THE 'MEASURE' OF A MAN WHO'S COMFORTABLE IN HIS CLOTHES.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

It's back to America for Shakespeare buff Mark Rylance, followed by an exit from the job he has held for nearly a decade.

At the end of 2005, the 45-year-old actor-director will step down from his position as artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the Thames-side London playhouse known for replicating Shakespeare productions as they would have been staged during the playwright's life.

The final months of Rylance's stewardship, however, will be spent not cleaning out an office in London, but across the Atlantic in a tour of Shakespeare's ``Measure for Measure,'' opening this week for a three-week run at UCLA's Freud Playhouse before proceeding to Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York.

Rylance, who has starred in the films ``Angels and Insects'' and ``Intimacy,'' lives in London and doesn't envision performing the works of Shakespeare anywhere except the Globe (where he plans to continue acting after relinquishing his artistic-director title) for the remainder of his career. He does, however, fancy life on the road.

``I love touring,'' says Rylance from Minneapolis, where ``Measure for Measure'' kicked off its tour at the Guthrie Theatre. ``I like being with a group of actors and musicians, and when we're all away from home, we hang out more together. A lot of my old friends who have been seasons (at the Globe) over the years have come on board for this tour. I'm also someone who needs quite a lot of sensation in my life. I like being in a city for a little while and encountering it as a visitor.''

There have been a handful of performers whose lives and careers will be forever linked with William Shakespeare and his works. Sam Wanakmaker, the late American actor who dreamed up the idea for the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, was one. Rylance, who carried the mantle following Wanakmaker's death, is another.

Rylance trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and later became a mainstay of the Royal Shakespeare Company. For the RSC and the Globe, he has played Romeo, Hamlet, Henry V, Cleopatra, Richard II and Prospero in ``The Tempest,'' among others. The chairman of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust, Rylance wrote the forward to Brenda James and William Rubinstein's book, ``The Truth Will Out - Unmasking the Real Shakespeare,'' which claims that Sir Henry Neville is actually the man who wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare.

UCLA theatergoers have seen Rylance before - albeit under wig, heavy makeup and an elegant black dress. His turn as the love-struck countess, Olivia, in the Globe's 2003 tour of ``Twelfth Night'' played a sold-out run at the Freud in 2003. ``Measure for Measure,'' typically considered one of the Bard's darker comedies, opens Wednesday and plays for three weeks.

In ``Measure,'' he'll play Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, who departs his kingdom, leaving leadership to his not-so-trusty deputy, Angelo. Returning in disguise, the Duke sees a kingdom much changed. Angelo, meanwhile, has taken to blackmailing the chaste Isabella into trading sexual favors for her imprisoned brother's life.

Matters reach an upbeat conclusion, but not until after a fair amount of deception and retribution. The Duke's unusual participation in all the mayhem is part of what makes the play so thorny.

``The Duke is one of my favorite characters, and I think he's very close to the skin of the author,'' says Rylance. ``He speaks very directly about the role of theater in society giving people an initiating experience. It's a witty play, too. Shakespeare's wit is very dark, and sometimes maybe people don't realize he's intending it to be funny.''

``With Mark, we found a way through that felt very plausible for the character,'' adds director John Dove. ``Inevitably, when that happens, the problems tend to feel less, and the assets of a play tend to feel more. Mark earths himself very much into the character and goes through it in great detail with you, so that the search line by line is assiduous and detailed in every sense. He's a very unique actor.''

``Original practice'' productions - like the Globe's ``Twelfth Night'' and ``Measure for Measure'' - make use of period-specific costumes, authentic Renaissance music and men playing women's roles. For ``Twelfth Night,'' the Freud stage was converted, allowing audiences to walk past the actors at their dressing stations and take their seats on a smaller configured performance space with all seats on the stage. At ``Measure for Measure,'' audiences can still watch cast members getting into costume half an hour before the performance begins.

``We do take care not to use any Velcro or snappers, and the different layers and how all the clothing is worn and attached with all the pinnings and tying and stuff seems like a nice thing to share,'' says Rylance. ``Sometimes it feels like this wall of reverence for so many people between Shakespeare and themselves. Maybe it comes out of so many of us meeting Shakespeare in our education rather than as a pleasurable experience like going to the cinema.

``I quite like this thing of audience and actors all being in the space before the performance begins,'' he continues. ``It's good for breaking down reverence.''

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

Where: Freud Playhouse, in Macgowan Hall on the UCLA campus, Westwood.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday; through Nov. 26.

Tickets: $42 to $62. [phone].

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Photo:

(color) Mark Rylance plays Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, in Shakespeare's ``Measure for Measure,'' opening Wednesday for a three-week run at the Freud Playhouse.