Measure for Measure

To save her brother's life, a young religious novice with extraordinarily high ideals is asked to sacrifice her soul to appease the lust of an icy hypocrite. “O cunning enemy, that to catch a saint, with saints dost bait thy hook."

Here is a detailed synopsis on Wikipedia. Although it appears in the First Folio as a “comedy,” this is a dark and disturbing play. Check out this film clip for a clue as to its nature.

For those of you who provide parts a scene at a time, this Character Chart shows all the characters' lines in each scene: Measure for Measure

If your group reads the plays straight through in one sitting and you want to divide up the parts, we have a number of “cast” lists already divided up for you. These are text files that you can edit to suit your group. We always recommend in a straight-through read that each participant take a moment beforehand to mark their parts—then everything proceeds so smoothly.

This link is to Majorie Garber's free Harvard lecture on Measure for Measure.

For a series of short articles about a variety of topics related to this play, see this page on the Internet Shakespeare Editions from the University of Victoria.

 

This is an audio recording of the play by professional actors with sound effects: