Grimm, Goode and Blunt: New Play Measure for Pleasure Opens at Public Theater March 8
By Robert Simonson
08 Mar 2006
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Michael Stuhlbarg in Measure for Pleasure.
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| photo by Michal Daniel | Measure for Pleasure, David Grimm's modern take on Restoration Comedy, will officially open Off-Broadway at The Public Theater March 8, after previews from Feb. 21.
Euan Morton, who was nominated for a Tony for Taboo, and Michael Stuhlbarg, a nominee for The Pillowman, lead a cast that also features Suzanne Bertish, Wayne Knight ("Seinfeld," Sweet Charity), Emily Swallow,
Susan Blommaert and Saxon Palmer.
The piece, directed by Peter DuBois, is described as a "Restoration comedy meets modern sex farce" which explores "the elusive nature of happiness; featuring mistaken identities, duels and double-dealings, gay marriage, and the obligatory sex cave."
Certainly, the characters have Restoration-like names and a tangled story of lust and intrigue common to the period. The plot concerns one Will Blunt (Stuhlbarg), who is in love with Molly (Morton), a young transvestite prostitute, who in turn falls for Dashwood, a handsome womanizing rake. Other characters are called Lady Vanity Lustforth and Hermione Goode.
Grimm has toyed around with past eras in English history before. His Marlowe, which ran at the Public in 2000, was about the dastardly and mysterious playwright of Elizabethan times.
The title of his new work, meanwhile, evokes Shakepeare's famous "problem" play Measure for Measure.
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Euan Morton and Suzanne Bertish in Measure for Pleasure.
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| photo by Michal Daniel |
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