Measure for Measure William Shakespeare

Film adaptations

• The 1979 BBC version, shot on videotape and directed by Desmond Davis, is generally considered a faithful rendition of the play. Kate Nelligan plays Isabella, Tim Pigott-Smith plays Angelo and Kenneth Colley plays the Duke. It was shown on PBS in the United States, as part of the BBC Television Shakespeare series.
• A 1994 TV adaptation was set in the present day, and starred Tom Wilkinson, Corin Redgrave and Juliet Aubrey.
• In a 2006 version directed by Bob Komar the play is set in the British Army in the present day. It starred Josephine Rogers as Isabella, Daniel Roberts as Angelo, and Simon Phillips as the Duke.[30]
• The 2015 film M4M: Measure for Measure recontextualizes Isabella's character by changing her gender from female to male, making this version the first to incorporate homosexual interactions.[31]
• A 2019 Australian feature film adaptation, directed by Paul Ireland, is set in contemporary Melbourne.

Radio adaptations

• In 2004, BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3 broadcast a production directed by Claire Grove, with Chiwetel Ejiofor as The Duke, Nadine Marshall as Isabella, Anton Lesser as Angelo, Adjoa Andoh as Mariana, Jude Akuwudike as Claudio, Colin McFarlane as The Provost and Claire Benedict as Mistress Overdone.[32]
• On 29 April 2018, BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3 broadcast a new production directed by Gaynor Macfarlane, with Paul Higgins as The Duke, Nicola Ferguson as Isabella, Robert Jack as Angelo, Maureen Beattie as Escalus, Finn den Hertog as Lucio/Froth, Michael Nardone as The Provost, Maggie Service as Mariana, Owen Whitelaw as Claudio/Friar Peter, Sandy Grierson as Pompey and Georgie Glen as Mistress Overdone/Francisca.[33]

Musical adaptations

• The opera Das Liebesverbot (1836) by Richard Wagner with the libretto written by the composer based on Measure for Measure
• The musical Desperate Measures (2004), with book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg and music by David Friedman

In popular culture

• The character of Mariana inspired Tennyson for his poem "Mariana" (1830).[34]
• The plot of the play was taken by Alexander Pushkin in his poetic tale Angelo (1833). Pushkin had begun to translate Shakespeare's play, but arrived at a generally non-dramatic tale with some dialogue scenes.[35]
• Joyce Carol Oates' short story "In the Region of Ice" contains the dialogue between Claudio and his sister, and also parallels the same plea with the student, Allen Weinstein, and his teacher, Sister Irene.
• Bertolt Brecht's play Round Heads and Pointed Heads was originally written as an adaptation of Measure for Measure.[36]
• Thomas Pynchon's early short story "Mortality and Mercy in Vienna" takes its title from a verse in this play and was also inspired by it.
• In Aldous Huxley's novel Eyeless in Gaza Mr Beavis expresses a "tingling warmth" he feels while listening to Mrs Foxe reading the last scene of Measure for Measure.[37]
• The title of Aldous Huxley's 1948 novel Ape and Essence comes from a line spoken by Isabella, act 2 scene 2: "His glassy essence, like an angry ape".[38]
• Lauren Willig's 2011 novel Two L is based on Measure for Measure.