Measure for Measure

Tom Patterson Theatre, Toronto

About the Show

Angelo, the Duke of Vienna’s recently appointed deputy, begins a crackdown on public immorality by sentencing Claudio to death for fornication. When Claudio’s sister, the virtuous Isabella, pleads on his behalf, the hypocritical Angelo offers her a chilling bargain: surrender her chastity in return for her brother’s life.

Shakespeare based Measure for Measure on a real event that took place in Italy in 1547. A judge promised a condemned murderer’s wife he would free her husband if she agreed to sleep with him. Apparently she agreed, but he killed her husband anyway. The widow then took her case to the authorities, who forced the judge to marry her but then executed the judge as well.