Whorehouses and nunneries, betrothals and beheadings – welcome to Vienna! His city overrun by vice and corruption, Duke Vincentio announces that he is to travel abroad on a diplomatic mission and appoints the hardline Angelo in his place, while remaining in the city in disguise to keep a curious and watchful eye.
When Angelo sentences the sister of a novice nun, Isabella, to death for a sexual indiscretion, she approaches Angelo to plead for her sister’s life. What follows is a series of shocking revelations, blackmail, sexual scandal and political intrigue. Read more …
Shakespeare’s explosive and prescient drama makes its first appearance at Bard in the Botanics for nearly 15 years in this thrilling new version for just 4 actors in the Kibble Palace glasshouse.
There is a lot of heart, and many inventive scenes, in Barr's lusty production which feels relevant and contemporary.
Contains a quartet of some of the finest performances you're likely to see on a stage for some time.
Both Nicole Cooper as Isabella and Kirk Bage as the Duke – with a powerful Esme Bayley as Claudia, and Adam Donaldson as Angelo – seem more than equal to the challenge, ripping into some of the most powerful and mysterious lines in the whole Shakespeare canon with an intelligence and skill that send shivers down the spine, and makes us long for more Shakespeare, all year round.
Barr’s stark production brings the play’s prescient evocation of a society helpless in the face of despotism and religious dogma into sharp focus while the final focus on the love between the two sisters is an innovation that also feels timely.
This intelligently reduced Measure For Measure is a potent and captivating triumph.
Bard in the Botanics, Glasgow from Thursday July 13, 2017, until Saturday July 29, 2017. More info: http://www.bardinthebotanics.co.uk
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