SHAKESPEARE’S MEASURE FOR MEASURE AT THE RENAISSANCE CENTER
Amherst – Sexual passion and religious righteousness, humanity and hypocrisy, morality and manipulation. It’s no wonder Shakespeare’s darkest comedy, Measure for Measure, has been the subject of controversy from its first appearance onstage over four hundred years ago to the present day. This spring, the Renaissance Center Theatre Company, based at the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, brings this classic play of lust battling law to the Pioneer Valley for five days only, starting on Shakespeare’s birthday (April 23rd). “Not only is this one of Shakespeare’s funniest – and simultaneously most disturbing – plays,” notes director Matteo Pangallo, “but we’re staging it with a fellowship of some of the finest actors in the area. It’s rare that you find such a confluence of theatrical fortune around one production.”
Measure for Measure runs April 23-26 at 7:30pm and April 27 at 2pm, at the UMass Renaissance Center (650 East Pleasant Street in Amherst); tickets are $10 ($5 students/seniors). For information and reservations, call 413-577-3600 or e-mail renaissance@english.umass.edu. Seating is limited, so reservations are strongly encouraged.
The show will be performed in a vacant space that is being converted to a black box theatre for the event, in lieu of the projected replica of a 16th century Great Hall to be built on the grounds of the Center. The Great Hall is a keystone project of the Center and will be a space for performances, concerts, classes, and special collections, open to the public and the Five Colleges. The Center’s director of programming, Lucinda Kidder, observes, “It’s fitting that Measure for Measure, which was probably the first play staged at Shakespeare’s rebuilt Globe Theatre in 1604, will be the first full production by the theater company that will eventually perform in the Great Hall.”
Pangallo, formerly the founding artistic director of the Salem Theatre Company and an assistant director for the Rebel Shakespeare Company, holds an MA in Shakespearean Studies from King’s College London and has worked as a dramaturgical assistant at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. The cast includes an array of talented performers from across the region and the Five Colleges. Noted local actor (and WFCR afternoon music host) Walter Carroll plays the role of the Duke. Marina Morrow, most recently seen in the role of Katherine in the Majestic Theater’s The Taming of the Shrew, plays Isabella, with celebrated local actor Phillip Isermann in the role of Angelo.
The Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies is an internationally leading center for the interdisciplinary study of the culture and achievements of the Renaissance period (1400-1700). The Center contributes to the field of Renaissance studies through research, teaching, and outreach to the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, the Amherst community, and beyond. For more information about the Center and a full calendar of activities, visit the Center’s web page at
www.umass.edu/renaissance.
