Review: Shakespeare, sex and sound effects: ‘Measure for Measure’ gets a wild makeover, Canada Reviews

The works of Shakespeare have been adapted, altered and turned on their collective heads for decades. So, when I found myself ready to take in the dark comedy Measure for Measure, performed live in a studio as a radio broadcast, I wasn’t fazed. The catch with adapting Shakespeare is that when actors utter those beautiful words, told well, you could be having a conversation anywhere. The words will out. And if the words don’t sing, no amount of novelty will save you. 

Thankfully, the actors understood this very well indeed. The five gather in the middle of the small studio theatre at Crow’s and perform the Bard’s text as well as you would see at Stratford or any other classical theatre stage. When they were on, whatever props and action on stage melted away as the words, that incredible language, poured through.

Knowing the level of performance allowed one to enjoy the unique nature of the production and made it even more enjoyable.

Let’s back up.

This production was first staged in 2025, to critical acclaim. Crow’s Theatre artistic director Chris Abraham brought the show back for a more fulsome staging this season as a co-production with House + Body. The steady hand at the wheel of this Shakespearean vessel is Christopher Manousos, who is the artistic director of House + Body and the associate artistic director at Crow’s.

The setting of the production is a sound studio. The five characters, four veterans of the live stream broadcast and one last-minute replacement to play the role of Isabella, portray all 20 characters in a live radio stream, in addition to a steamy subplot that percolates throughout.

In the play, Isabella’s brother is sentenced to death, sending her into a battle with a system where power wavers and moral certainty crumbles. Measure for Measure blurs the line between justice and morality, asking whether following the letter of the law is always the right thing to do.

The play has real world implications. One needs just look to America to find a leader who seems willing and able to arbitrarily decide anything and everything he wants with the squiggle of his pen.

The set of the production is a stark white floor surround be a few rows of seating on all four side. Two white tables sit in the middle of the floor topped by all manner of radio ephemera to broadcast and create sounds for the live stream.

It’s a simple staging, and requires much of the actors. As mentioned, this place lives or dies with the performance of its cast. And, I am happy to report that the work put in here is superb.

The star of the show is Beck Lloyd who commands the room as Isabella, and the centre of a little love triangle that plays out amongst the voice actors at the studio.

Her performance was flawless. Her physical acting so compelling.

But, all of the members of this cast were stars: Jamie Cavanagh, Katherine Gauthier, Sébastien Heins and Danté Prince. The ability of this group to take on so many roles, and not just read from radio scripts but perform those roles fully and at a very high level, was something to behold.

The action was fast-paced, there was a lot to take in. At times, it was spread out a bit too wide and I felt like I was watching a tennis match my neck churning from side to side.

The setting, the subplot allowed for some delightful parallels to the text, some bits of comic levity, some clever asides. It all adds up to a very special package.

It makes the text, the bigness of the play more approachable, and that’s a good thing. The lighting, the sound, are fantastic and only adds to the overall enjoyment and provocative nature of this production.

I am a fan of Shakespeare, and I’ve seen enough unique takes that did not work to know this could have gone south. This, however, is the reason why this Bard fella is still so darn popular. The themes are universal, the words are poetry, and when the performances hit, it’s magic. And this, theatre lovers, is what is happening here.