Measure for Measure - a rehearsed reading. by GRADS Theatre Company in Perth, Western Australia

What To Know About This Production

The New Fortune Theatre Project aims to develop a vibrant community of artist practitioners and academics that can begin to more fully realise the New Fortune Theatre as a performance, laboratory and research space.

Free, monthly readings of Shakespeare are staged in the New Fortune Theatre - the only permanent reconstructed Elizabethan venue in the Southern Hemisphere.

Performance Dates

Aug 18 Sunday 7:30 PM

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Auditions For Measure for Measure - a rehearsed reading.

What To Expect At Auditions

Although Measure for Measure is not one of Shakespeare’s most well- known plays, it is considered both timeless and timely. As an actor in the cast, you will have the opportunity to showcase your creative talents as you portray Shakespeare’s morally diverse characters. Some are full of contradictions, double standards and absolute hypocrisy while others are chaste, noble and reflect the Puritanism of Shakespeare’s times. There are also characters who are comedic; softening the corruptness and the malign functions of patriarchy.

Much of the play takes place in a range of closed environments such as prisons, convents, monasteries and city walls. Shakespeare has peopled these spaces with characters inclusive of Dukes ,Lords, executioners, wardens, prisoners, murderers, constables, prostitutes, pimps, brothel keepers along with nuns and friars.

If you think you would like to inhabit one of these diverse characters and join the cast for the staged reading of Measure for Measure, please request an audition slot below.

Performance Date: Sunday 18th August (7.30pm)

Rehearsal dates: Sunday 4th,11th August (2-5pm)

Measure for Measure

Character List

Isabella

The main character, Isabella, is a very virtuous and chaste young woman who faces a difficult decision when her brother is sentenced to death for fornication (i.e., unlawful sex). Isabella does not approve of her brother’s actions at all, but she pleads for his life out of loyalty and sisterly devotion. Isabella is a spiritual person who starts off wanting to become a nun.

The Duke

The other central figure is the Duke, who spends most of his time dressed as a friar in order to observe what is happening in his absence. The Duke is unfailingly virtuous, good, and kind-hearted. He tends to rule a little softly, which is why he enlists Angelo’s help.

Claudio

Isabella’s brother Claudio is a young man sentenced to death for impregnating an unmarried woman named Juliet. He was engaged to her by a common-law agreement, but they had sexual intercourse before the legal marriage took place.

Claudio depends less on the guidance of laws and religious practices than on his sister.

Lord Angelo

Angelo is the villain of the play, a strict judge who rules mercilessly while the Duke is supposed to be out of town on political business. He has his own weaknesses, however, and he is loathsome more for his hypocrisy than for anything else. Despite his claim to moral purity, he presents Isabella with the immoral and unlawful proposition to have sex with him to save her brother’s life.

Escalus

Escalus is a wise judge who advises Angelo to be more merciful. He is loyal to the Duke and seeks to carry out his orders justly, but he cannot go against Angelo’s will.

Lucio

Lucio, described by Shakespeare as a “fantastic,” is a flamboyant bachelor who provides much of the play’s comic relief. He is a friend of Claudio’s and tries to help him.

Mariana

Mariana was supposed to marry Angelo, but he called the wedding off when she lost her dowry in a shipwreck that killed her brother.

Mistress Overdone

Mistress Overdone runs a brothel in Vienna.

Pompey

Pompey is a clown who also works for Mistress Overdone. Like a “fool” in other Shakespearean comedies, Pompey often utters truths that are wiser than he seems to recognize, but which no one else takes seriously.

Provost

The Provost runs the prison and is responsible for carrying out all of Angelo's orders.

Elbow

Elbow is a dim-witted constable who arrests people for misconduct, particularly of the sexual variety. He speaks in malapropisms and provides comic relief throughout the play.

Barnardine

A long-term prisoner in the jail, Barnardine is sentenced to be executed together with Claudio. The Duke originally considers him hopeless and therefore dispensable, but he later changes his mind.

Juliet

Claudio’s lover, who is pregnant with his baby.

Measure For Measure- About the Play

Overview: Measure for Measure is not one of Shakespeare’s most well- known plays but is considered both timeless and timely. The play successfully balances mercy against justice and the powerful against the powerless. It is a play that explores sexual hypocrisy and questions morality at all levels of society. What Shakespeare shows us about sexual misconduct eerily reflects modern day culture. Isabella’s searching question, “Who would believe me?” is a doubt frequently expressed by contemporary victims and the #MeToo movement.

Measure for Measure’s genre has also been difficult to define. Modern critics have labelled it a ‘problem play’ as it wrestles with social problems such as pre-marital sex and prostitution. Other critics have labelled the genre as tragicomedy as both comedy and tragedy weave throughout the play.

Summary: Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure centres on the fate of Claudio, who is arrested by Lord Angelo, the temporary leader of Vienna. Angelo has been left in charge by the Duke, who pretends to leave town but instead dresses as a friar to observe what goes on in his absence. Angelo is strict, moralistic, and unwavering in his decision-making. He decides that there is too much freedom in Vienna, and he takes it upon himself to rid the city of brothels and unlawful sexual activity. Laws against these behaviours and institutions already exist, and Angelo simply decides to enforce them more strictly. Claudio is arrested for impregnating Juliet, his lover, before marriage. Although they were engaged and their sexual intercourse was consensual, Claudio is sentenced to death in order to serve as an example to the other Viennese citizens.

Isabella, Claudio’s sister, is about to enter a nunnery when her brother is arrested. She is unfailingly virtuous, religious, and chaste. When she hears of her brother’s arrest, she goes to Angelo to beg him for mercy. He refuses to relent, but he also suggests there might be some way to change his mind. He propositions her, saying that if she agrees to have sex with him, then he will let Claudio live. Isabella is shocked and immediately refuses. Her brother initially agrees with her decision, but then he changes his mind and asks her to sacrifice herself to save him. Isabella is left to contemplate a very important decision.

Isabella is, in a way, let off the hook when the Duke, dressed as a friar, intervenes. He tells her that Angelo’s former lover, Mariana, was engaged to be married to him, but he abandoned her when she lost her dowry in a shipwreck. The Duke forms a plan by which Isabella will agree to have sex with Angelo, but then Mariana will go in her place. The next morning, Angelo will pardon Claudio, and, according to the very law he’s sworn to enforce, he’ll be forced to marry Mariana.

Everything goes according to plan, except that Angelo does not pardon Claudio, fearing that the prisoner might seek revenge. But the Duke intervenes, arranging for the head of a different prisoner to be sent to Angelo. This substitute head having been delivered to Angelo, he believes that his orders have been carried out. Meanwhile, the Duke tells Isabella that her brother has been executed dead. He then instructs her to submit a complaint to the Duke. He is due to arrive shortly, at which time she must accuse Angelo of committing immoral and unlawful acts.

The Duke returns in his usual clothes, saying that he will hear all grievances immediately. Isabella tells her story, and the Duke pretends not to believe her. Eventually, the Duke reveals his dual identity, and everyone is forced to be honest. Angelo confesses to his misdeeds, Claudio is pardoned, and the Duke asks Isabella to marry him.