A "Measure for Measure" does not quite measure up

Quintessence Theatre Group has big ambitions: "adaptation of epic works of drama and classic literature," and restoring Mount Airy's Sedgwick Theater to its rightful place "as a jewel in Philadelphia's cultural landscape." The fledgling company embarks on its grand effort with co-founder Alexander Burns directing

Measure for Measure

, Shakespeare's darkest comedy, and a particularly problematic problem play.

At its heart, however, this is still a comedy, complete with all the identity-switching one can expect from such Elizabethan follies. A duke (Damon Bonetti) pretends he's a friar, a wronged fiancée pretends she's a nun, a lecherous hypocrite pretends he's a righteous man, and a dead pirate's head stands in for that of the nun's condemned brother. There are serious questions of leadership, power and human frailty at work here, and Burns chooses to emphasize these graver matters at the expense of the play's humor.

Austerity is the keyword in this production, its set a simple black thrust dominated by a white wall two stories high, cleaved through the center by a ceiling-high cross. Jane Casanave's costumes are somber, slate gray, navy. Even Lucio (John G. Williams), as the play's comic relief, wears sedate truffle and umber. Really, until Act 5, when the Duke wraps up every loose end in an uncomfortably tight bow, Burns offers a remarkably joyless and plodding affair.

Movement occurs for movement's sake, as when Lucio and the Duke pace the stage in whiplash arcs while trying to converse. Yet it is absent when needed, as when Isabella (Joy Farmer-Clary), in an attempt to save her brother, appears before Angelo - appointed to represent the Duke during his absence - and Lucio calls out frozen comic asides from a stage-side riser.

In addition, actors deliver lines both haltingly, with strained pauses after every fourth word or so, and manually, clasping hands after the words, "fair prayer," or jabbing outward while describing "a boy arm'd with a poking stick." While miming a clack-pot's double entendre makes sense, the audience can probably get the concept of prayer without an assist.

To be sure, this inaugural production has its strengths, among them Burns' offering of an alternative - and compelling - interpretation of the Bard's happy ending, and Bonetti, who gets the jokes from start to finish.

But if the company plans to make good on its ambitious promise to take on both Eugene O'Neill's trilogy Mourning Becomes Electra and Shakespeare's first tetralogy (Henry VI, Parts 1-3, plus Richard III) next season, it should revisit its own mission statement, and "consider what is essential in theatre," as opposed to what just makes it tedious.

Presented by Quintessence Theatre Group at the Sedgwick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave., through May 30. Tickets: $10-$25. Information: 215-240-6055 or www.QuintessenceTheatre.org

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