Measure for Measure (Donmar)

[paplazaroo]

So this opens in a few weeks and colour me intrigued. A highly intuitive Facebook algorithm has been thrusting the ads upon me, and I was initially super confused as they keep referring to the characters as 'powerful deputy' and 'powerless novice'. Initially I wondered if this is Vincentio and Angelo. Then the cast list on the website helped me decipher it - Hayley Attwell and Jack Lowdon share the role of Angelo and Isabella and swap in and out of the characters to question what effect the scenes have when played by a different gender.


Could be cool! 

[asfound]

Aug 31, 2018 9:14:47 GMT paplazaroo said:

and swap in and out of the characters to question what effect the scenes have when played by a different gender.

Wow, blazingly original. And so brave!

(I'm definitely going to see this though).

[Deleted]

I jumped on a ticket for this today and then realised I already have something on for that date... Does anyone know how flexible the Donmar is about returns?

Thanks.

[Deleted]

The Donmar is not great about returns, people here have reported they've been very reluctant to even sell returns for sold-out shows. You'd be better off trying to sell it on yourself. I don't think they've ever asked me to provide my card when I'm picking a ticket up at the box office, so it should be easy enough for your purchaser to pick up the ticket themselves if you don't have any opportunity to acquire and send the physical ticket yourself.

There seems to be a character in this production called Frederick, but I don't believe Shakespeare ever wrote a Frederick for this play. Who's going first and will be able to report back on this mystery?

[theatremad]

Sept 24, 2018 13:09:07 GMT @baemax said:

The Donmar is not great about returns, people here have reported they've been very reluctant to even sell returns for sold-out shows. You'd be better off trying to sell it on yourself. I don't think they've ever asked me to provide my card when I'm picking a ticket up at the box office, so it should be easy enough for your purchaser to pick up the ticket themselves if you don't have any opportunity to acquire and send the physical ticket yourself.

There seems to be a character in this production called Frederick, but I don't believe Shakespeare ever wrote a Frederick for this play. Who's going first and will be able to report back on this mystery?

Juliet isnt mentioned (I dont think) othet than that no idea

[Deleted]

They will swap for another performance for the same production ...

"Tickets can be exchanged for the same production up to 72 hours in advance, subject to availability."

[oxfordsimon]

I am at a loss to work out who Frederick might be. All of the main characters seem to be involved. But perhaps they are bringing in an evil duke from As You Like It just for giggles?

[oxfordsimon]

Sept 24, 2018 13:14:38 GMT theatremad said:

Sept 24, 2018 13:09:07 GMT @baemax said:

The Donmar is not great about returns, people here have reported they've been very reluctant to even sell returns for sold-out shows. You'd be better off trying to sell it on yourself. I don't think they've ever asked me to provide my card when I'm picking a ticket up at the box office, so it should be easy enough for your purchaser to pick up the ticket themselves if you don't have any opportunity to acquire and send the physical ticket yourself.

There seems to be a character in this production called Frederick, but I don't believe Shakespeare ever wrote a Frederick for this play. Who's going first and will be able to report back on this mystery?

Juliet isnt mentioned (I dont think) othet than that no idea

With no Juliet (I hadn't spotted that) - it can only be that Claudio is being condemned to death for sleeping with Frederick.  No pregnancy would seem possible under those circumstances!

Same number of syllables - so it would work with the verse.  

[Deleted]

Frederick doesn't appear in Measure for Measure but ...

DUKE VINCENTIO

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have

you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of

Frederick the great soldier who miscarried at sea?


ISABELLA

I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.


DUKE VINCENTIO

She should this Angelo have married; was affianced

to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed: between

which time of the contract and limit of the

solemnity, her brother Frederick was wrecked at sea,

having in that perished vessel the dowry of his

sister. But mark how heavily this befell to the

poor gentlewoman: there she lost a noble and

renowned brother, in his love toward her ever most

kind and natural; with him, the portion and sinew of

her fortune, her marriage-dowry; with both, her

combinate husband, this well-seeming Angelo.

[markmc]

Sept 24, 2018 12:02:43 GMT @abby said:

I jumped on a ticket for this today and then realised I already have something on for that date... Does anyone know how flexible the Donmar is about returns?

Thanks.

I was able to return a ticket for Aristocrats last week and also St Nicholas the following week and was able to get a full refund back on my card. 

[lynette]

Frederick. OMG

[wannabedirector]

Had never seen Measure for Measure before, now I’ve seen it twice in one evening!
The characters of Angelo and Isabella switch roles just before the interval, the names of their characters remain Angelo and Isabella, the characters just trade places with Isabella becoming the deputy and Angelo the novice. The entire play is retold again, which I didn’t find repetitive at all, although I can see that some might see it that way.
Admittely, I sighed when I first saw period dress, but I really enjoyed the first retelling in its original genders, but I much more enjoyed the modern dress second half. I don’t know if this is because I now knew the play better, whether they were better suited to their characters in the second half or that I’m just more inclined to modern dress. Either way, both Atwell and Lowden brought different things to both their characters, something that I found interesting, in that the second half with Atwell as the deputy felt in ways more about sexual tension than the Lowden deputy, which for me felt more about exerting power rather than pure lust and desire. I found it also was a very thought provoking piece for me, especially in the wake of the Kavanaugh testimony in the US earlier this week. It seems to be a true Me Too play, despite the fact Shakespeare wrote it as a comedy more than four hundred years ago.
I honestly thought the entire thing was great, and although the gender swap can be seen as a bit of a gimmick I think it worked really well and you learnt a lot about the characters by doing it this way. Atwell and Lowden give strong performances, as do the rest of the cast. I’d strongly recommend if you can get tickets, it’s a very good piece of theatre.

[oxfordsimon]

Thanks for the review wannabedirector

Can you clarify what the role of Frederick was?

Ta!

[learfan]

Sept 29, 2018 22:14:52 GMT wannabedirector said:

Had never seen Measure for Measure before, now I’ve seen it twice in one evening!
The characters of Angelo and Isabella switch roles just before the interval, the names of their characters remain Angelo and Isabella, the characters just trade places with Isabella becoming the deputy and Angelo the novice. The entire play is retold again, which I didn’t find repetitive at all, although I can see that some might see it that way.
Admittely, I sighed when I first saw period dress, but I really enjoyed the first retelling in its original genders, but I much more enjoyed the modern dress second half. I don’t know if this is because I now knew the play better, whether they were better suited to their characters in the second half or that I’m just more inclined to modern dress. Either way, both Atwell and Lowden brought different things to both their characters, something that I found interesting, in that the second half with Atwell as the deputy felt in ways more about sexual tension than the Lowden deputy, which for me felt more about exerting power rather than pure lust and desire. I found it also was a very thought provoking piece for me, especially in the wake of the Kavanaugh testimony in the US earlier this week. It seems to be a true Me Too play, despite the fact Shakespeare wrote it as a comedy more than four hundred years ago.
I honestly thought the entire thing was great, and although the gender swap can be seen as a bit of a gimmick I think it worked really well and you learnt a lot about the characters by doing it this way. Atwell and Lowden give strong performances, as do the rest of the cast. I’d strongly recommend if you can get tickets, it’s a very good piece of theatre.

Who played the Duke? It's huge role.

[lynette]

They do the play twice? The whole play? Please clarify. Ta

[oxfordsimon]

Sept 29, 2018 22:32:38 GMT learfan said:

Sept 29, 2018 22:14:52 GMT wannabedirector said:

Had never seen Measure for Measure before, now I’ve seen it twice in one evening!
The characters of Angelo and Isabella switch roles just before the interval, the names of their characters remain Angelo and Isabella, the characters just trade places with Isabella becoming the deputy and Angelo the novice. The entire play is retold again, which I didn’t find repetitive at all, although I can see that some might see it that way.
Admittely, I sighed when I first saw period dress, but I really enjoyed the first retelling in its original genders, but I much more enjoyed the modern dress second half. I don’t know if this is because I now knew the play better, whether they were better suited to their characters in the second half or that I’m just more inclined to modern dress. Either way, both Atwell and Lowden brought different things to both their characters, something that I found interesting, in that the second half with Atwell as the deputy felt in ways more about sexual tension than the Lowden deputy, which for me felt more about exerting power rather than pure lust and desire. I found it also was a very thought provoking piece for me, especially in the wake of the Kavanaugh testimony in the US earlier this week. It seems to be a true Me Too play, despite the fact Shakespeare wrote it as a comedy more than four hundred years ago.
I honestly thought the entire thing was great, and although the gender swap can be seen as a bit of a gimmick I think it worked really well and you learnt a lot about the characters by doing it this way. Atwell and Lowden give strong performances, as do the rest of the cast. I’d strongly recommend if you can get tickets, it’s a very good piece of theatre.

Who played the Duke? It's huge role.

Nicholas Burns is the Duke

[learfan]

Who?

[oxfordsimon]

Sept 29, 2018 22:39:11 GMT learfan said:

Who?

Full cast and biogs here:


www.donmarwarehouse.com/production/6629/measure-for-measure/

[wannabedirector]

Sept 29, 2018 22:17:17 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Thanks for the review wannabedirector

Can you clarify what the role of Frederick was?

Ta!

So whereas in the original there is Mariana as the lover of Angelo who sleeps with Angelo when he believes her to be Isabella. When the roles swapped Frederick becomes the lover to Isabella who is now the deputy. The digging done above is sort of spot on, Frederick comes from there. Sort of difficult to understand on paper (probably my bad explanation) but on stage it is fine. The actor who plays Frederick in the second half has a minor role in the first, as does Helena Wilson who plays Mariana in the first. Feel free to ask way if I didn’t explain it clearly (I don’t think I did) haha.

[wannabedirector]

Sept 29, 2018 22:33:07 GMT lynette said:

They do the play twice? The whole play? Please clarify. Ta

Yeah, in a revised, probably hugely cut, 90 minute version. Then the roles swap and the play is performed again but in modern dress.

[oxfordsimon]

Thanks

So there is no pregnant Juliet in the Claudio storyline then?

[wannabedirector]

Sept 29, 2018 22:32:38 GMT learfan said:

Sept 29, 2018 22:14:52 GMT wannabedirector said:

Had never seen Measure for Measure before, now I’ve seen it twice in one evening!
The characters of Angelo and Isabella switch roles just before the interval, the names of their characters remain Angelo and Isabella, the characters just trade places with Isabella becoming the deputy and Angelo the novice. The entire play is retold again, which I didn’t find repetitive at all, although I can see that some might see it that way.
Admittely, I sighed when I first saw period dress, but I really enjoyed the first retelling in its original genders, but I much more enjoyed the modern dress second half. I don’t know if this is because I now knew the play better, whether they were better suited to their characters in the second half or that I’m just more inclined to modern dress. Either way, both Atwell and Lowden brought different things to both their characters, something that I found interesting, in that the second half with Atwell as the deputy felt in ways more about sexual tension than the Lowden deputy, which for me felt more about exerting power rather than pure lust and desire. I found it also was a very thought provoking piece for me, especially in the wake of the Kavanaugh testimony in the US earlier this week. It seems to be a true Me Too play, despite the fact Shakespeare wrote it as a comedy more than four hundred years ago.
I honestly thought the entire thing was great, and although the gender swap can be seen as a bit of a gimmick I think it worked really well and you learnt a lot about the characters by doing it this way. Atwell and Lowden give strong performances, as do the rest of the cast. I’d strongly recommend if you can get tickets, it’s a very good piece of theatre.

Who played the Duke? It's huge role.

Yes it’s Nicholas Burns, who does a fab job throughout. Interestingly the Duke doesn’t swap gender so the ending with Angelo as the novice takes on a different dynamic.

[learfan]

Glad i passed and will wait for the RSC production next summer.

[wannabedirector]

Sept 29, 2018 22:42:29 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Thanks

So there is no pregnant Juliet in the Claudio storyline then?

No that bit is completely cut. Juliet is mentioned in relation to why Claudio is being sentenced to death but is never seen.

[oxfordsimon]

Sept 29, 2018 22:44:54 GMT wannabedirector said:

Sept 29, 2018 22:42:29 GMT oxfordsimon said:

Thanks

So there is no pregnant Juliet in the Claudio storyline then?

No that bit is completely cut. Juliet is mentioned but never seen.

Thanks

I know it is not the greatest role ever written - but always a shame when a Shakespeare production cuts a female character!