Cast, Language Make the Bard’s ‘Measure for Measure’ Crackle

In “Measure for Measure” at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre, director David Anthony Smith and a lively cast tear through Shakespeare’s dark comedy with slapstick momentum and plenty of laughs.

The staging is streamlined and simple. The stage is mostly bare, the actors clad in unobtrusive modern attire. The emphasis here is on the language, and although some lines are lost in the pell-mell enthusiasm with which they are delivered, the result is a crackling entertainment.

No gimmicky updating of Shakespeare this. Smith and company achieve a contemporary feel with apparent effortlessness, wryly alluding to modern-day culture while only occasionally pandering to it.

Not that Shakespeare’s timely statements about hypocrisy, sexual malfeasance and abuse of public office go unremarked in the general zaniness. Ming Lo bristles with salacious determination as the thoroughly corrupt, thoroughly modern Angelo, while Sara Hyoun’s pert Isabella energetically dodges his overtures. As the wronged Mariana, Jennifer Paz (alternating with Danelle Hand) gets to display her gorgeous soprano. David Teschendorf brings stature and dignity to the Duke, but can mug with the best of them. And the best of them is Chris Wylde, whose buffoonish Lucio, a Shakespearean slacker with a hip-hop edge, steals much of the show.

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* “Measure for Measure,” Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. Saturdays, 2 p.m.; Sundays-Mondays, 7:30 p.m. Ends March 8. $12. (310) 828-7519. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.