The View from the Moated Grange

It's a rainy day on Indian Point Road, and it's the first full day off for the acting company of Measure for Measure. We've been running full sprint since we arrived in Stonington, right through our exciting opening weekend of performances. A day of rest feels welcome and well-deserved. Especially a grey day with gentle rain falling. The kind of day that gives your thoughts room to settle. I'm baking a peach and blackberry pie. In a little while I'll walk down the road to enjoy a convivial dinner with the rest of the M4M company.

For now, though, I am looking out the window at the rain, sitting alone in the sweet little house that I call the Moated Grange, in honor of Mariana, one of the five characters I play in Measure for Measure. "I will presently to Saint Luke's," says the Duke to Isabella, "there, at the moated grange, resides this dejected Mariana." For me, my characters always find their ways into my life. Or my life finds its way into my characters. This year in Stonington I find myself playing a girl who is suspended in a kind of tragic limbo: unrequited love and grief and, maybe, hope, foolish or otherwise...A central plot point turns on her history with Angelo. As we head towards our second week of performances I continue to be fascinated by the competing versions of that history woven into Shakespeare's text.

The undisputed facts: five years before the play begins, Mariana and Angelo were engaged; her war hero brother Frederick (her only surviving relative) died at sea in a shipwreck that also claimed her dowry; Angelo then broke off the engagement. There are different versions of why. Tommy Piper (Angelo) and I have an ongoing and lively debate about the Why.

In the Duke's version, Angelo "swallowed his vows whole, pretending in her discoveries of dishonor"--as in, he made up rumors about Mariana as an excuse to get out of marrying her when her dowry was lost--and abandoned her in her deep grief. In Angelo's version, the marriage plans were broken off "partly for that her promised proportions came short of composition, but in chief for that her reputation was disvalued in levity." So who is telling the truth?

Oh, I believe the Duke, here. In both text and action, Mariana is virtuous. She truly loves Angelo and must have believed he loved her: "This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, which once thou swor'st was worth the looking on." Her love for Angelo is past reason, past sense--surely we can sympathize with that. Isn't there redemption to be found in love that true? Isn't that the essence of mercy? That love is forgiveness, and that vengeance is a small weak thing next to the great vastidity of love?

Well, I cite the Beatles. All you need is love.

When I step out of the mindset of Mariana, I know Angelo does some baaad things. I know it. But Mariana has gotten so deep into me that I can't help believing that he deserves forgiveness too. Don't we want Mariana to be happy? Even if she loves not wisely, but too well?

The sky is darkening. The pie is cooling on top of the stove and I'm gazing out the window at the water. Time to walk down the road to dinner.

Mariana bakes pies, and dreams of Angelo.

Stephanie Dodd: "I'm faced with a large decision"

Abby Bray, a student at Stonington/Deer Isle High School, recently interviewed actor Stephanie Dodd, who plays Isabella in "Measure for Measure" running through Aug. 29 at the Stonington Opera House. "Interviewing some of the cast of 'Measure for Measure' was the first time I'd done a formal interview," says Abby. "After some trial and error, it proved both fun and educational. I learned about the characters on a more personal level, and I also learned what attracts people to Stonington." Dodd is a veteran artist at the Opera House where she performed in last year's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In this interview, Abby asked Stephanie why we should care about her role. She also asked about working in Stonington compared to working in other locations. Give it a click. Then buy tickets! And check back on the Shake Stonington blog for more of entries about all things Shakespeare.

Phillip Owen: "If I ain't around, nothing good is going to happen"

Abby Bray, a student at Stonington/Deer Isle High School, recently interviewed actor-composer Phillip Owen, who plays a guard and a messenger -- as well as the onstage music -- in "Measure for Measure" running through Aug. 29 at the Stonington Opera House. "Interviewing some of the cast of 'Measure for Measure' was the first time I'd done a formal interview," says Abby. "After some trial and error, it proved both fun and educational. I learned about the characters on a more personal level, and I also learned what attracts people to Stonington." Owen is a veteran artist at the Opera House where he performed in last year's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." In this interview, Abby asked Phillip -- in character -- why we should care about his role. She also asked about working in Stonington compared to working in other locations. Give it a click. Then buy tickets! And check back on the Shake Stonington blog for more of Abby's interviews with actors.

What would you do if you were Isabella?

Yu Jin Ko is a Shakespeare scholar at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and our guest conversationalist for the Talk Back after the production of "Measure for Measure" 7 p.m. Saturday Aug. 21 at the Stonington Opera House on Deer Isle in Maine. He will be joined onstage by director Jeffrey Frace and Opera House artistic director Judith Jerome to talk about the play, the production and Shakespeare's life and times. Recently, I asked Yu Jin (whose name is pronounced Yoo Gin) to answer three questions. You can read the first here; the second here and the third (Is "Measure for Measure" a love story?) is below. For this one, Yu Jin leaves us with a question. Come to the Talk Back after the show and bring your own questions for our guest speaker! Don't miss out on the fun; buy tickets now!


AA: Is this a love story?

YJK: If it is a love story, it’s a curious love. I would say there is love in it, but – as with mercy and justice – each vision of love is deeply compromised. Juliet, Mariana, they both possess something called love but it comes out in ways that are self-deceiving or in ways that hurt them or that make you question the substance of the feeling. But I gather the question is directed toward the Duke and Isabella and whether love is possible between the two. The play leaves you hanging doesn’t it? Isabella never responds to the Duke’s offer. Is it an offer or is it a demand? What is it when he asks or tells or orders her to be his? I don’t know. What would you do if you were in Isabella’s position?

A compromising situation

Yu Jin Ko is a Shakespeare scholar at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and our guest conversationalist for the Talk Back after the production of "Measure for Measure" 7 p.m. Saturday Aug. 21 at the Stonington Opera House on Deer Isle in Maine. He will be joined onstage by director Jeffrey Frace and Opera House artistic director Judith Jerome to talk about the play, the production and Shakespeare's life and times. Recently, I asked Yu Jin (whose name is pronounced Yoo Gin) to answer three questions. You can read the first here; the second (Is this a play about mercy, justice or power?) is below and the third (Is "Measure for Measure" a love story?) will be posted soon. Check back -- and also buy tickets to join us Aug. 21 and bring your own questions!

AA: Is this a play about mercy, justice or power?

YJK: The title sets it up to be a simple morality play about the limitations of absolute justice – about dispatching justice measure for measure. So you expect mercy to be the antithesis that wins the day. But everything is so compromised in this play – the vision of absolute justice embodied in Angelo and then the counter weight of mercy that Isabella and the others give voice to. In the end, you can’t say one element wins out over the other.

New "M4M" Photos on Flickr

New photos from "Measure for Measure" are available here

Pierre-Marc Diennet: "I'm here to live."

Abby Bray, a student at Stonington/Deer Isle High School, recently interviewed actor Pierre-Marc Diennet, who plays Lucio, a "fantastic," in "Measure for Measure" running through Aug. 29 at the Stonington Opera House. "Interviewing some of the cast of 'Measure for Measure' was the first time I'd done a formal interview," says Abby. "After some trial and error, it proved both fun and educational. I learned about the characters on a more personal level, and I also learned what attracts people to Stonington." Pierre is a veteran artist at the Opera House where he performed "Perdita," a show about his mother. In this interview, Abby asked Pierre -- as Lucio -- why we should care about his character. She also asked about working in Stonington compared to working in other locations. Give it a click. Then buy tickets! And check back on the Shake Stonington blog for more of Abby's interviews with actors. Coming soon!