Measure for Measure (Donnellan, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

Measure for Measure

This production of Measure for Measure by Cheek by Jowl was first staged at the Pushkin Theatre in Moscow, the fifh of Cheek by Jowl’s internationally touring Russian productions (following Boris Gudonov, Twelfth Night, Three Sisters and The Tempest). Cheek by Jowl produce work in English, Russian and French, and are widely regarded as one of the most important European theatre companies of the past thirty years. This is the company’s second production of Measure for Measure, the first in Russian, and many reviewers understood the modern-dress production to be a comment on surveillance and oppression in contemporary Russia. Marina Tokareva, for Novaya Gazeta, argued that the production was ‘a shattering portrait of contemporary Russia’ and that Donnellan ‘manages to convey with power and conviction the eternal conflict between the self interest of those who rule and the people who crave for mercy’. With the ensemble constantly onstage, always watching, and no set beyond three large red cubes, everything in the production’s world was exposed and visible, and the production was unforgiving in its portrayal of the suffering shared by all within a police state.

The production was live-streamed from the Barbican Theatre on April 22, 2015, initiating a series of experimental partnerships to broaden access to Cheek by Jowl’s work.

Directed by Declan Donnellan

The cast includes Alexander Arsentyev (originally Valery Pankov), Anna Khalilulina, Andrei Kuzichev, Alexander Feklistov, Alexander Matrosov, Igor Teplov, Petr Rykov, Anastasia Lebedeva, Elmira Mirel, Alexey Rakhmanov, Nikolay Kislichenko, Ivan Litvinenko, Yuri Rumyantsev.

Production website: http://www.cheekbyjowl.com/measure_for_measure.php#previous

Online reviews:

Kate Bassett, ‘Measure for Measure at the Barbican’
The Times, April 18, 2015
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/theatre/article4415209.ece

Honour Bayes, ‘Measure for Measure’
The Stage, April 17, 2015
https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/measure-for-measure

Dominic Cavendish, ‘Measure for Measure, Cheek by Jowl, Barbican: ‘like a punch to the guts’
The Telegraph, April 17, 2015
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/11535101/Measure-for-Measure-Cheek-by-Jowl-Barbican-like-a-punch-to-the-guts.html

Phillipe Chevilley, ‘Mesure pour mesure en rouge et noir’
Les Echoes, January 16, 2015

Michael Coveney, ‘Measure for Measure (Silk Street Theatre)’
What’s On Stage, April 20, 2015
https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/measure-for-measure-barbican_37615.html

Corinne Denailles, ‘Mesure pour mesure de William Shakespeare’
Web Théâtre, January 17, 2015
http://webtheatre.fr/Mesure-pour-mesure-de-William

William Drew, ‘Measure for Measure’
Exeunt Magazine, April 21, 2015
http://exeuntmagazine.com/reviews/measure-for-measure-2/

Lyn Gardner, ‘Measure for Measure review – punch reminder that power corrupts’
The Guardian, April 19, 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/apr/19/measure-for-measure-russian-language-declan-donnellan-barbican-london-review

Armelle Heliot, ‘Mesure pour mesure, Shakespeare au présent’
Le Figaro, January 13, 2015
http://www.lefigaro.fr/theatre/2015/01/13/03003-20150113ARTFIG00022–mesure-pour-mesure-shakespeare-au-present.php

Peter Kirwan, ‘Measure for Measure (Cheek by Jowl) @ The Pushkin Theatre, Moscow’
The Bardathon, November 24, 2014
http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/bardathon/2014/11/24/measure-for-measure-cheek-by-jowl-the-pushkin-theatre-moscow/

 Peter Kirwan, ‘Measure for Measure (Cheek by Jowl) @ The Silk Street Theatre, Barbican’
The Bardathon, April 17, 2015
http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/bardathon/2015/04/17/measure-for-measure-cheek-by-jowl-the-silk-street-theatre-barbican/

Peter Kirwan, ‘Measure for Measure (Cheek by Jowl) @ The Barbican – Live Stream
The Bardathon, April 22, 2015
http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/bardathon/2015/04/22/measure-for-measure-cheek-by-jowl-the-barbican-live-stream/

Hugues Le Tanneur, ‘Société Occulte’
Les Inrocktibles, January 14, 2015

Hugues Le Tanneur, ‘Une Dictature sure Mesure’
Liberation, January 14, 2015
http://next.liberation.fr/theatre/2015/01/14/une-dictature-sur-mesure_1180717

Patrick Marmion, ‘Measure for Measure’
Time Out, April 17, 2015
http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/measure-for-measure-14

Didier Méreuze, ‘Mesure pour mesure, conte cruel en noir et rose’
La Croix, January 21, 2015
http://www.la-croix.com/Culture/Theatre/Mesure-pour-mesure-conte-cruel-en-noir-et-rose-2015-01-21-1270793

David Nice, ‘Measure for Measure, Cheek by Jowl / Pushkin Theatre, Barbican’
The Arts Desk, April 17, 2015
http://www.theartsdesk.com/theatre/measure-measure-cheek-jowlpushkin-theatre-barbican

Paul Taylor, ‘Measure for Measure, Barbican, review: Excellent production draws thought-provoking parallels with Putin era’
The Independent, April 17, 2015
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/measure-for-measure-barbican-review-excellent-production-draws-thought-provoking-parallels-with-10185103.html

Interviews: 

Declan Donnellan, Kirill Sbitnev and Andrei Kuzichev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SJcZtF4ZVM

Anna Khalilulina and Alexander Feklistov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJlh_bAzkn4

Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IICMLdvBn9I

Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod, Anna Khalilulina, Alexander Feklistov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lh9MHOyjnA

Charlotte Runcie, ‘Shakespeare in Russian? Why language is no bar to the bard’.
The Telegraph, April 20, 2015
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-features/11549713/Cheek-by-Jowl-Measure-for-Measure-Declan-Donnellan-interview.html

Articles:

Noah Birksted-Breen, ‘Review of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (directed by Declan Donnellan for Cheek by Jowl and the Pushkin Theatre) at the Silk Street Theatre, Barbican Centre, London, 16 April 2015’, Shakespeare n.p. (2015)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17450918.2015.1078837

Peter Kirwan prepared the metadata for this production. He is Assistant Professor in Shakespeare and Early Modern Drama at the University of Nottingham. His research interests include contemporary performance of early modern drama, theatre and book history, authorship and disputed Shakespeare plays, and Shakespearean adaptation. His books include Shakespeare and the Idea of Apocrypha (Cambridge, 2015) and Shakespeare and the Digital World (Cambridge, 2014). His current project is a book-length study of Cheek by Jowl for the Arden Shakespeare, and he is also editing Doctor Faustus for Routledge.