Mighty Shakespeare Inc.

Peter Hall, the former leader of both England’s Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, said it in 1988: “I would like to run a Shakespeare studio, training actors in the form and what to look for. And I would like to do productions arising out of that.”

e The dream preceded that particular interview. And has endured beyond it.

Eleven years later, under the aegis of the Ahmanson Theatre, Hall presents an American variation on his grand scheme, a two-production Los Angeles experiment, rehearsed and performed in repertory.

Let the experiment continue. Annually, if possible.

Hall’s stagings of “Measure for Measure” and the populist-plus “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” opened at the Ahmanson Sunday. Pretty and pretty conventional, the “Midsummer” isn’t major in any sense, despite an audience-friendly turn from Richard Thomas, whose Puck suggests Ziggy Stardust reincarnated as a demonic puppy.

“Measure,” however, works like a menacing charm. It’s a wholly absorbing rendition of Shakespeare’s audacious sex-and-politics fairy tale. In this instance, the “warped slip of wilderness” explored in “Measure” registers vividly, far more so than the familiar, fairy-ridden Athenian forest.

“Warped slip of wilderness” is what Isabella (Anna Gunn) calls her condemned brother, Claudio (Hamish Linklater). Claudio has impregnated Julietta (Jennifer Dundas Lowe) and been branded a “fornicator” by Vienna’s stern deputy ruler, Angelo (Thomas again). The punishment for extramarital fornication? Death.

A novice on the brink of taking her vows, Isabella can save her brother’s life--if she sleeps with the blackmailing, lust-addled Angelo. What’s a nun to do? Claudio can’t help but plead for his life and urge his sister to do what it takes. (Hence the snappy “warped slip” comeback.) Isabella declines, but there’s a backup plan engineered by the Duke (Brian Murray), disguised as a friar. He is the man who handed the reins to the corrupt Angelo in the first place.

The Duke remains one of the most morally slippery authority figures in the Shakespearean canon, a weak man in the process of becoming a wiser, stronger one. Recognizing the moral and legal laxity afoot in his city, he doesn’t have the political nerve to do anything about it. So he puts a weasel in charge, hides out and spends the rest of the play essentially winging it--successfully.

In the best sense, those unfamiliar with “Measure” have a hard time predicting where the story will go. Director Hall, staging it for the first time, makes a smooth whole of the material’s wild tonal extremes, without blunting its edges. (There’s some brothel nudity early on, in a scene relocated from “the street,” but I wouldn’t let that prevent anyone from taking Shakespeare-inclined teenagers.)

As established by scenic and costume designer John Gunter, the look of this “Measure” allies itself to the Victorian era, replete with knee-length overcoats and stovepipe hats. At the back of the stage sits a building strongly resembling the U.S. Capitol. We’re meant to take this as a reminder--needless, really--of La Lewinsky and various furtive moralizing lawmakers close to home.

As Isabella, Gunn (excellent in “Hysteria” at the Mark Taper Forum) is strong and fine. Thomas fares best early on, when we’re not yet sure of the character’s moral character. Later, he and Gunn share a terrifically sharp encounter wherein Angelo makes the terms of his proposal brutally clear.

Both performers are astute, though sporadically Thomas and Gunn and others slip into the dreaded “Shakespeare voice”--that creeping-up into a higher, less resonant vocal register when the emotion’s turned on. By contrast, Murray’s eloquent Duke boasts great vocal variety, without turning self-consciously plummy. (The downside with Murray is a tendency to treat every exchange with equal weight and importance.)

These three keep us on track emotionally and textually. So does David Duke, wonderful as the seedy dandy Lucio. As Pompey the pimp, George Dzundza is fun, more so, certainly, than Patti Allison’s overdone Mistress Overdone. In the potentially thankless role of the Provost, Mr. Plot Helper, Charles Janasz adds surprising gravity and wit, as does William H. Bassett’s Escalus.

Hall’s focus on textual and emotional clarity pays off. The central question, as Hall framed it in pre-opening interviews--can we get everyone on stage acting in the same universe?--has been answered in the affirmative.

The “Midsummer” runs about 20 minutes shorter than “Measure,” but feels about 20 minutes longer. Partly it’s a matter of overexposure. “Midsummer” may mirror Bottom the weaver’s dream--it’s bottomless--but this rendition feels dutiful, defiantly traditional.

It’s an Elizabethan depiction all the way. (The men wear padded pumpkin breeches, guaranteed to make anyone look like a dork.) At first you suspect Hall and his designers are fooling with us, setting us up for a shift of some kind. But once we get to the fairy world, ruled by king Oberon (Peter Francis James, very crisply spoken) and queen Titania (Kelly McGillis, in a cream-colored ‘fro and a sour mood), it’s more or less the same, with a little Bowie face-painting thrown in.

Valuable in “Measure,” Murray disappoints here. His Bottom lacks comic poetry or any real surprise. There’s a by-the-numbers feel to the quartet of scrambled young lovers, though Lowe’s Hermia and Linklater’s Lysander show some spark.

I laughed hard once, during the climactic “Pyramus and Thisbe” playlet, when Michael Keenan’s lion rendered his lines inaudible between roars. A completely cheap joke, and an excellent one. Still, at this point in the long, busy stage life of “Midsummer,” some of us wouldn’t mind seeing one of the acts passed up by the Athenian courtiers--the battle with the Centaurs, “sung by an Athenian eunuch to the harp,” for instance.

However hidebound, Hall’s “Midsummer” is nonetheless a better straight-ahead mounting than Adrian Noble’s recent Royal Shakespeare Company revival. If there’s a standout performance, it’s that of lighting designer Richard Pilbrow. His blue-green and silvery riches make the Athenian woods appear somehow fresh. And his ashen palette in “Measure” beautifully heightens a morally complex play and production.

* “Measure for Measure”: June 23-24, 8 p.m.; June 26, 8 p.m.; June 27, 2 p.m.; June 30, 8 p.m.; July 1, 2 p.m.; July 3, 8 p.m.; July 6, 8 p.m.; July 9, 8 p.m.; July 10, 2 p.m.; July 11, 7:30 p.m.; July 13-15, 8 p.m.; July 17, 8 p.m.; July 18, 2 p.m.; July 22-23, 8 p.m.; July 24, 2 p.m.; July 27, 8 p.m. Ends July 27. $15-$52.50. Running time: 3 hours, 10 minutes.

* “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: June 22, 8 p.m.; June 25, 8 p.m.; June 26, 2 p.m.; June 27, 7:30 p.m.; June 29, 8 p.m.; July 1-2, 8 p.m.; July 3-4, 2 p.m.; July 7-8, 8 p.m.; July 10, 8 p.m.; July 11, 2 p.m.; July 15, 2 p.m.; July 16, 8 p.m.; July 17, 2 p.m.; July 20-21, 8 p.m.; July 24, 8 p.m.; July 25, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; July 28, 8 p.m.; July 29, 2 and 8 p.m.; July 30, 8 p.m.; July 31, 2 and 8 p.m.; Aug. 1, 2 p.m. Ends Aug. 1. $15-$52.50. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.

Both shows at Ahmanson Theatre, Music Center of L.A. County, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown. Tickets: (213) 628-2772 or https://www.TaperAhmanson@ctgla.com.

J. Todd Adams, Patti Allison, William H. Bassett, Julia Coffey, Mark Deakins, David Dukes, George Dzundza, Joshua Fardon, Anna Gunn, Peter Francis James, Charles Janasz, Cindy Katz, Michael Keenan, Hamish Linklater, Ian Lithgow, Benjamin Livingston, Jennifer Dundas Lowe, Donald Sage Mackay, David Manis, Gloria Mann, Michael McCarty, Kelly McGillis, Kathryn Meisle, Brian Murray, Ted Rooney, Richard Thomas, John Towey, Maura Vincent, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Stoney Westmoreland, the students of Hobart Boulevard Elementary School: The Company

Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by Peter Hall. Set and costumes by John Gunter. Lighting by Richard Pilbrow. Sound by Jon Gottlieb and Philip G. Allen. Wigs and hair by Carol F. Doran. Music by Guy Woolfenden. Movement by Joann F. Jansen. Production stage manager Mary Michele Miner.