MEASURE FOR MEASURE OFF-BROADWAY REVIEWS

Show	NY TIMES	BACKSTAGE	TM	NY POST	AP

Synopsis: This season, Arin Arbus stages William Shakespeare's dark comedy Measure for Measure, which presents a society out of balance. Government leaders are helpless or hypocritical, and passions are relegated to the whorehouses and the prisons. Corrupt power confronts ruthless justice, the letter of the law obscures the quality of mercy, and the noblest of spirits must reflect on the basest of appetites in this sly, bawdy, provocative and extraordinarily modern play.

Broadway Reviews

NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW:

"Keeping track of the saints and the sinners is pretty easy in Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure,” because there is nary a saint in sight. Consider that Isabella, the apparent exemplar of moral perfection and the play’s chief cheerleader for purity, prefers to see her beloved brother beheaded rather than surrender her prized virginity. With angels like that, who needs demons?"

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BACKSTAGE REVIEW:

""Measure for Measure" is a play that's alive with contradictions, a dark comedy that abounds in moral ambiguities. The characters are trapped by these very ambiguities, but then so is the play's director, who has to cut his or her way through them to bring the proceedings to life. The latest to take up that challenge is Arin Arbus. Hers is a straightforward, intelligent, well-spoken interpretation that puts Shakespeare's words center stage. On a bare thrust stage, the play is also almost puritanically spare, with the characters in the colorless uniformity of modern dress. But the ensemble, led by a truly impressive Jefferson Mays, works hard to present a complex tale that, while low on atmosphere and murky passion, is notable for its clarity and accessibility."

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THEATERMANIA REVIEW:

"Arin Arbus seemed delivered in full bloom from nowhere last year to direct an astounding Othello for Theatre for New Audience. Now the obviously undaunted director has come back to the group with a modern-day production of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure that is as intelligent as her previous outing, beautifully-designed (by Peter Ksander), and containing heaps of passion. Still, Arbus' worthwhile efforts don't render the play less problematic and strangely stiff-necked for 2010 audiences than it usually is. "

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NEW YORK POST REVIEW:

"A moralistic politician who doesn't follow the high standards of purity he imposes on others. A waffling ruler fleeing from his responsibilities. A strait-laced puritan who chooses honor over her brother's life."

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ASSOCIATED PRESS REVIEW:

"For a play that's really all about sex, William Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" is not a lot of fun. The Theatre for a New Audience's current off-Broadway production includes the comedic aspects alongside Shakespeare's morality lessons, but cynicism is rampant in this satire of civic leadership."

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