Theatrical Adaptation

It's hard out here for a pimp a nun and a man with premarital relations.Mistress Overdone is not overdone.

Note There are many descriptions of the play on the internet so I avoided summarizing.
I am considering adapting “Measure for Measure” as my project. I am drawn to the idea because I feel “Measure for Measure” is under rated and underperformed. “Measure for Measure” is criticized for its inability to fit into a neat classification of comedy or tragedy, or to provide entirely satisfactory answers to moral dilemmas at the ending. But in my mind those supposed faults are greatest virtues of the play.
I am fascinated by the broad range of adaptations of the work that exist, adaptations that did not requiring the changing of a single word. How is it possible that the character who in one persons mind stands as the image of saintly altruism, compassion, humbleness, and courage could be to another person the epitome of selfishness, callousness, self glorification and cowardliness. How does classifying the work as a comedy as in the original publishing make one view it differently than if your told it’s a tragedy, history, or romance. I have heard it classified as all of these although the romance one is in my opinion quite a stretch as is the history.I would define the work as a dark black or tragicomedy which is I belive very much in the modern taste. “Bowling for Columbine” the “Daily Show” “Thank you for Smoking” all mix political issues human suffering and humor. Concocting such mixtures is a modern American past time. Durnhmat said tragicomedy was the theatre of the 21st century.
As towards the complaint of the unfinished nature of the play. Shakespeare did tie up the story, albeit it in a artificial and forced way (I believe intentionally so.) The entrance of the duke means everything is happily ended. His being back in power cures Isabella’s nightmare. But the play is largely an if exercise. If you had to choose between your family and your virtue what would you do? What if you could provide Mercy or Justice but not both? Finally what choice is right or is their no right choice? The extreme circumstances of the play are unlikely and require a suspension of disbelief. But the issues are real and faced by us on a lesser level. The Dukes tidy entrance is like the perfect world created in the matrix .We wont accept it resolves the story but not our anxiety provoked by it..
Moreover it is not a solution to the moral questions asked. We go back to the if game “ what if the duke doesn’t exist “in fact more accurately the Duke doesn’t exist in my life so what happenens to me if I face such choices. It is the broader moral issues of the play that are left lingering and that Measure for Measure questions haunts nags and generally irritate critics and general audiences a is a sign of its eloquence and depth not of it’s weakness.
The questions provoked by the play: whether government can regulate sexuality and morality, whether marriage is a legal religious or personal institution, whether the death penalty is Christian, are all issues as prevalent in today’s headlines as the script lines.
I am running out of time and space but whether to use condoms in Africa, Gay marriage, and abortion all link to the play. My next bog I intend to give more specific examples, but I wanted to set the premise.

posted by artpoet @ 11:39 PM