Measure for Measure is Shakespeare’s darkest comedy, and this production stresses its darkness. At its visual centre, upstage centre, for most of the play, is a scantily clad man, crouching, festooned with chains, in a prison and sentenced to be beheaded in a few hours’ time.

What is his crime? For the sake of the plot, the city ofViennahas a strict law laying down that extra-marital shagging is a death-penalty offence. Clearly, this law has up till now been utterly disregarded. The city’s young people have been bonking happily all over the show and it’s got heaps of whorehouses. Shocking matter.

The ruling Duke, embarrassed by this, and perhaps even more by the whingeing of the city’s moral puritans, has abruptly announced he’s going off an some urgent state business, and appointed one of them, Angelo, to wield his power in his absence. What he actually does is disguise himself as a Friar, and hang around to watch what happens.  

As the Duke, Paul Lyons, vastly experienced, anchors an otherwise young cast, and clearly enjoys his character’s manipulating of others while absolutely unrecognised by them, as a pretend-friar. Except that there’s a ruthlessness and latent cruelty to this Duke. And of course, as Friar, the character does not enjoy having the character Lucio, played here by Cam Dickons, telling tales about the “fantastical Duke of dark corners,” and, as Duke, eventually punishes him, by compelling him to marry a whore.  

Lucio is described in the programme as “a rowdy pimp” which fits with how he is costumed and is played. If he were, rather, a “fantastic” – a rather wild young gent about town – this would be more obviously a dreadful punishment. At any rate, Dickons does the “rowdy pimp” role with gusto. As with all the younger cast members, there is room to work on clear diction.

Liam Robson as Angelo looks good and has obvious, partly-realised, acting potential, yet at certain moments could work on conveying strong emotions without shouting within what is, after all, a relatively small theatre-venue.

Nyah Toomey as Isabella, the sister of the condemned man Claudio, does reasonably well, although she could make more of some marvellous lines, taking them a fraction slower and with more strength of feeling. The same can be said for Michael Dixon, as Claudio.

A couple of male characters are played by young women, with Miriam Dixon poised and articulate as Escalus, and Rasheen Leslie entertainingly cheeky as the brothel-tapster Pompey Bum. Brittney Dicker as the nun Francisca has relatively few words yet makes up for this with eloquent facial expressions, reacting to events.

Adequate are Sam Wyss as the Provost, Katherine Lyons as Mariana and Taryn Feild as Juliet, Claudio’s betrothed, also a musician. Will Eddy doubles as Elbow the Constable and Abhorson the executioner. Alessia Morel is good fun as Mistress Overdone the brothel-madam, and is also responsible for choreography.

There’s some striking no-period costuming, by Sonia’s Silhouette Design and Courtney Davis. The script is cleverly cut, with a few added theatrical jokes, and the action moves along well.

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