From the Archive: Getting the measure of two Galloglass grotesques

How do you tell the good guys from the bad guys? It’s as much of a problem in life as it is in art.

Our photograph presents characters from Galloglass Theatre Company's 1993 production of Measure for Measure, by William Shakespeare, taking to the streets of Dublin to publicise the show, which had just opened at Project Arts Centre.

Admittedly, the child in the stroller is not the target audience for what has been categorised as one of Shakespeare’s problem plays. Still, her reaction is telling: she’s trying to bury her head in the pram and make these weird guys go away.

The masked figures are John Bergin, as Pompey, and Valerie Abbey, as Elbow. But unless the girl is especially well schooled in 17th-century drama it’s a fair bet that she’s unable to distinguish between the person who’s upholding the law – Elbow – and the one who’s breaking it.

Pompey is a pimp. Elbow is described as a “simple” constable. You don’t have to be a Shakespeare scholar to figure out who runs rings around whom. On the street, though, those masks render both of them grotesque – and that the policeman is taking at his companion with a rolled-up umbrella blurs matters even further.

No wonder the child is keeping a low profile, despite Mum’s valiant attempts to encourage some audience participation. (If you’ve ever been seated too close to the stage at a certain type of play you’ll recognise the feeling.)

Last summer Irish theatregoers were treated to another potentially awkward conjunction when the Shakespeare Lives celebrations met the 1916 commemorations in a new outdoor production, by Fortune's Fool, of Measure for Measure at Dublin Castle and other historic sites around the country. Set in Ireland, and played strictly for laughs, the play was a big hit with audiences. Which, we reckon, adds up to a happy ending.

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