Theatre
Measure For Measure
The Splendid, Strait Street, Valletta

Joseph Zammit and Sandie Von Brockdorff in Measure for Measure. Photo: Jacob Sammut

What’s Their Names Theatre Company have cause to celebrate their very sharply executed production of Measure For Measure at the Splendid, running till this weekend.

Their choice of setting could not have been more apt, shifting from their usual venue at The Pub; for a play which focuses on excess and morality, to be staged in an ex-brothel turned arts hub. For absolute, prescriptivist civil justice to be tempered by moral justice at the end of a play that is rife with double standards, abuse of power and misogyny is a fitting end.

However, this is marred by the fact that the Duke of Vienna, Vincentio (Jonathan Dunn), who strides and tiptoes through the play disguised as a benevolent friar, observing the goings-on of his city in the liberty provided by anonymity, makes a bold and brazen proposal to virtuous heroine Isabella (Sandie Von Brockdorff), who assumes obedience to the authority of his position, his privilege and his gender.

This was clearly a well-cast production, with director Philip Leone-Ganado, who also plays state official Escalus, wisely choosing actors who have proved to be versatile in their interpretation, since several played multiple roles.

Thoroughly sharp and slick production

Dunn and Von Brockdorff were well-matched counterparts and made an excellent duo as partners in giving Angelo, the Duke’s appointed deputy, his come-uppance. Joseph Zammit’s Angelo is a rigid man of high morals and low tolerance; his treatment of Isabella’s brother Claudio, who he condemns to death for promiscuity and ruining a young woman’s reputation, is inflexible and cruel. Isabella, interceding on her brother’s behalf, is faced with a very immodest proposal herself, and is shocked to realise that the Duke has left the care of his city in the hands of a hypocrite.

Von Brockdorff played young votarist Isabella with a maturity and sensitivity which contrasted well with her interpretation of bawdy brothel-madam, Mistress Overdone.

Dunn played a genial and just Duke with admirable poise, in his dealings with Isabella, Mariana (Michela Farrugia), Pompey (Nathan Brimmer) and Elbow (Joe Azzopardi).

Zammit also plays Claudio, which creates a form of antithetical contrast in same actor playing both parts of the condemner and the condemned – praiseworthy in itself.

Joe Azzopardi’s comic skills were put through their paces when he was cast both as the womanising Lucio, whose friendship with Claudio, leads him to support his cause and alert Isabella to her brother’s misfortune. Lucio is an overconfident braggart and his interactions with the duke in disguise are a source of humour, as is his second persona, Elbow – the dim-witted constable who has some near-slapstick scenes with the equally gruff and comic Pompey. I thoroughly enjoyed the Brimmer-Azzopardi dynamic, which worked very well and provided the performance with the levity it required to soften the dark undertones of the main plot.

Michela Farrugia’s melancholy Mariana was adequately poignant in her interpretation, but transferred the same seriousness to her role as the Provost.

With original music composed and performed by Maria-Elena Farrugia, and a burlesque dance by Undine La Verve in Overdone’s brothel scene, WTN’s Measure For Measure married the beauty of Shakespearean language with some clever imagery that tied his thematic concerns with the setting and gave the audience a taste of an intimate performance space.

It was refreshing to see Measure For Measure presented to an audience with the disturbing undertones in full display and not shying away from having Von Brockdorff interpret Isabella’s final union with the Duke as one where her fear and uncertainty is clearly visible. A thoroughly sharp, and slick production which deserves to have its limited seating sold out each night. 

Measure For Measure is being staged at The Splendid today and tomorrow at 8pm.