Measure for Measure

Synopsis

In a dark and sinful city, where fear prevails, no one is safe - not even those who have given their lives to God. Isabella is a novice nun, committed to her vows of chastity. Claudio her brother enjoys the company of prostitutes and pleasures of the flesh. In a city where vice is rife, Duke Vincentio has lost control and disappears from public life leaving his cousin Angelo to rule in his place. Angelo begins by reinstating old laws long forgotten...laws that condemn those to death for having sex outside of marriage. It is not long before Claudio is caught. When Claudio summons Isabella to his aid however, Angelo himself is tempted to fall and presents Isabella with an impossible choice; perpetual damnation or her brother's life?

Our Review:

1 July 2004

What a difference a mile down the riverbank makes. Last month, the National Theatre gave us an exceptionally dark Measure, which examined every facet of sexual power and desire.

In this, the last play in its 'star-crossed lovers' season, the Globe's touch is considerably lighter. John Dove's production makes much use of dance, sometimes bizarrely as when Claudio dances in chains and sometimes movingly, as when Isabella accepts the Duke's hand at the end.

One of the key questions in any production of this play is how much of a political intriguer the Duke is. Does he set in motion the course of the events, or is he caught up in the flow? Or is he somewhere in-between? There's no equivocation in Dove's version The Duke is not an arch-manipulator but someone quite retiring. Mark Rylance plays him as a vague, vacillating bumbler: someone, certainly, too weak for the cares of office. It's not too hard to imagine him as someone prepared to abdicat...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (193.118.206.221) - 31 August 2004:

A Travesty. At the talkback a benighted member of the audience said that they hadn't realised Shaspeare was such good fun. It was too much fun for MforM. That Egomaniac Mark Rylance playing the Duke for laughs and milking the audience with more double entendres than exist in "A funny thing happened on the way to the forum" and certainly more than any scholar has found in the tecxt, made my blood boil. The rest of the cast, poor mutts, were superb, if anyone could notice with Rylances capers and contortions....

Read more and add your own review