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Measure
for Measure
by William Shakespeare
Performed
at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre,
Stratford-upon-Avon
Opened on 5th November 1987
Transferred to the Barbican Theatre,
London
Opened in 6th October 1988
The
Royal Shakespeare Company
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Pictures
from Measure for Measure
(please click on each picture for
a larger version)
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| Roger
Allam as Vincentio with Josette Simon
as Isabella |
Josette
Simon as Isabella and Roger Allam as Vincentio |
Roger
Allam as Vincentio with Hakeem Kae-Kazim
as Claudio |
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Roger
Allam as Vincentio
and Josette Simon as Isabella |
Roger
Allam as Vincentio
and Mark Dignam as Escalus |
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| CAST: |
| Vincentio,
the Duke |
Roger
Allam |
| Escalus |
Mark
Dignam |
| Angelo |
John
Shrapnel |
| Lucio |
Alex
Jennings |
| Gentleman |
Carlton
Chance |
| Mistress
Overdone |
Linda
Spurrier |
| Pompey |
Phil
Daniels |
| Provost |
David
Howey |
| Claudio |
Hakeem
Kae-Kazim |
| Juliet |
Kate
Littlewood |
| Friar
Thomas |
Michael
Loughnan |
| Isabella |
Josette
Simon |
| Francisca |
Franchine
Mulrooney |
| Justice |
Bill
McGuirk |
| Elbow |
George
Raistrick |
| Froth |
David
Pullan |
| Angelo's
Servant |
Patrick
Cremin |
| Mariana |
Janet
Amsbury |
| Mariana's
Companion |
Franchine
Mulrooney |
| Abhorson |
Derek
Hutchinson |
| Barnardine |
Gordon
Case |
| Friar
Peter |
Michael
Loughnan |
| Other
parts played by |
Richard
Doubleday, Richard Leaf,
Gary Powell, Evan Russell,
Naomi Wirthner and other members of the cast |
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| TECHNICAL
TEAM: |
| Directed
by |
Nicholas
Hytner |
| Designed
by |
Mark
Thompson |
| Lighting
by |
Mark
Henderson |
| Music
by |
Jeremy
Sams |
| Sound
by |
John
A Leonard |
| Company
Voice Work by |
Cicely
Berry & Patsy Rodenburg |
| Music
Director |
Peter
Washtell |
| Assistant
Director |
Nick
Mahon |
| Stage
Manager |
Richard
Oriel |
| Deputy
Stage Manager |
Eric
Lumsden |
| Assistant
Stage Manager |
Neil
Constable |
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| The
Story |
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| Vincentio,
the Duke of Vienna, decides to absent himself
from the city and leaves his deputy, Angelo,
to govern in his stead. Angelo resolves to
revive the strict laws against sexual immorality
which have been allowed to fall into disuse.
Under these laws Claudio, a young gentleman,
is sentenced to death for having got his fiancée,
Juliet, pregnant before their marriage. His
sister Isabella, who is about to enter a holy
order, is urged by Lucio, Claudio's friend,
to intercede with Angelo and pleased for her
brother's life. Angelo agrees to free Claudio
if Isabella will yield him her virginity.
She refuses, and tells her brother that, to
keep her honour, he must die.
The
Duke has remained in Vienna and, disguised
as a friar, observes Angelo's rule. He
persuades Isabella to pretend to accept
Angelo's offer but then outwits him by
arranging for her place to be taken by
Mariana, the fiancée Angelo has deserted.
In spite of his promise, Angelo treacherously
pursues his plan to have Claudio executed
but his plot is foiled by the Duke.
Casting
off his disguise, the Duke stages a return
to Vienna and Angelo's crimes are revealed.
The Duke marries him to Mariana, sentences
Lucio to marry a whore, and offers himself
in marriage to Isabella. |
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| Date
and Sources |
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| The Revels
Accounts list 'Mesur for Mesur' by 'Shaxberd'
as having been performed before King James
I on 26 December 1604. Topical references
in the text suggest that it could have been
written some six months before this, perhaps
between April and May of 1604. The playhouses,
which like the brothels and inns on London's
South Bank had been shut down because of the
plague throughout 1603, were re-opened in
April 1604 and it is likely that Measure
for Measure was presented at the opening
of the Globe before its performance at court.
Some slight confusions in the text, which
was not published until the folio of 1623,
indicate that it is a revised version of a
play performed earlier and then re-worked
specially for presentation before the King.
The chief element
of the plot, that of a woman being forced
to surrender her chastity to a corrupt
ruler in exchange for a condemned man's
life, is a familiar theme in Western literature
and may have been taken from an actual
incident which occurred in Milan in 1540's.
Shakespeare's immediate source was probably
an early Elizabethan play by George Whetstone,
Promos and Cassandra (1578), but
he may also have know Whetstone's own
source works, the Italian Giraldi Cinthio's
Hecatommithi (1565) and Cinthio's
own dramatisation of it, Epitia,
published in 1583. In all the pre-Shakespearean
versions, the Isabella character succumbs
to the judge's demands but in the end
forgives and marries him. The characters
of Mariana and the Duke are Shakespeare's
own interpolations, the Mariana-device
appearing again in All's Well That
Ends Well. |
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