Measure for Measure, Folger Theatre

There's a very interesting casting choice made in Psalmayene 24's  production of Measure for Measure, which opened last night at the Folger Theatre. It's not unrelated to the race conscious casting created for this production, adapted by Mekala Sridhar to take place in the American Deep South of the 1950s, but may be unexpected: Holly Twyford plays Escalus, one of the ruling Lords of Shakespeare's version of Vienna. Lines from Escalus referring to Angelo (Lee Osorio) as "brother" here are played to have the potential for a familial, not only collegial relationship, presenting the audience with a parallel sibling relationship. Folger audiences are very familiar with Twyford's work (and with good reason), so at first glance, her appearance onstage seems like an happy incidence of gender-blind casting that gets more female actors into a play that could use an increased female perspective.

Renea S. Brown as Isabella in Folger Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, directed by Psalmayene 24, onstage at the Folger Shakespeare Library, September 22-November 1, 2026. Photography by Erika Nizborski.

Despite the setting and the casting of Black actors for Isabella (the truly excellent Renea S. Brown), Claudio (JaBen Early), Mariana (Renee Elizabeth Wilson) and Mistress Overdone (Chinai Routté),  and prominent signs of Jim Crow segregation in this Vienna courtesy Debra Booth's scenic design, little directorial attention is paid towards the racial dynamics placed on stage throughout the majority of the action. The production's casting choices has created situations where racism might factor compellingly into the motivations of Shakespeare's characters, but these moments were left as unexplored subtext; tellingly, a sign indicating a segregated waiting room offstage for Black characters had Black actors sitting underneath it at multiple points during the show with no acknowledgement.

But Psalm's placement of Twyford yields dividends in the final scene of the play. Brown as Isabella is truly incandescent in the role, shining with righteousness even as she plays out the complex moves of the final bid for justice against Angelo, holding to a lie designed to draw out the perfidy and abuse of the Duke's chosen stand-in. Twyford stays silent and stands by Angelo, unswayed by Isabella's accusations. Wilson's Mariana appears, adds her voice to the accusations, and again, Escalus is unmoved. Shakespeare doesn't dwell on Escalus' reaction in the text when the accusations are finally verified by the Duke, and indeed, we watch Twyford's horror soon subside as eventually Angelo is all but welcomed back with only a slap on the wrist. By giving this scene a white woman who ignores the voices of Black women, who instead closes ranks with others to protect a white man, and readily moves past her own initial distaste to smooth the way back to business as usual, Psalmayene 24 creates the richest moment in this production's treatment of race and racism. 

The real standout in the production is Renea S. Brown as Isabella, who reluctantly steps up to advocate for her brother and finds herself the unwilling subject of men's desire. Brown plays all the nuance in her situation, where Isabella is continually asked to bend her own strong moral convictions and beliefs and must find the moments where she is willing to yield and where she cannot bend; she's equally adept at portraying the big, externalized emotions of the final scene as she is in the quiet moments after her doomed conversation with Claudio, desperately loving her brother and fighting herself to be able to forgive him. Brown's performance is rich and nuanced as Isabella clings to her own agency; it's a shame that in dealing with the tricky final moments of the play (a famous example of silent female characters during the resolution of their stories in Shakespeare), a new choice feels more imposed than earned for her future. Nevertheless, the journey of Isabella as portrayed by Renea S. Brown is worth the price of admission. It's also worth noting Lee Osorio performance as Angelo, who works well against Brown's innate nobility as he labors trying to justify himself and his actions and convinces no one, including himself.

Lee Osario as Angelo and Renea S. Brown as Isabella in Folger Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, directed by Psalmayene 24, onstage at the Folger Shakespeare Library, September 22-November 1, 2026. Photography by Erika Nizborski.

Measure for Measure is always cited as a problem play, and with reason: its comedic highs (anchored here by the wonderful Ahmad Kamal in a welcome return as another one of Shakespeare's clowns) are a tricky pairing with the dangers and despair of its central conflict. This production navigates those difficulties with a deft hand. I have often wished that directors, when placing a concept onto a Shakespeare play, use a lighter hand and let the play do more of the work. It's an odd sensation to wish that here, Psalmayene 24 had gone just a little further in teasing out what his setting did to the world of the play consistently throughout the evening. What we have is an excellent production of a complicated play; I just think there's an even better one we could have gotten with this team if some elements were a little less subtle, a little more played on the surface. Trust the text, I often plead to directors. Psalm's work with the text and the story it tells is excellent; it's only the elements added onto the text that feel out of alignment and underutilized by the concluding moments. Still, an excellent production shouldn't be held captive by the imagined one, and this Measure is worth taking.