Camille Orquera/Staff Writer
Greed, corruption, sin and forgiveness will soon be on display for FIU Theatre’s new production of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure.”
The play is set in Vienna, Austria and tells the story of Isabella, a young nun, whose brother Claudio has been condemned to die.
Isabella tries to save her brother by speaking with the powerful judge Angelo, who tells her that Claudio will only be saved if she has sex with him.
“Measure for Measure” stars FIU fine arts undergraduate students and is directed by associate professor Michael Yawney.
“I think it’s really a play about what human life is worth,” said Yawney.
He described the play’s central plot as having great importance in today’s age, despite Shakespeare writing the play in the early 1600s.
“Today with the #MeToo movement and our growing awareness of sexual coercion, the play is very timely,” Yawney said.
The main themes of corruption and morality draw a parallel between the play’s setting in Vienna and the current political climate in the United States.
“To me, it feels very much like a play about America. We’re dealing with all of our conflicting ideas about what it means to be an American and what are the values we have as a nation,” Yawney said. “We all disagree about that. Everyone’s trying to create their ideal America.”
Indy Sulleiro, a senior student and scenic designer for the play, explains that the goal of the production team was to not have the set be at a recognizable point in time.
They didn’t want to portray Vienna in the 1600s but rather have an ambiguous setting so audiences could interpret it in multiple ways.
“We didn’t want it to seem like a specific place or moment in time. My research was really based on the play’s themes, more than an actual point in time,” Sulleiro said. “Our main theme was about finding individual freedom.”
Sulleiro mentioned an unlikely source of inspiration for the production’s overall design.
“When people ask what the play is about, I say that certain events or places can be freedom to some but that same thing can be a prison to others,” she said. “If there were any real places that I looked into, it’s prisons.”
While justice and individual freedom are themes seen throughout the play, Shakespeare’s work demonstrates a battle between civil and moral justice within the characters.
Senior student Alicia Cruz, who plays Isabella, describes how she was able to find strength in her character.
“Isabella accesses power through words and ideas and language. She is very smart and is really good at theorizing things and formulating arguments,” said Cruz.
Cruz said how Shakespearean language used in the play helped her unlock the emotions of her character.
“Once you start to get into the language and study it, it’s not unfamiliar…you’re actually feeling what this character is saying,” she said. “It’s a lot bigger than how we speak and act in our world today. When people cry out to the heavens, it’s not ironic.”
Shawn Scarpitta, a senior who plays Angelo, also spoke on how the language within the play helps him translate his emotions to the audience.
“When speaking my lines, I have to make sure the audience also understands what is going on. Even if they can’t understand the language coming into my words, they should at least be able to feel the emotion coming out of it,” said Scarpitta.
Scarpitta also noted the moral battle that his character confronts.
“He’s kind of in a hypocritical pose with morality and lust when he runs into Isabella, who comes to him begging for her brother’s life, because he started enforcing certain rules on morality such as sleeping out of wedlock,” he said.
Scarpitta then went on to explain the difficulty his character has in ruling Vienna and his own personal desire.
“He just wants to prove himself…like everybody he sort of gets caught up in his own sort of greed and selfishness and it just snowballs down into even more problems,” he said. “I think that you can make a lot of comparisons to today’s political environment in the U.S.”
According to Yawney, audience members should feel a little more forgiving after watching the play.
“Ultimately, the play is about the power of forgiveness,” Yawney said.
The show runs at FIU MMC’s Wertheim Performing Arts Center from Jan. 31 to Feb. 16 from 8-10 p.m. Sunday shows will run from 2-4 p.m. There will be no performances on the week of Feb. 3. Cost of admission is $10 for FIU students with ID, $15 for general admission, and $12 for seniors, faculty and staff. Buy tickets at https://carta.fiu.edu/theatre/productions-news/productions/now-playing/.
Photos courtesy of Ivan R. Lopez
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