Vienna in the 1920s is the setting for the Royal Shakespeare Company's excellent production of Measure for Measure, directed by Sean Holmes, which can be seen on the main Stratford stage until November 4, 2003. Imbued with this aura of Weimar decadence, the seamy side of Duke Vincentio's city comes strongly to the fore.

The duke has decided to leave the city, ostensibly to visit Poland. He hands over the government of Vienna to the virtuous seeming Angelo, who immediately instigates enforcement of strict laws against sexual misconduct, which have been overlooked for many years past. This comes as a bit of a shock to the more fun-loving Viennese who swiftly end up in prison for their behaviour. In the case of Claudio, a young man who has impregnated his betrothed, Julietta, the punishment is particularly severe as the sentence of death is placed upon him.

His sister Isabella, a novice nun, is brought to Angelo by Claudio's friend Lucio, to plead for her brother's life. Angelo remains as implacable as ever until, prompted by lust for her, he offers to commute the sentence if she will sleep with him. The principled young nun refuses him, that is, until she meets a friar in Claudio's prison who concocts a plan to save her brother and expose Angelo's hypocrisy.

The Friar is in fact the duke in disguise. The scheme is a complex matter of disguise and deception, and, until the final revelatory scene, the duke is the only character who really knows the whole truth of the matter. But it certainly makes for some very dramatic moments as the layers of pretence are peeled away.

There is also some rather good black comedy in the show, particularly from the excellent John Lloyd Fillingham as Lucio, and Ishia Bennison as Mistress Overdone. One warning though, this production does contain full-frontal male nudity, in the form of the convict Barnadine (Bill Nash) baring all, which is also quite funny, if a tad gratuitous.