By Angelina Castro '16
Siena College’s Creative Arts Department and theater club Stage III recently concluded this semester’s production of William Shakespeare’s, “Measure for Measure.”
“It’s about balance. It’s about comedy and tragedy,” said Director Sandra Boynton. “It juxtaposes the funny and the serious in a way that you really have to deal with it.”
The comedic drama is set in 17th century Vienna where the duke has pretended to leave town but instead disguised himself as a friar to see what will happen in his absence. Upon his departure, the town’s temporary leader, Angelo, has enforced stricter sex laws throughout Vienna. Angelo arrests a man named Claudio and sentences him to death for impregnating his soon-to-be wife outside of marriage.
Claudio’s sister Isabella is an aspiring nun when she learns of Claudio’s crime. She meets with Angelo and asks for mercy on her brother. Angelo tells Isabella that he shall relieve Claudio of his punishment if she agrees to sleep with him. As Isabella ponders her decision, the disguised Duke helps to hatch a plan to save both Claudio’s life and Isabella’s innocence.
The old English script presented quite a challenge for the actors. At the beginning of rehearsals, each actor wrote out all of their lines in modern speech and read them out in rehearsal. This gave the actors a sense of what was going on and helped them portray their character accurately.
“We grew so much as actors just learning this new process and really having to pay attention to our own lines and what they mean,” said creative arts major Kelly Marry ’16. “If you can do Shakespeare, you can do anything. Just tackling that was a really big triumph for everyone in the show.”
The extravagant two-story set added an extra dimension to the production, giving the actors even more room to grow.
“It’s such a dynamic set with the different levels and the balcony,” said psychology major Andrew Vroman ’15. “It gave (many) opportunities for movement and the creation of dynamic scenes.”
While the language and setting of “Measure for Measure” are hundreds of years old, the show’s concepts can still connect to people today.
“Shakespeare is an alive, deeply layered, exciting way to approach timeless topics,” Boynton said.
Marketing major Steve Baretta ’15 served as the show’s stage manager.
