“Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.”

Vienna is decaying. The streets are littered with drugs and prostitutes. The threat of violence shrouds the city and The Duke has lost all control. He recedes control to his deputy, the puritanical Angelo, and fades into the crowd disguised as a lowly Friar. What he witnesses as the weeks progress is an authoritarian lockdown as violent new laws are implemented; brothels are closed and innocents are persecuted and locked up.

Shakespeare’s morally ambiguous drama poses questions on morals, sexuality and the tragic impact authority can have on the individual.