I had no knowledge of this play but, by all accounts this was a radical production. Radical not just in the presentation but also the cropping of the text. The aspect of the presentation that will remain most vivid was the engulfment of the stage with blow up sex dolls, denoting the decadent state of the City of Vienna that was the subject of the play.
Classified as a comedy, there was little laughter the night I went. The plot sounds funny but it was presented in a serious manner. The benign Duke of Vienna leaves the city in charge of the more puritanical Angelo who immediately condemns Claudio to death for getting his girlfriend pregnant. Claudio's chaste sister steps out of her nunnery to plead for her brother and is propositioned by Angelo who renders himself thoroughly compromised.
The Duke is witnessing and advising upon events, disguised as a friar and in the end, Claudio is saved, the Duke marries the Novice and Angelo is persuaded to marry Mariana, the woman he dropped when her dowry was lost but who he subsequently had sex with, thinking she was Claudio's sister.
This all sounds confused and the production did well to ensure we weren't. The play is interesting in the subjects that it touches and I found the weighing of Isabella, the nun's virtue against her brother's life particularly thought-provoking. The acting was excellent, particularly Romola Garai and my only criticisms were that the play became quite shouty with everyone bellowing at everyone. I also am beginning to tire of the use of video relay which was employed quite extensively in this production.
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