Theatre

Measure for Measure

Kibble Palace, Botanic Gardens, Glasgow

Four stars

Neil Cooper

The sexual shenanigans of men in power have long been at the heart of the business of bad government. So it goes in Shakespeare’s so-called comedy, in which the bard’s dissection of everyday morality and standards in public office are honed by director/adaptor Jennifer Dick into an intense 100 minute chamber piece.

This gives the final Bard in the Botanics production of the season the uneasy tension of a 1970s Hollywood thriller. Like those, Dick’s production slow burns its way towards unresolved ambiguity in what remains very much a man’s world.

As the upright Duke Vincentio goes on sabbatical, leaving his deputy Angelo in charge, young Claudio has fallen victim to the new puritans after being sentenced to death for getting his girlfriend pregnant.

Read more

Angelo may be out of his depth but the power goes to his head and other parts besides as he craves a piece of the action. This comes in the form of Claudio’s sister Isabella, a nun whose staunch defence of her brother runs alongside her devout incorruptibility.

Vincentio, meanwhile, becomes an undercover boss in monk’s clothing, manipulating the action with the cunning of an off duty control freak who also falls prey to temptations he would otherwise denounce in less respectable souls. Such is the way of men in suits who think they run the world, and, alas, often do.

While James Boal doubles up impressively as Claudio and Escalus, the sort of civil servant who is routinely thrown under the bus, Sam Stopford’s Angelo attempts to wriggle out of the not so fine mess he has got himself into with all the integrity and charm of Matt Hancock.

As Vincentio, Graham Mackay-Bruce may look like butter wouldn’t melt as he attempts to woo Stephanie McGregor’s ferociously defiant Isabella, but behind his sackcloth and ashes, he too is part of the boys’ club. Isabella’s wordless reaction to Vincentio’s advances, however, suggests the lady is very much not for turning in a tautly realised affair that lets no-one off the hook.