Measure For Pleasure: 03/05/2006

Here’s a tip for anyone seeing David Grimm’s Measure For Pleasure at the Public Theatre – don’t leave after the first scene, no matter how much you may want to. It gets better – much better actually. But you wouldn’t know that by the end of the first scene. I saw at least a quarter of the audience tune out after that first scene, which is a shame as for much of what follows, is very good. For one thing, in the first scene you’ve seen the weakest writing of the evening, and the two weakest actors in an otherwise excellent cast. You haven’t seen the charming Euan Morton, the glowing Emily Swallow, or the powerful Suzanne Bertish. And really, you’ve only seen the incredible Michael Stuhlbarg in a lame prologue. It’s a very worthwhile play up until the messy climax. I think much of the blame should go to the director, who manages to screw up the end of every scene. A better director might have been better able to aid this script instead of managing to sink to the occasion.