What the Characters Said: The Charles Marowitz Version

Abstract

With the Marowitz version of Measure for Measure it is not a question of cutting the text, changing locales or rearranging scenes. The play contains the familiar Marowitz elements of collage Shakespeare, a text created out of lines, dialogues and scenes from the original text, freely distributed amongst other characters or perversely delivered by the original character to make ironical or interpretative comments on Shakespeare’s play. But this sort of metamorphosis does not make up all the text. At first we appear to be watching a condensed studio production with little bits of clever director’s business. Escalus was clearly expecting to take over power himself and his subsequent relations with Angelo are strained. A new character, the Bishop, is introduced, another establishment figure preserving the traditional morality which underpins the corrupt legal system. The Bishop is given some of Friar Thomas’s lines and some of the Duke’s when disguised as a Friar. He delivers the ‘Be absolute for death’ speech, administering the last rites to Claudio whilst his sister is in bed with Angelo.