Video by Art Left Creative

VIENNA, CITY OF SIN 

With rocking dance floors and the hottest DJ in the business, Vienna is the place to be, especially with notorious party animal Duke Vincenzio keeping the music going all night long. However, when the Duke receives a decree declaring that Vienna’s long-forgotten morality laws must now be enforced, he realizes it would be hypocritical of him to crack down on the law now. The Duke flees Vienna, but not before charging the notoriously stuffy Angelo with cleaning up the city in his absence. However, what Angelo and the rest of the city do not know is that the Duke is still in Vienna, disguised as a friar.

Now that he is the ruler of Vienna, Angelo makes an example out of a young man named Claudio, who is sentenced to death for dancing in public with his fiancée Julietta. One of Claudio’s friends, Lucio, learns about Claudio’s fate from two dance hall workers named Mistress Overdone and Pompey, whose lives are also at risk because of Vienna’s newly enforced morality laws. Lucio sets out to tell Claudio’s sister, Isabella, the news. Isabella is preparing to join the convent and become a nun, but after hearing that her brother has been sentenced to death, she agrees to try and convince Angelo to change his mind.

At first, it looks like Angelo will refuse to consider Isabella’s appeal, but he eventually tells her that he will think about it. When Isabella returns the next day, Angelo says that he will spare Claudio’s life—but only if Isabella dances with him. Not only does this go against everything that Isabella believes in, but dancing with Angelo would also break the vow she took when she joined the convent. She refuses Angelo’s offer, even if it means her brother must die. Angelo gives Isabella one day to reconsider his proposal.

Isabella visits Claudio in prison and tells him about her conversation with Angelo. Claudio understands why she has refused Angelo’s offer, but he begs her to reconsider, leaving Isabella with an impossible decision to make. The Duke, still disguised as a friar, overhears their conversation and tells Isabella about a woman named Mariana, who was once set to marry Angelo—and who may just be the key to saving Claudio. Will they succeed in their plan to save Claudio’s life, or will Vienna’s dance floors remain empty for good under Angelo’s tyrannical rule?

Available translations of “The Story”:

Chinese (Traditional)  Farsi  French  Korean  Punjabi  Spanish

To listen to the Measure for Measure “In a Nutshell” Pre-Show plot explainer, read by Bard’s Director of Education, Mary Hartman, press play below! It is approximately 8 minutes long.