Word: stagings
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...climactic moments the poetry isn't particularly inspired. But it is a thrilling blood-and-thunder melodrama. The Leverett House production succeeds when director Wendy Smith and the actors swallow their doubts and accept this fact, playing some of the gruesome scenes in a high-serious stage manner that would be hard to believe if it weren't so gripping...
...Beatrice after the murder and presents her with the severed ring-cum-finger, still bleeding in a white handkerchief. Both Terris and Montgomery play the tableau to the hilt, he leering, she screaming. Afterwards, the tension becomes oppressive as the walks slowly, step by step across the tiny stage towards her, blackmailing her to give in to his lust. If the actors would take the menace in The Changeling as seriously throughout as hey do in this scene, the play would become a real thrill instead of just light entertainment...
...conditions of the Leverett Old Theater would work against the performers, even if they did not try to act more consistently in the grand manner and take Middleton seriously. The stage is miniscule--the audience within a few feet of the actors. Something less intimate and more imposing might work better: The Changeling really calls for grand-operatic treatment--big gestures, declamation and all. Instead of entering wholeheartedly into this approach, or finding some other basis for their actions, the actors root themselves motionless on the stage most of the time to deliver their lines...
...entirely from the Harvard "community" almost every actor fills his part--most are better than competent. Measure for Measure is worth seeing, but once the production inspires you to start thinking about it, you can hardly stop. Half the pleasure of experiencing Shakespeare--off the shelf and on the stage--is in asking questions. Since this production lacks strong, cohesive direction, its potential ideas remain potential. Questioning is bound to become argument...
...many questions are answered by this production of Measure for Measure. The play, however, is a remarkable first venture, a well-performed play despite its direction. The Pudding theater is a good stage for any group to exploit, more comfortable and ample for the audience than Agassiz, for instance. An organization devoted to Shakespeare is not a bad idea, either. The bard is in no way too rarefied for rah-rah spirit. And great plays should be as accessible and as polished as possible; even when full potential is not reached, the production is always interesting in the true sense...