"A lack, when once our grace we have forgot,
Nothing goes right: we would, and we would not."
The Baltimore Shakespeare Theatre was new to me. It's housed in what I would assume might have been a 19th century Bank. The interior of the space once rose up three stories with an ornate ceiling held in place by monumental Greek columns. The space has been re-imagined by CST and enclosed in three stories of seats (two balconies), none deeper than four rows on three sides with an intimate, square stage space. Built on the outer edges of those spaces are staff offices, storage, restrooms, two bars--one serving snacks, a ticket space off a separated entrance foyer. Inside, I was immediately reminded of Folger Shakespeare Theatre in DC, but on a grander and possible more accurate scale to the actual Globe. The energy was festive. Both before the show and at intermission, the actors populated the stage with simple instruments and performed songs in a very casual and fair-like way encouraging the audience to join in. At the end of intermission, a raffle awarded one member of the audience a bottle of wine!
My seat was three rows back dead center facing the front of the stage on the ground floor. During intermission, I needed to use the lou, the men's room being on the second floor, and this pic was taken from that vantage point.
As to Measure for Measure--I really like this one! It's an odd and well wrapped story of hypocrisy and redemption. It falls into Shakespeare's column of Comedies--but it isn't really. I spoke with one of the company members at intermission and she explained how it's consider one of his "problem" plays, because it isn't that funny. But the "all's well that ends well" finale, as opposed to everyone falls on their swords, landed it in that cadre. The cast was made up of 16 actors, covering maybe 20 characters--and here's the thing, lesser characters were doubled up, and to an actor, I didn't realize until I parsed the program at home that three of the actors in particular were the same people who played the different characters that I watched on stage! Damn, that's good. No weak links here, and bonus kudos for three.
Seamus Miller, as the hypocritical moralist Angelo, who, having been left in charge of the city and asked to clean up its decadence, has coldly sentenced a young man to death for the crime that he himself is attempting to commit with the same young man's sister. He gave Angelo, even in the character's despicable morality, humanity. We saw his soul and the conundrum his heart faced. Ron Heneghan played the role of Duke Vincentio, who, after leaving Vienna in the hands of Angelo, returns in the guise of a monk to secretly monitor Angelo's progress, and then realizing the enormity of his sin knows he must expose his protege and make right the wrongs of his evil. A consummate profession in either guise, he masterfully handled the failure of his fake beard as if it were part of the staging--once it could no longer be ignored. But the Tony goes to Amanda Forstrom as the chaste novice nun, Isabella. She inhabited the role (sans habit) with a presence that became the sun around which all the planets revolved. The battle between her virginity and the life of her brother was magnificiently realized again, four hundred and sixteen years after it first was staged by the Bard of Avon himself.
Before the show started, I turned to the women seated to my left and asked her if she had been to plays here before. She enthusiastic answered in the affirmative. I then asked, "What makes this place to special to you?"
She said, "Years ago I signed my 13 year-old up to attend a summer camp here. He was dead set against it. He hated Shakespeare. After the first week, he was hooked. This June he's graduating from university with a degree in the theatre arts."
Metaphorically, my jaw was sitting in my lap--in reality, I responded, "Wow. I can see why you love this place. Thank you!"
What a grand discovery! I will find a way to return. Their next production is one of those reductionist farces that covers all of Shakespeare in a single show. Not really interested. Their final play of this season is "Hamlet". I've seen it already, so it's not a priority, but in this venue with this company, it's a temptation.
Images of scenes between Angelo (Seamus Miller) and Isabella (Amanda Forstrom)
It is based on a film by Alfred Hitchcock made in 1935, which is based on a book written by John Buchan in 1915. To give you summary of the plot, I am going to lift it straightway from Wikipedia: "It [The 39 Steps] is about an everyman civilian in London, Richard Hannay, who becomes caught up in preventing an organization of spies called the 39 Steps from stealing British military secrets. After being mistakenly accused of the murder of a counter-espionage agent, Hannay goes on the run to Scotland and becomes tangled up with an attractive woman while hoping to stop the spy ring and clear his name."
