Measure for Measure, Folger Theatre
There's a very interesting casting choice made in Psalmayene 24's production of Measure for Measure , which opened last night at the Folger Theatre. It's not unrelated to the race conscious casting created for this production, adapted by Mekala Sridhar to take place in the American Deep South of the 1950s, but may be unexpected: Holly Twyford plays Escalus, one of the ruling Lords of Shakespeare's version of Vienna. Lines from Escalus referring to Angelo (Lee Osorio) as "brother" here are played to have the potential for a familial, not only collegial relationship, presenting the audience with a parallel sibling relationship. Folger audiences are very familiar with Twyford's work (and with good reason), so at first glance, her appearance onstage seems like an happy incidence of gender-blind casting that gets more female actors into a play that could use an increased female perspective. Renea S. Brown as Isabella in Folger Theatre’s production of William S...
