Production Notes :: College Theatre Festival Papers

Production NotesPreface The slides and video that are found on this wind vane site are recordings of a doing of Measure for Measure mount at the College of the Holy Cross in the fall of 1996. In February, 1997, the production was re-mounted at Brandeis University as part of the American College Theatre Festival. The following notes make the conceptual basis for the production. First Response In the final months of the twentieth century, Measure provides us with a searing allegory about a order that is divided severely along economic and social lines. The ubiquitious moral hokum of Shakespeares play parallels our contemporary world. The political and social hypocricy of rulers who abuse tycoon for individualized gain while criticizing and punishing the lower classes comes right out of the level news. Some issues of the play hit home harder today and in a radically different manner then they would have in Shakespeares day. Ideas much(prenominal) as cozy harrassment and imm orality connote wildly different things to a contemporary audience, particularly in light of recent current events. public lecture Points I. Measure for Measure is a play about mogul--political, economic, and sexual strength--and how these ternion interrelated phenomena intersect with catastrophic consequences when they are abused by an curt leader. But it is essential to note that the play is not against the use of power per se, because the entire crisis is instigated by the failure of a rightful ruler to exertion properly his responsibilities of office. Indeed, the entire arc of the play is about how this ruler--Duke Vincentio--learns about the record of power and the necessity of its public demonstration. It can be argued that, in many a(prenominal) respects, the play is a primer about effective leadership and essential be viewed as a humanistic revision of Machievellis The Prince. II. Political power must be exercised correctly and sexual desires must be move proper ly. Without sex thither is no propagation of the species and without political restraint there is no maintenance of the social order. Political responsibility cannot be avoided and uncomplete can the extreme need of humans to fornicate. Without restraint, however, the pursuit of these intersecting fundamental drives will undermine the stability of society. Measure for Measure argues that political power must be exercised in a principled manner and sexual intercourse must occur under the sanction of marriage. III. A happen theme in the plays of Shakespeare is the nature of effective leadership.