Gents Can’t Measure
Synopsis
Freedoms can splinter until they crack—unless vigilantly protected by the people. Heretofore, the contemporary Viennese enjoyed freedoms that were assumed in many countries, yet remained a luxury in much of the world. In 2025, they are soon to remember the prick of thwarted freedoms. Their leader, the Duke, is displeased with the current state of Viennese society. He cannot tolerate the jolts of political unrest and believes his leniency caused all the disruption. The Duke informs Chief of Staff Isabella that there is going to be a sudden change of governance; he is appointing Angelo, a chief whip in his government known for his zealous allegiance to propriety and rigid morals, to step in as his deputy for an unforeseen period of time. Isabella will be his second in command.
In the suburbs of Vienna, the aftershocks of this decision are not yet felt. Laughter, music, and the occasional bar fight can be heard from the loud and bodacious Mistress Overdone, the most popular bar in the suburbs of Vienna. It is the frequent home of bachelors Proteus and Valentine, Lucetta the bar owner and Julia, Lucetta’s best friend and Proteus’ new girlfriend.
Angelo makes his first critical decision in government without delay. He reinstates a forgotten law against fornication and has his first victim, Claudio, arrested and sentenced to death for impregnating his fiancée, Juliet. An inundation of verbz from social media app Verbatym, meant for sharing short notes anonymously, flood the internet reacting to Angelo’s new role and Claudio’s arrest. What’s more, Claudio is the brother of Isabella, Angelo’s current Chief of Staff. Isabella decides, despite her fears and doubts, to confront him on the matter and fight for her brother’s pardon.
Thanks to his father’s connections, Proteus manages to secure a job in the same department as Valentine. He leaves Julia a ring symbolizing his commitment to her. However, upon arrival in Vienna, Proteus walks right into a love triangle when he falls head over heels for Sylvia, Valentine’s new girlfriend and the Daughter of the Head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He promises to take extreme action to get what he desires. Meanwhile, Julia desperately plots with Lucetta to follow Proteus to Vienna in disguise.
Isabella’s desperate plot to save her brother’s life is in vain. Angelo is tightening his grip on control, and presents the most disturbing and impossible solution to Isabella. When she threatens to expose him for his hypocrisy, he reminds her it's her word against his—and with his spotless reputation, his word carries the weight. Isabella is stuck in a seemingly endless mental battle between her autonomy and her brother’s life.
The world is curdling. Even the most unassuming of civilians are affected by the changes the Angelonian government is making. Public affairs are infiltrating personal matters. As they continue to fight for and pursue their friends, lovers, and dreams, the outside world seeps in and tangles their personal relationships. They can no longer ignore how their world is changing and a new sense of individual agency and public responsibility is setting in. How will they preserve their freedoms in the flurry of anonymous opinions and their zealot of a new ruler?
Why These Plays?
What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.
— "King Lear", Act I Scene i
Gents Can’t Measure is a reimagining of the worlds of Two Gentleman of Verona and Measure for Measure, set in present day Vienna. We have interwoven the plotlines and adapted aspects of both as we have found that both plays reveal unexpected parallels, and in their union emerge new questions and conclusions that are relevant and resonant in our current sociopolitical climate. Gents Can’t Measure provides an opportunity to see these plays in a new light, and raises crucial questions about the world we are creating in 2025.
We were initially drawn to these plays because of the complexities and contradictions in their plotlines, and specifically how Shakespeare chooses to “resolve” these at the end of each play. The original plays conclude with marriage proposals that force the women characters to concede their initial wishes and desires and disturbingly fall silent in the face of their new fates. Modern adaptations of these plays have grappled with these endings in different ways. In Gents Can’t Measure, we dared to imagine a scenario where none of these concessions existed, and in doing so, asked the question: what happens if the women do not concede? Upon removing these concessions and altering the marriage-resolution endings, we found that this unraveled key plot points and central aspects of the plays, providing an opportunity to see these plays in a new way, with questions and reflections that ring more true in 2025.
With our current climate on a national and global scale, especially post-US election, we find ourselves identifying more than ever with the people of Vienna in Measure for Measure, subjected to Angelo’s authoritarian rule who misuses his power, weaponizes morality, and restricts personal freedoms. In our reimagining, we have included social media as a significant part of the story, highlighting the key role it has played in mobilizing social and political change, both good and bad. In particular, we have represented the dangers of social media’s loose parameters and algorithmic reinforcement, which encourages a dissemination of misinformation and rewards material that is extremist and reactive. Conservative, far-right politicians have taken advantage of these aspects to gain popularity and advance their causes. In the world of Gents Can’t Measure, we have created the social media platform Verbatym as a placeholder for platforms like X and Trump’s Truth Social. We see our characters attempt to navigate a world of political extremes and media saturation; and when public affairs seep in and tangle their personal relationships, they must confront the ways their world is changing. In Gents Can’t Measure, the refusal of silence on the part of our once hushed characters emphasizes the necessity of speaking out in the face of injustice and adversity.
Archive of our first staged reading
October 7th 2023 - The Tank, NYC
