Measure for Measure

Synopsis: A video recording, using a single, fixed camera, of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 1987 production of Measure for Measure. Directed by Nicholas Hynter with Josette Simon as Isabella and Sean Baker as Angelo.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Recording date: 20 Nov 1987
Duration: 163 mins

General: "Mark Thompson places the action beneath twin pillars, whose imposing gold bases rotate amid the inevitable smoke to reveal cables, chutes and other functional innards, or to form the towers of a seething jail, complete with medical inspections and slopping out. The stiff, tail-coated court gives way to grinning low-lifes, with the postures of inter-war Berlin, braided knickerbockers, caps from Carnaby Street, and modishly utilitarian footware." Jim Hiley, Listener (19 November 1987).
Stills: Stills from, and design notes on, the production are available on the Arts and Humanities Performing Arts Data Service (AHDS) at http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/collections/designing-shakespeare.htm
Reviews: Allam, Roger ‘The Duke in The Merchant of Venice’ in Jackson, Russell & Smallwood, Robert (eds). Players of Shakespeare 3: Further Essays in Shakespearian Performance by Players with the Royal Shakespeare Company. (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp 21-24. Allam speaks of his playing the role of the Duke in Nicholas Hytner’s production. Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare Survey 42 (1990), pp 129-48, esp. 134-5.

Name: Royal Shakespeare Company
Web: https://www.rsc.org.uk External site opens in new window
Address: Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Waterside
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
CV37 6BB

Roger Allam	Vincentio, Duke of Vienna
Sean Baker	Angelo
Josette Simon	Isabella
Hakeem Kae-Kazim	Claudio
Mark Dignam	Escalus
Alan Thompson	Friar Peter
Alex Jennings	Lucio
Bill McGuirk	Justice
Carlton Chance	Gentleman
David Howey	Provost
David Pullan	Froth
Derek Hutchinson	Abhorson
George Raistrick	Elbow
Gordon Case	Barnardine
Jane Whittenshaw	Francesca, a nun
Jane Whittenshaw	Mariana’s companion (Boy, attendant on Mariana)
Janet Amsbury	Mariana
Kate Littlewood	Juliet
Linda Spurrier	Mistress Overdone
Michael Loughnan	Friar Thomas
Phil Daniels	Pompey
Steven Elliott	Angelo’s servant (Servant)

British Universities Film & Video Council