The 2025 Shakespeare Festival, now underway at Interlochen’s Upton-Morley Pavilion, is featuring "Measure for Measure." And in this open-air venue, as the sun slips below our stately pines, the gradual dimming of natural light seems to echo the moral ambiguity of the plot.
Any lighting designer knows that the angle and color of light can dramatically affect the appearance of costume fabrics and scenery. This time of year — thanks to our northern latitude and Michigan’s position at the edge of the Eastern Time Zone — sunset comes late.
But as soon as the sun sinks low in the sky, the atmosphere filters the light, allowing more of the red end of the spectrum through. Consequently, at twilight, colors on stage gradually become subdued.
The same thing happens in nature. The blues and greens fade first. Trees, water, and grass grow dark. The intense blues of indigo buntings and bluebirds begin to gray. Even cardinals appear to be a deep, muted burgundy. It seems like camouflage.
But predators active at dusk and in the night don’t rely on color at all. Their eyes have few color receptors, leaving more room for light-sensitive cells. This gives them exceptional night vision.
We humans, on the other hand, lose our ability to distinguish color in dim light. And we certainly don’t see well in the dark. So as the evening unfolds at Interlochen, and the shadows grow deeper, the setting sun becomes more than a backdrop — it’s a subtle metaphor for the play itself.
"Measure for Measure" — one of Shakespeare’s final and most unresolved works — reminds us that truth sometimes remains in twilight.
