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MEASURE FOR MEASURE. By William Shakespeare. Directed by Mark Rylance. Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London. 15 July 2004.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. By William Shakespeare. Directed by Simon McBurney. Complicite at the Royal National Theatre, London. 24 July 2004.
One of the most discussed aspects of Measure for Measure, a particularly problematic example of Shakespeare's "problem plays," is the notable silence that falls on the virginal Isabella at the conclusion of the play's last scene. When Duke Vincentio proposes to her, Isabella has quite literally nothing to say: no more words are assigned to this character, though fifty or so lines remain in the play. Perhaps the best way to take the measure of two recent productions, running simultaneously in London last summer, is by gauging each one's response to this significant, even cryptic, final silence.
These two high-contrast productions demonstrate the wide range of theatrical responses currently available to those producing the plays of Shakespeare. The first opened 27 May 2004; the Complicite company staged a coproduction at the National Theatre on London's South Bank, under the direction of Complicite's Simon McBurney. Though McBurney frequently performs in Complicite productions, he did not appear in Measure; the Duke was played by David Troughton, and Isabella by Naomi Frederick. Due east of the National, the second production opened on 18 June 2004 at Shakespeare's Globe, the reconstructed theatre, educational facility, and tourist attraction built close to the site of the original Globe Theatre. This production was directed by the Globe's Artistic Director Mark Rylance, who also played the Duke opposite theatre veteran and frequent film actor Sophie Thompson. Notably, Rylance announced in September 2004 that he was stepping down as Artistic Director, a position he had held since the Globe's opening in 1997.
Visiting the Globe is a complex exercise in the heterogeneous topography of contemporary urban culture. Certainly, the new Globe is the only halftimbered, straw-thatched polygon built in London in recent years and, as such, it stands out from neighboring structures like the Tate Modern and the Millennium Bridge. The pursuit of so-called authenticity at the Globe is all-encompassing: from the architecture of the theatre, to the musical instruments played before the show and between acts; from the costumes worn by the actors onstage, to the...