Works by Shakespeare are challenging in the same way that operas are challenging.  The root of the challenge is in the language.  Even though Shakespeare is in English, it's such a defined and specific format of the tongue that, for many, it may as well be foreign. When performed well, Shakespeare's texts roll by quickly, with conversational ease.

From the plot's point of view, everything points toward impending tragedy in this play.  And yet the characters go about their business with a gleeful abandon that borders on the absurd.  It is a dark comedy in the truest sense of the words.

Kim Sullivan's portrayal of Lucio is a razor sharp, biting interpretation of the fast-taking wise guy.  Greg Reges, as Angelo, handles the role with a balance of sinister self-importance, peppered with just the right amount of doubt and vulnerability so as to make him not so utterly evil that he can't be forgiven of his transgressions.  Both Charles Stanley, playing the Duke, and Deborah Wright Houston as Isabella deliver some truly moving soliloquy treatments.

For me, though, the most consistently memorable and hilarious performance of the night was turned in by Anthony Piazza, who played Pompey, the pimp clown.  Late in the play, he manages to avoid imprisonment by agreeing to become the executioner's assistant.  Typical of Shakespeare's facility for ironic commentary on morality, Pompey is imprisoned for being a bawd, and released by becoming an executioner, which is considered a respectable occupation.

Measure for Measure, by the Kings County Shakespeare Company,  is well-directed by Steve Zimmer, and performed with smooth professionalism and confidence.

— Tom Wachunas