely undeniable strength. In this production, it’s painfully clear throughout that the put-upon character of Isabella winces and cringes each time she enters into a sexist situation and/or is sexually harassed. These horrible incidents have been aggressively amplified by Mr. Donnellan, to a disturbingly excessive degree. Productions of Measure for Measure typically end on a bittersweet note. But here, boldly but unsurprisingly, the conclusion defiantly registers as tragically unresolved.

The fact that the production is performed in Russian (with English supertitles) ultimately didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Certainly, one loses the opportunity to hear Shakespeare’s lilting poetry spoken, but the brash and passionate Russian sensibility turns out to be a good fit for the Bard’s richly emotional landscape. The Russian players of the Pushkin Theatre, particularly Anna Vardevanian’s steely but persistently distraught Isabella, do a fine job of acquitting themselves to Mr. Donnellan’s physically and emotionally demanding vision.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MEASURE FOR MEASURE
Off-Broadway, Play
Next Wave Festival at the BAM Harvey Theater
1 hour, 50 minutes (without an intermission)
Through October 20