Isabella: An Eternal Badass An Actor’s Exploration on Healing, Forgiveness, and Learning to Embrace the Messiness through Isabella in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure PDF Free Download
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports
2024
Isabella: An Eternal Badass An Actor’s Exploration on Healing, Isabella: An Eternal Badass An Actor’s Exploration on Healing,
Forgiveness, and Learning to Embrace the Messiness through Forgiveness, and Learning to Embrace the Messiness through
Isabella in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure Isabella in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
Shelby E. Garrett
West Virginia University
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Learning to Embrace the Messiness through Isabella in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure"
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Isabella: An Eternal Badass
An Actor’s Exploration on Healing, Forgiveness, and Learning to Embrace the Messiness
through Isabella in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
Shelby E. Garrett
Thesis submitted
to the College of Creative Arts
at West Virginia University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Fine Arts
in Acting
Radhica Ganapathy, Ph.D., Chair
Brianne Taylor, M.F.A.
Jerry McGonigle, M.F.A.
School of Theatre and Dance
Morgantown, West Virginia 2024
Keywords: Isabella, William Shakespeare, character development, nuns, Measure for
Measure, Meisner, Yoga, Chakras, Fitzmaurice Voicework
Copyright 2024 Shelby Garrett
ABSTRACT
Isabella: An Eternal Badass
An Actor’s Exploration on Healing, Forgiveness, and Learning to Embrace the Messiness
through Isabella in William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure
Shelby E. Garrett
“Being an artist means forever healing your own wounds and at the same time endlessly
exposing them.”
-Annette Messager
This thesis not only delves into the acting methods used to portray Shakespeare's Isabella
in West Virginia University's spring 2023 production of Measure for Measure, but also examines
the innovative approach of interpreting the character through the perspective of an older actor. It
will examine acting techniques such as Meisner, Fitzmaurice Voicework®, yoga, and chakra
work, detailing their influence on character development. From audition to performance, this
document will track my journey, capturing personal insights through journal entries, sound bites,
and images that helped in shaping a more mature Isabella. Additionally, it explores how actors
navigate personal challenges during character exploration, emphasizing the importance of
emotional safety and balance both on and off the stage.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
“I act and react, and suddenly I wonder, ‘Where is the girl that I was last year? Two years ago? What
would she think of me now?’” -Sylvia Plath
First and foremost, my endless gratitude to my committee extraordinaire: Dr. Radhica Ganapathy,
Professor Brianne Taylor, and Professor Jerry McGonigle. Radhica, thank you for your guidance,
patience, and wisdom not only with this thesis, but throughout my time at WVU. You have been like a
second mother to me, always offering a comforting chat and someone to bounce ideas off. You are an
inspiration for the type of scholar I hope to be one day. Brianne, I’m so happy our paths crossed. You
taught me so much about being a badass woman, guiding me, and teaching me the ways of the ever-
fabulous Fitzmaurice Voicework®. Thank you for helping me find my voice. Jerry, I thank my lucky
stars to have had you as a professor. You taught me the importance of connecting with people on and off
the stage, as well as getting back to the basics. I can’t thank you enough for guiding my class through the
fire and believing so deeply in our art. Thank you.
My professors and mentors at West Virginia University, including Professor Lee Blair, Professor Jessica
Morgan, Professor Ryan Scoble, Professor Cathy O’Dell, and the rest of the faculty and staff: my deepest
appreciation for these last three years. You made me remember the joy that comes from being a student, a
teacher, and an actor again. I am a stronger actor and educator because of the endless work and effort you
show your students. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My fellow Graduate Cohort, 8-Pack: Whoa. That was crazy. I feel so lucky to have shared these last three
years with you. You have pushed me as an artist and as a human and made me better. Thank you for the
constant support, laughs, late night hangs, and nerdy theatre chats. Your love, support, and overall
goofiness brought me back to myself. We're almost there!
Thank you to my beautiful and inspiring friends, near and far, who keep me laughing and grounded.
Thank you for your patience, your check-ins, and for being some of my most favorite artists and humans
around.
And finally, to my family, especially my biggest support system: Mom, Dad, and Joshua. There will
never be enough Thank You's for your endless support, love, and wisdom. You always push me to be the
greatest person and artist I could possibly be. I would be nowhere without you. Mom and Dad, thank you
for instilling in Josh and me to always invest in ourselves, especially when it comes to our education. You
are the best parents, and we are so lucky to have you both as role models. Momma, the strength and open
heart I found in Isabella is inspired by you. You are the epidemy of a badass and I am forever grateful,
thankful, and inspired by you. Dad, thank you for being my constant Shakespearean companion and tech
savvy savior when my computer crashed in the middle of writing this monster. You are the best poppa,
teacher, and top inspiration in the biz. Joshua, my ride or die, my baby bro: You inspire me every day and
I am so proud to be your big sis.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………….…………iv
TABLE OF FIGURES...................................................................................................................v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 2: HISTORY..............................................................................................................5
THE QUEEN’S RELIGION.................................................................................................................5
THE HISTORY OF MEASURE FOR MEASURE..........................................................................7
ELIZABETHAN NUNS................................................................................................................................11
THE PRICE OF SEX.........................................................................................................................14
PAST PRODUCTIONS.....................................................................................................................15
CHAPTER 3: TEXT ANALYSIS..............................................................................................17
2/13/23: Act I run (first day off-book) ……………….………………………….……………18
Act I: “I AM THAT ISABELLA…” ………………….……………………………………….19
ACT II: WOMEN? HELP HEAVEN!” …………………………………………………….….21
2/2/23: Charlie and I working with Professor McGonigle……………….………………………24
ACT III: “WHAT SAYS MY BROTHER?” ……………………………………………………27
ACT IV: “REMEMBER NOW MY BROTHER.” ………………………………………………30
ACT V: “JUSTICE, JUSTICE, JUSTICE, JUSTICE” ……………….…………………………..32
CHAPTER 4: PRODUCTION PROCESS................................................................................36
CALLBACKS...................................................................................................................................37
TABLE WORK................................................................................................................................40
REHEARSALS.................................................................................................................................42
LIVING IN THE WORLD……………………………………………………...…………………...………44
2/13/23: Act I run (first day off-book) ………………………………………….…………………...…….47
2/15/23: Claudio and Isabella jail scene………………………………………………………….……….48
2/16/23: Act V: Forgiveness………………………………………………………………………………..51
2/27/23: Full run………………………………………………………………………...…………………53
v
2/20/23: Designer run…………………………………………………………………….………………..54
CHAPTER 5: EMBODYING THE CHARACTER.................................................................55
INSPIRATIONAL IMAGES..............................................................................................................56
INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC................................................................................................................62
APPLYING BODY & BREATH TO ISABELLA ...............................................................................66
THE CHAKRAS………………...…………………………………….……………...……………67
THE APPLICATAION OF FITZMAURICE VOICEWORK®…………………………………..……….72
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION...................................................................................................75
SELECT JOURNAL ENTRIES..........................................................................................................75
3/9/23: Opening Night!!.............................................................................................................................75
3/10/23: Night 2: Night before Spring Break…………………………..………………………………….76
Spring Break thoughts…………………………………...…………………………………………………77
3/22/23: Show 3……………………………………………….……………………………………………77
A CONVERSATION WITH DIRECTOR, PROFESSOR JERRY MCGONIGLE..................................79
FINAL THOUGHTS.........................................................................................................................82
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………..……………..84
vi
TABLE OF FIGURES
Fig. 1: Davis, Frederick William. Measure for Measure, Act V, Scene 1, Isabella Appealing to
the Duke. 1907. Oil on canvas. Royal Shakespeare Company Collection,
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/measure-for-measure-act-v-scene-1-isabella-
appealing-to-the-duke-54894. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.......................................................7
Fig. 2: A Map of Shakespeare’s Plays. McDowell, George. “A Map of Shakespeare’s Plays.”
Pinterest, 20 Mar. 2022, www.pinterest.com/pin/maps-on-the-web--
358176976624734528. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024..................................................................9
Fig. 3: Pedersen, Gunnar Bach, and Gunnar Bach Pedersen. Poor Clares. World History
Encyclopedia, www.worldhistory.org/image/15592/poor-clares. Accessed 29 Mar.
2024....................................................................................................................................10
Fig. 4: Title page of Measure for Measure. Shakespeare’s First Folio from the Arthur Dayton
Shakespeare collection gifted to West Virginia University’s West Virginia and Regional
History Center Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.............................................................................17
Fig. 5: A sample script breakdown Act 2.2 in Measure for Measure script. Accessed 29
Mar. 2024……………………………………………………………...…………………21
Fig. 6: Malecki, David. Charlie Meeks as Angelo and Shelby Garrett as Isabella in Measure for
Measure. West Virginia University. Accessed 29 Mar.2024............................................45
Fig. 7: Malecki, David. Shelby Garrett as Isabella in Measure for Measure. West Virginia
University. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024...................................................................................47
Fig. 8: Shelby Garrett and Victoria Clark. Wright State University, 2007. Accessed 29 Mar.
2024....................................................................................................................................57
Fig. 9: Topham, Frank W.W. Isabella, character in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. 16 July
1888. Sand-grain photogravure. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington Limited.
[Isabella, character in Shakespeare's Measure for measure] (folger.edu). Accessed 29
Mar. 2024...........................................................................................................................58
Fig. 10: Hamilton, After William. Isabella and Angelo, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Act
2, Scene 2. 1794. Print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/392558. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024……….….59
Fig. 11: Rhead, Louis. Measure for Measure, Hear me, Isabel, Said the Agonized Claudio. 1918.
Pen and ink. Lamb’s Tales. Luna.folger.edu. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.............................60
Fig. 12: QR Code for Inspirational Images....................................................................................61
Fig. 13: Excerpt from rehearsal journal………………………………………………………….73
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Chapter 1: Introduction
“Crying releases stress hormones. Swearing increases pain tolerance. Anger motivates
us to solve problems. Silence and smiles aren’t the only way to respond to pain. Sometimes it
is good to howl.”
-Matt Haig, The Comfort Book
Some of the best advice I received during my undergraduate career was to take some
time before going back to graduate school. My acting mentor at Wright State University,
Professor Bruce Cromer suggested that I “go out and live as an actor”, gaining life experiences
before heading back for a terminal degree. To this day, I consider that bit of advice one of the
best things I received as a young actor.
I always knew that I wanted to go back to school. Graduate school was a marker in my
life that I knew I would “one day” get to. After graduating with an acting degree in 2008, I was
fortunate enough to work, live and be a “real starving artist” in some of the biggest cities for
young and inspiring actors. For 15 years, I lived that starving artist lifestyle, balancing out
auditions and the classic day job that was fearfully placed in every young artist’s head. But
during a global pandemic I, as well as many other artists, were forced to take a pause from the
creatively fulfilling life that we created for ourselves. The pandemic literally paused
everything in my life, which in turn, forced me to look inward at the next chapter. What better
time than a global pandemic to audition for graduate schools! Suddenly, the “one day” of
graduate school quickly became a reality. After two days of online auditions for literally
hundreds of schools and companies, West Virginia University, a school that my parents met at
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and graduated from, a school that was in my home state, invited me to be a part of their next
graduate class.
In my first semester of grad school, my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This
major life event changed everything in my family’s life within the blink of an eye. Around the
beginning of my second year, my long-term relationship ended, altering my personal life again.
Navigating these major life events, at the time, seemed impossible. I was fragile and broken, as
anyone would be. However, I now look back on these major life events and am grateful that they
happened while studying my craft. I was able to take the extreme pain of both my father and
breakup and find a way to navigate that grief at a distance before tackling them through Isabella.
Without the support of my teachers, my classmates, and the roles I got to play, one of them being
Isabella, I do not think I would have been able to heal successfully and healthily. I did not know
it at the time, but playing Isabella helped me heal through both major life moments. Isabella’s
strength and unlimited determination allowed me to explore the different avenues of pain, love,
and forgiveness for my own life. Going through these incredibly tough adult moments gave me
new life experiences to connect to. With the support of my incredible teachers, I was able to dive
deep into my own pain and express it through Isabella’s experience. With all, though, I am still a
firm believer in keeping oneself slightly separated from the roles we play onstage. There should
be a transparent veil between who we are and who we play onstage; however, finding those
shared moments that you and your character have can ultimately bring you closer to yourself. If
anything, as scary and as challenging as Isabella was to play, she helped me lean into those dark,
painful, human moments that I was going through myself. Finding the similarities with her and
myself helped me grieve and heal my own real-life moments.
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As actors our bodies, our voices, and our experiences are our instruments. I have
always heard this phrase before but never fully understood it until stepping into grad school,
specifically the voice classes that were offered. Since my undergraduate training, finding ways
to incorporate yoga, the Alexander technique and any other type of movement has helped me
not only warm- up, but find a way to connect deeper to my characters. Being introduced to
Fitzmaurice Voicework®, specifically, taught me new ways of opening myself up physically,
emotionally, and mentally through this show. It is easy to get caught up in the mental aspect of
any show and I found myself struggling to “get out of my head” and stay in the moment. I had
difficulty wanting to recreate moments from the previous nights. My actor brain thought,
“Wow, last night’s emotional scene with Claudio felt so good and connected. How can I do
that exact same thing tonight?” I do not know if it is because it is a Shakespeare show and I put
pressure on myself to want to be “right”, but this mindset was beginning to get in the way. I
needed to find a way to get out of my head and bring the character into my body while making
it fresh and new. After many conversations with our voice and Fitzmaurice instructor,
Professor Brianne Taylor, I was able to access my movement training through yoga and the
Fitzmaurice pedagogy which helped leave the headiness of the text and tap into the heart and
soul of Isabella. Was it perfect every night? No. Did I do the classic actor thing of thinking,
“Wow, I wish I would have done that differently tonight?” Yes. But at the end of the day, I
found that the process of incorporating my love for movement helped guide me through
playing Isabella each night. I was also able to explore using my own adult life experiences in a
safe and healing way, too. With the movement guidance of Professor Taylor and the simple,
yet clear and concise direction of Professor Gerald McGonigle, I was able to tap into the pain I
was experiencing with my father and my break-up and lean into Isabella and her struggles.
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Being able to incorporate the tools I had gained thus far in my graduate school career
and heal as Isabella was a powerful lesson I learned with Measure for Measure. And Isabella
and I were not complete strangers. We briefly met when I was in undergrad back in 2007 but
because I was still young and had not yet experienced those fabulous, terrifying, and sometimes
painful adult moments, I did not quite understand her. Her strength and pain seemed artificial
and something that she could easily fix by just giving into Angelo. This time though, fifteen
years after meeting her, I was able to come back to Isabella with greater life experience. Playing
Isabella started to make me ask the universal question of how do we, as storytellers, take our
own life experiences and safely tap into those real human moments without completely erasing
the divide between the actor and the character. The main part of this thesis will delve into the
different acting techniques I learned not only from my time as a graduate student at WVU, but
also from my undergraduate career to the professional world, too. It was important for me to not
numb what I was feeling in my day-to-day life, but to use those experiences as a teaching
moment, a moment for me to live truthfully as Isabella.
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Chapter 2: History
“You ask me what the most important thing in the world is, and I will say religion.
And if you ask me what the second most important thing in the world is, I’ll say religion. And
the third most important thing, I’ll say religion.”
- the Speaker of the House in England, 1601
Like any role, part of the preparation for this role was learning the history of not only
Measure for Measure, but the influences Shakespeare took from the world around him, as
well as the strict religious rules for nuns and the convent during this time. Surprisingly,
religion seemed to have more rules and regulations throughout London which helped shape
the story of Measure for Measure and Isabella’s character in an authentic and effective way.
The Queen’s Religion
Shakespeare was born during the beginning of Queen Elizabeth I’s reign in 1564.
Throughout his lifetime, religion within the English society changed multiple times from
Protestant to Catholic. Though Shakespeare’s time was a period of religious turmoil, Elizabeth
fought to keep the Protestant religion alive. Unlike her successors, she was believed to have
been a more “relaxed” Protestant, lessening execution to fewer than 200 people throughout her
reign and even staying with Catholic families during her trips around the country, “so long as
their devotion to her as a monarch was not in doubt” (Bryson 28). Elizabeth took her religious
role as Queen very seriously. During this time in England, it was against the law to question
the Queen’s religious beliefs and the power she brought to her country. For example, the 1558
Recusancy Act was in effect to punish those who refused to attend their local Catholic church
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services. Such punishments for refusal ranged from monetary fines to imprisonment. Because
of the Recusancy Act, Elizabeth enjoyed her power of punishment for anyone who went
against the monarch, freely imprisoning anyone who displeased her. Many of Shakespeare’s
plays are built around Elizabeth’s royal succession—even though he was never arrested for his
work. His audiences were familiar with the Bible and Christianity which meant that he was
able to take inspiration for what was happening around him and express those beliefs in his
work. To this day, scholars are still debating Shakespeare’s religion. Because he grew up
during Elizabeth’s religious reign, there is debate that “will argue that Shakespeare’s personal
faith and religious affiliations are hidden beyond detection within his work and that this
religious ambiguity leads not only to both Catholic and Protestant claims on his personal
convictions but also to a more revealing and compelling secular possibility” (Shakespeare and
Religion: The Personal Conviction and Secular Identity of Shakespeare | Tucaksegee Valley
Historical Review). Shakespearean scholar Stanley Wells states that “whatever his personal
beliefs, Shakespeare is in the most important sense of the word a religious writer: not a
proponent of any particular religion, but a writer who is aware, and makes his spectators
aware, of the mystery of things” (David Scott Kastan, A Will to Believe: Shakespeare and
Religion). Whatever his religion though, he was able to take the religious struggle between
Catholics and Protestants and incorporate it into his plays like Measure for Measure.
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Fig. 1: Davis, Frederick William. Measure for Measure, Act V, Scene 1, Isabella Appealing to the Duke. Oil on
Canvas. 1907. Royal Shakespeare Company Collection.
The History of Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is believed to have been written between 1603-1604, around the
same time that Shakespeare and the Globe produced Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Twelfth Night,
Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Anthony and Cleopatra. Bill Bryson, author of Shakespeare:
The World as Stage, exclaims that “No theatre, perhaps no human enterprise, has seen more
glory in only a decade or so than the Globe during its first manifestation” (126).
Shakespeare was at the height of his career, knocking out play after play, not only as
playwright, but as director and actor as well. Imagine being a fly on the wall during this
incredible time of theatre! Out of all his plays, though, Measure for Measure is famously
known as one of Shakespeare’s ‘problem plays’. Some Shakespearean scholars like Harold
Bloom believe this play can be regarded as Shakespeare’s “farewell to comedy” (Bloom 358).
The play shines a light on Good vs. Evil and Justice vs. Mercy through the eyes of religious and
political powers. Measure for Measure is seen as one of Shakespeare’s famous problem plays
“because it does not seem to fit easily into the category of comedy or tragedy and because its
ending is unsettling” (“Measure for Measure”, American Shakespeare Center). To this day,
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Measure for Measure asks the difficult universal questions that our society still deals with.
Issues with “sex and sin, justice and mercy, religion and society, law and order, good and bad”
are at the forefront and what makes the play relevant today (American Shakespeare Center).
This play famously ends with confusion and turmoil for many of the characters, leaving the
audience to question their own beliefs in what is morally right and wrong. Some argue that the
play is seen as a “tragicomedy”, purposefully combining tragic developments with a comedic
resolution, which in turn, emphasizes the play’s symbolic significance of religion and the
justice system during Shakespeare’s time.
The play's title is derived from the Gospel of Matthew 7:1-2: "Judge not, that ye be not
judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured to you again." This biblical passage also coincides with Aristotle’s view of
poetic justice in his Poetics, stating that “evil characters are punished or brought to justice for
their actions and good characters are rewarded”. This passage emphasizes the idea of not
passing judgment on others, as one's own actions and judgments will be subjected to the same
standards, something that Angelo, The Duke and Isabella all seem to grapple with throughout
the play. Measure for Measure explores themes of justice, mercy, morality, and the
consequences of human actions. The characters in the play often struggle with questions of
moral righteousness, the appropriate balance between strict adherence to the law, and the
exercise of compassion. This lesson was commonly used during church sermons during
Shakespeare’s day. In Luke and Matthew, the lessons of “measure for measure” are closely
linked to Christ’s message of forgiveness, proclaiming that “for only by practicing mercy can
one expect to receive it”, the final lesson that Isabella dynamically preaches toward Angelo at
the end of the play:
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ISABELLA. Look, if it please you, on this man condemned
As if my brother lived. I partly think
A due sincerity governed his deeds
Till he did look on me. Since it is so,
Let him not die...
His act did not o’ertake his bad intent,
And must be buried as an intent
That perished by the way. (5.1.509-518)
There are many Christian scholars who have researched the show, arguing that
Measure for Measure is an “august allegory of the Divine Atonement”, making the Duke as
Christ, Lucio as the Devil and “the sublimely neurotic Isabella” as the human soul of the show,
“destined to marry the Duke, thus becoming the Bride of Christ” (Bloom 360). Shakespeare
was able to take England’s religion and craftily mix in human experiences of power, justice,
and mercy which is what makes this classic problem play palatable for today’s society.
Fig. 2: A map of setting locations of Shakespeare’s Plays
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Shakespeare set this play in the Catholic city of Vienna, which seemed to mirror
Shakespeare’s personal experiences in London. London at this time was swarmed with brothels,
prostitutes, and pimps; morality was at an all-time low. Because of this, brothels were being
destroyed in attempt to control the immorality of their society. With brothels at every corner,
the sexual activities, and the morality of Vienna, “this setting catapults the drama that emerges
from the play when Angelo makes the decision to hold the death penalty over all those who
have sex over marriage” (Alanzalon, Shakespeare Comes Alive, 2019). Puritan Phillip Stubbes
in his 1583 article Anatomy of Abuses argues that anyone guilty “of prostitution, adultery,
whoredom, or incest should be made to ‘taste of present death’ or be branded ‘with a hot iron on
the cheek, forehead, or some other part’. Through Stubbes graphic examples we could see how
the setting of Shakespeare’s London and their morals affected details within the play.
Fig. 3: Pedersen, Gunnar Bach. Poor Clares. Photograph.
Unknown date. World History Encyclopedia.
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Elizabethan Nuns
Nuns and convents played a significant role in Elizabethan society. A woman who entered a
convent was sure to experience a multitude of lessons because of the religious conflicts and
political changes within the ever-changing society. Contrary to popular belief, nuns during the
Elizabethan period were not overtly religious women, as Shakespeare’s depiction of Isabella
suggests. Instead, many of these young women entered the convent as a way to fill their days
with education, community, and sisterhood. Entering a convent was a way for women to find
their own independence and “express politically unorthodox views” in a safe and supportive
environment. Some women would choose to enter a convent to explore their own education
while waiting for potential marriage proposals. In Jessica Sights and Michael Morgan Holmes
essay, Isabella’s Order: Religious Acts and Personal Desires in ‘Measure for Measure’, they
state that “...life in an early modern convent could offer an intelligent woman like Isabella
outlets for creative expression” (Sights, Holmes 265). Nuns during this time had the opportunity
to explore and educate themselves in theology and mysticism, they “had the chance to share
their learning and creativity through teaching”, as well as, “compose music, paint and took
active roles in architectural and decorative projects” (266). Others entered a convent as a way of
hiding their own disabilities. Because diseases and multiple plagues swept through much of
England during this time, many convents became a type of social hideaway for women
suffering from physical disabilities. According to a 2018 article on “Convents in Elizabethan
England”, a convent could also be a place for young women to go because their families could
not afford to marry them off. Usually, an Elizabethan family could only afford the dowry of one
daughter. If a family had multiple daughters, it was not uncommon for the youngest to move to
a convent and become a nun. Finally, convents were known to open their doors to ex-prostitutes
during this time. The Catholic church offered the convent lifestyle as a type of repentance for
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prostitutes who wanted to turn their lives around and give their lives to God (“Convents in
Elizabethan England”).
To become a nun, one had to practice three vows of the convent: chastity, obedience to
God, and living a lifestyle of poverty. With these vows in mind, Isabella’s own extreme
religious beliefs were not strict enough, in her opinion, to enter the convent of Saint Clare. The
first time we are introduced to Isabella, she declares: “Yes, truly. I speak not as desiring more,
but rather wishing a more strict restraint, upon the sisterhood, the votarists
i
of Saint Clare”
(1.4.5), which gives the audience a look into Isabella’s extreme religious devotion. In addition
to following the rules within the convent, nuns were expected to disconnect themselves from
everything that had to do with the world and focus solely on their relationship and obedience to
God. Becoming a nun was considered a marriage to God, and the most honorable existence
possible for a woman, but it was incredibly difficult. Technically, Isabella was in violation of
her vows just by being concerned for her brother’s well-being, as his relationship to her should
have been left at the doors of the convent.
The votarist Isabella specifically refers to is of Saint Clare, which was a group of nuns
called the Poor Clare’s, founded by Clare of Assisi. According to the 2019 “Shakespeare
Comes Alive” article, The Poor Clare’s “dedicate their lives to live in absolute poverty. They
wore no shoes, ate no meat, and used twigs as a bed. Earthly pleasures and materialistic items
held no value to the sisters of Saint Clare. Instead, they dedicated their lives to become closer
to God by, praying, nursing the sick and poor, and showing compassion to those in need.” The
Order of Saint Clare took pride in their privacy and had protective barriers built outside their
i
A person who is bound by solemn religious vows, like a monk or a nun. An adherent of a religion or cult; a worshiper of a
particular deity or sacred personage.
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convent “for greater securities and purity of the Religious and Convent” (Reigle 507). Because
of the security of the convent and this barrier, Reigle goes on to defend Isabella’s choice in
entering the nunnery, saying that:
“the convent is depicted as a place of respite from urban turmoil...Isabella’s choice to
join the convent appears as a protective move. Given the relationship alternatives–
illegal sexuality, unconsummated marriages, and marriage without love, the convent
with its tightly gated boarders, offers a way to avoid entering the sexual marketplace in
depraved Vienna” (Reigle 507).
The convent’s barrier always had a gatekeeper on duty and a type of wheel that, when
turned, would deliver or send goods through their nunnery. This barrier was also a way to keep
the rest of the world, especially men, on the outskirts of Saint Clare’s religion. In Act 1.4,
Isabella and Sister Francisca hear Lucio yelling outside their gates. Francisca then goes on to
describe the rules of the nunnery:
FRANCISCA. Turn you the key and know
his business of him. You may; I may not.
You are yet unsworn.
When you have vowed, you must not speak
with men But in the presence of the Prioress.
Then, if you speak, you must not show your face;
Or if you show your face, you must not speak. (1.4.9-14)
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The Saint Clare constitution goes on to describe Isabella’s desire to become a nun is
what drives her in the play resulting in her chastity being used as a bargaining chip for Angelo.
Isabella’s chastity and sexual restraint establishes to the audience that her virtue is greatly
important to her, making it one of the main issues of the play.
The Price of Sex
During this time in Vienna, sex outside of marriage was considered a serious crime. If
proven guilty, punishments included “carting,” which was described as “being carried through
the city in a cart, wearing a placard describing the offense” (Picard, 2016) which is how
Claudio is first introduced in the play. More brutal punishments included a range of whipping
the offender’s back to cutting off their ears, and in some extreme cases, beheading. What is
ironic is that illegal fornication is described and even made fun of from the more comedic
characters like Pompey, Lucio and Mistress Overdone, whereas Claudio is sentenced to death
for impregnating his fiancé, Juliet, out of wedlock. According to Karen Lyon’s 2018 article
titled, “Wooing and Wedding: Courtship and Marriage in Early Modern England”, between “a
third and a fifth of brides in Elizabethan England arrived at the alter pregnant”. With these
extreme laws being placed on illegal fornication, it is no wonder why Isabella would want to
lock herself away in a convent. She is a strong-willed woman who has an insurmountable
respect for herself and her independence. The other women in Measure for Measure, like
Mistress Overdone and Mariana, are not married and the only one who is engaged, Juliet, is
called a whore because she is pregnant with her fiancé's child. In the male dominated world
that Shakespeare describes in Measure for Measure, it becomes easy to sympathize with
Isabella’s strict religious beliefs. Isabella enters the convent to protect herself from the loss of
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her virginity, the loss of her respect and it seems, to protect herself from the opposite sex. “Her
desire for ‘a more strict restraint / upon the sisterhood’ must be linked with a strong fear of the
consequences of integrating herself into a society dominated by exploitive men” (Riefer 162).
Once Lucio arrives though, Isabella’s life outside of the convent is run by the men of Vienna:
The Duke, Angelo, Lucio, and Claudio break down Isabella’s internal beliefs and strength to
gain power over her. The beginning of Measure for Measure introduces one of Shakespeare’s
famously strong, opinionated, and independent female characters and whittles her down to a
shadow of herself by the power of a heavily male dominated world.
Shakespeare relied on inspiration from his surroundings and applied them to each of his
plays. After researching the history of Measure for Measure and applying this foundational
knowledge to performances, it illuminated just how significant the themes of power and justice
are still applicable to today’s society.
Past Productions
In my research, I stumbled across the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s (RSC) timeline of
past productions of Measure for Measure. What surprised me the most was how often RSC
produced the show. Within a span of fifty-seven years, RSC has produced Measure for Measure
twelve times with each director’s “interpretation reflecting the politics of the times” (Measure
for Measure Timeline | Royal Shakespeare Company). From 1970 to 2003, the RSC had a
production of Measure for Measure every three to four years, focusing on themes of sex,
political corruption, and war. Below are examples of said productions that focused on pulling
specific themes and applying them to major moments in history.
• 1970: John Barton’s interpretation of Measure for Measure “focused on the moral twists
and turns of the action” within the play. According to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s
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timeline, this production was considered the first “feminist production of the play”
because of Isabella’s rejection to the Duke’s proposal in Act 5.
• 1974: Keith Hack’s production focused on a “highly politicized and controversial
interpretation that was influenced by contemporary events, especially the Watergate
scandal and the final stages of the Vietnam War”.
• 1994: Steven Pimlott’s direction of Measure for Measure was a “study in sleaze” that had
Isabella “reduced to a state of emotional shock after the Duke proposed marriage,
slapping round the face, then trying to kiss it better...”.
• 2011: Measure for Measure’s first female director, Roxana Silbert, focused on producing
the show “as if it were a modern play...her Vienna was a pleasure palace of
sadomasochism, full of sex, lies, and tricks”. The costume designer dressed the actors in
leather corsets and bondage to represent the “whirling mix of fun and brutality” within
Vienna.
Measure for Measure is the type of play that has a multitude of themes running wild
within; it would be difficult to focus on just one. In each production, including ours, the one
underlying theme that stood out to me was the idea of men in power. Looking at the climate we
are living in today, with 2024 being an election year
2
, with the MeToo movement
3
in full force,
the overturn of Roe v. Wade
4
, it’s hard not to look at the themes within Measure for Measure
and recognize its relevance today.
2
Incumbent President Joe Biden, a member of the Democratic Party, is running for re-election. His predecessor Donald Trump, a
member of the Republican Party, is running for re-election for a second, non-consecutive term, after losing to him in 2020.
3
#MeToo is a social movement and awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which
people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment.
4
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution
of the United States generally protected a right to have an abortion. In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade
with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, eliminating the federal right to abortion.
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Fig. 4: Shakespeare’s First Folio from the Arthur Dayton Shakespeare collection gifted to West Virginia
University’s West Virginia and Regional History Center.
Chapter 3: Text Analysis
In Chapter 1, I mentioned that Isabella and I were not complete strangers. We had briefly
met in an acting class in college. Without much digging back then, I found her to be weak and
whiny; a girl who was running away from her problems instead of facing them head on. Again, if
I was in her position, I would have gladly given myself over to Angelo to save my brother. Back
then, I did not understand why this girl would not do the same thing for her brother. Because of
her choices throughout the play, she read as someone who was selfish and a bit of a narcissist.
Seventeen years later, Isabella and I came face to face again, I was able to approach her with
greater understanding. I got to be with her and study her as a woman who had gained a multitude
of life lessons from love, loss, heartbreak, and everything in between; I was then able to apply
my own lessons to create the complicated and strong-willed woman that Isabella is known to be.
I was able to dig deeper into her intentions and understand why she had to be her own hero.
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Through Shakespeare’s text and the guidance of Professor McGonigle, I was able to crack
Isabella open and play the multitude of layers within her.
2/13/23: Act I run (first day off-book):
I wish that I didn’t watch the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Measure for
Measure. I have this idea of what Lucy Phelps did for her Isabella and I’m trying to
recreate HER interpretation. I’m starting to learn that Isabella is strong, opinionated, and
fights back and I did not expect her to be like that. Without digging into her, I saw her as
submissive, weak, and boring. She is not though! She fights for what she believes in, to
the point of being abrasive.
The above is from one of the many journal entries I recorded throughout our rehearsal
process. Writing this thesis and re-visiting the early stages of Isabella has been eye-opening as an
actor. We look at brilliant actors’ published journals, such as Alan Rickman or Anthony Sher’s
Year of the King and begin to witness the way they learned and grew from their own acting
experiences. My journal entries proved just how much I learned about my process from our
production. One of the biggest lessons was to not watch other productions for inspiration. Before
callbacks, I wanted to watch the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2019 production to get a better
understanding of how Isabella was portrayed. Even though our graduate class had been studying
Shakespeare that entire semester, I still did not trust myself enough to go into the callbacks and
attempt to play all of her complexities. I was relying on someone else's interpretation of Isabella
instead of relying on everything I had already learned. After a few rehearsals, I found myself
copying Lucy Phelp’s interpretation of Isabella. I was playing her meek and quiet, thinking that
is how nuns were “supposed” to act. Phelp’s interpretation started to make me feel stuck. I was
not connecting as deeply as I knew I could because I was not coming to Isabella from my own
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point of view. In the beginning phases of rehearsal, Professor McGonigle had to keep reminding
me that not all nuns have that “prim and proper” nun mentality. He would say, “Nuns are just
people with the dress on.” Shakespeare has written all the clues to give Isabella a spark; through
his text, it is clear to see that she loves a debate and gets fired up when someone crosses her.
Instead of playing her like the RSC’s production, I had to lean into the fire that my Isabella
possessed. I had to dig deep into my own personal experiences of love, loss, and heartbreak for
my Isabella to shine through. In our Shakespeare classes, we learned that the playwright has
textually given his actors the clues for his characters. It was now time to get rid of playing
someone else’s version of Isabella and lean into the text to find my own version of her.
Before undertaking any role, I like to go through the script and play a game called, “I
win/you lose” or “You win/I lose.” This little game helps me as an actor to find the truth behind
what the characters are fighting for. At the end of each scene, there is always a winner and a
loser. Going through this game with each of Isabella’s scenes was interesting because it put
perspective on her internal fight. In fighting Angelo, Isabella is also fighting against many of the
other male characters in the play. Lucio, Claudio and the Duke all, in a way, hold power over a
woman whose focus was to lock herself away from society and men. Throughout the show, she
is in constant battle for her beliefs against the men of Vienna. It is these beliefs coupled with her
intentions that end up becoming her armor throughout the play.
Act 1: “I am that Isabella...”
The first time we see Isabella in action is in Act 1.4. Here, we meet her in the safe
confines of the Saint Clare convent, just a day before she is to become a nun herself. Her first
few lines in the show gives the audience an immediate perspective of who this woman is and
where her beliefs lie.
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ISABELLA. “And have you nun’s no farther privileges?” (1.4.1)
I speak not as desiring more,
But rather wishing a more strict restraint
Upon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare. (1.4.3-5)
Here we can see just how serious Isabella is in her convictions with religion: she wants
stricter rules applied to the nunnery, which as an actor, begs the question, “Why does she want
stricter rules to an already strict environment?” It made me curious of who she was before
entering the nunnery: what was her relationship with society, and more specifically, with men
before entering Saint Clare?
Another pivotal moment in Isabella’s journey is when Lucio, Claudio’s friend, visits the
convent to convince Isabella to save her brother.
LUCIO. …when maidens sue
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as freely theirs
As they themselves would owe them.
ISABELLA. I’ll see what I can do. (1.4.88-92)
Throughout this earnest exchange between Isabella and Lucio, we witness a woman who
is strong in her faith, but weak in herself. Her powerful convictions and faith lie in her religious
beliefs, which made me question her loyalty within the church and as a sister to Claudio. Where
is the line for Isabella’s devotedness to God versus Claudio? I kept this question in mind as I
would move from scene to scene with Isabella. Even though her religious intentions were always
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at the forefront, there were times it seemed that these intentions were blurred between her
attachment to God and her brother. In the margins of my script, I wanted to go through each
scene and make a map of her attachment to God and to her brother. There were many times,
Scene 2.2 with Angelo, for instance, where that line between God and Claudio was so thin, it
seemed like Isabella kept jumping back and forth between her role as a nun and her role as a
sister to her brother.
Fig. 5: Script breakdown from Act 2.2
Act II: “Women? Help heaven!”
In Scene 2.2, Isabella goes to Angelo not once, but twice to plead for her brother’s life.
This is the first time these two opinionated characters meet and debate their beliefs about religion
and the law. Before meeting, Angelo was described to Isabella as:
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LUCIO. ...as man whose blood
Is very snow-broth; one who never feels
The wanton stings and motions of the sense,
But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge with profits of the mind... (1.4.61-65)
So, with this description in the back of Isabella’s mind, she is accompanied by Lucio to
Angelos’s office, which is probably one of the grandest places she has been. Through Professor
McGonigle’s direction, I was reminded to play with the idea that Angelo’s office is of someone
in high power, which would shift Isabella’s demeanor to meek and afraid. Shakespeare has gifted
his actors in the roles of Isabella and Angelo’s a first few lines together in a shared iambic
pentameter. This splitting of their lines shows urgency in Angelo and a nervousness in Isabella’s
plea:
ISABELLA. ...but that I am
At war ‘twixt will and will not.
ANGELO. Well, the matter? (2.2.45-47)
In the beginning of this scene, Angelo stays clear and true with his intentions. His clipped
responses to Isabella’s responses seem to play with his short fuse throughout this scene. Because
of Isabella’s nervous demeanor at the beginning of this scene, instead of giving intentional
answers, she leans into the hypotheticals. She does not specifically ask Angelo to save Claudio,
but instead leans on words like “might", "think”, and “but”, which was a clue for me to lean into
her fear and uncertainty with Angelo. Her initial trepidation of being in a place of power and in
front of a man who is known for his “snow-broth demeanor” throws her to the depths of her own
terror where she can only speak in hypotheticals. In my exploration of Isabella, I could not
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imagine a time in her life where she would be around a man of Angelo’s power. Shakespeare
purposefully writing hypothetical words such as “might” and “think” sparked my own
imagination in playing with Isabella’s internal fear of men and power. When Angelo finally
dismisses her, the fire in Isabella begins to build and we see the strong woman she’s been hiding.
ANGELO. Pray you be gone.
ISABELLA. I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel. Should it then be thus?
No. I would tell what ‘twere to be a judge
And what a prisoner. (2.2.87-91)
Up until this moment, Isabella has been navigating Angelo, his environment, and her untapped
power.
Early in the rehearsal process, I was still playing this moment as I thought a nun would:
innocent, tame, and quiet. In one of these rehearsals, Professor McGonigle asked me how fiery I
thought Isabella was. Instead of playing my own interpretation of how I thought a nun would act,
he told me to lean into Isabella’s argument and react to what my scene partner was giving me. I
let go of my notion of being polite and actively listened to what Angelo was giving me to lean
into the fiery bits of Isabella and fight back. Throughout the rest of the scene, Isabella and
Angelo go head-to-head, challenging each other with their own views of justice, mercy, and the
law. We begin to see glimpses of her internal strength shine through, holding her own against a
man of the law.
ANGELO. Your brother dies tomorrow, be content.
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ISABELLA. So you must be the first that gives this sentence,
And he that suffers. O, it is excellent
To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant. (2.2.133-137)
She begins to lean into her strength, fighting back and giving Angelo a tiny taste of his
own medicine. Near the end of this scene, we begin to witness the internal fire and excitement of
the debate within Isabella. When Angelo does not budge on saving Claudio, Isabella uses her
strong religious beliefs and bribes Angelo with the promise of saving his soul.
ISABELLA. “Hark how I’ll bribe you...with such gifts that heaven shall share with
you.” (2.2.177, 179)
This moment relates back to the title and purpose of the show: an eye for an eye. Isabella
is using her religious intelligence, saying to Angelo if you save my brother, I’ll save your soul.
This scene gives Isabella a chance to rise to the occasion and fight for her brother’s life,
eventually, with an invite from Angelo to “come again tomorrow.” If we are going back to my
Win/Lose game, I would say that through her strength and determination, Isabella ended up
winning this round against Angelo.
2/2/23: Charlie and I working with Professor McGonigle:
We sat across from each other, ‘no acting, just say the words to each other and be
affected’. We spoke Shakespeare’s words then phrased them in our own words. Isabella
and Angelo are in constant debate with each other, and they both seem to like it! They are
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going back and forth about their own beliefs and what they think is important (Angelo =
the law, sex; Isabella= religion, chastity).
Act 2.4 has Isabella back in Angelo’s office to discuss Claudio’s fate. Just like their
previous scene, Isabella and Angelo are back in their debate about their personal beliefs on
religion and the law. This time, though, Angelo’s intentions have shifted and instead of using his
power for good, he leans into his own strength to use it against Isabella. Throughout the scene,
they go back and forth debating everything from Isabella’s beliefs to why Claudio’s crime cannot
be forgiven. What is interesting about this scene is that Angelo drops his blunt, honest answers
and begins to respond back with hypotheticals. Like Isabella’s behavior in 2.2, Angelo has
adopted her nervousness and begins testing the waters of Isabella’s sexuality.
ANGELO. ...to redeem him,
Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness
As she that he hath stained. (2.4.55-57)
ANGELO. ...you must lay down the treasures of your body
To this supposed, or else let him suffer,
What would you do? (2.4.103-105)
Throughout Angelo’s hypotheticals, though, Isabella stays cool and collected. She is a smart
woman and knows how to debate. Because of her intelligence, there are moments where she
leans in and begins to play Angelo at his own game. When asked if she would be willing to
sacrifice her virginity to save her brother, she responds with:
ISABELLA. I’d rather give my body than my soul...
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That is, were I under the terms of death,
Th’ impression of keen whips I’d wear as rubies
And strip myself to death as to a bed
That longing have been sick for, ere I’d yield/
My body up to shame. (2.4.59 and 106-111)
Here, she is using the tactic of her body and sexuality to play Angelo at his own game! She is
playing this game though, in hypotheticals to keep herself safe. Throughout the show and
especially these scenes with Angelo, Isabella wears an imaginary veil to keep herself and her
soul safe from harm. There are a few moments where Isabella allows this imaginary veil to drop
showing her true, authentic self. One of those critical moments is the end of 2.4 where Angelo
confesses his love for Isabella. After two scenes of purely theoretical discourse between Angelo
and Isabella, Angelo finally decides to lay all his cards out on the table, which in turn, gives her
the optimal moment to speak in literal terms.
ISABELLA. I will proclaim thee, Angelo, look for ‘t.
Sign me a present pardon for my brother
Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud
What man thou art. (2.4.163-166)
And just like we have seen with these two characters, Angelo levels up to Isabella with:
ANGELO. “Who will believe thee, Isabel?” (166)
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Finally, we have made it to Isabella’s famous 2.4 soliloquy where she questions in real
time what the ‘right’ choice is: sleeping with Angelo to save Claudio or letting Claudio die in
order to save her chasity. As an actor, there were so many nuances to play within this
monologue. I had the challenge to explore this text each night while asking her questions in real
time. We are watching a woman dealing with this heightened dilemma, which kept it fresh,
exciting, and exhilarating each night! By the end of this monologue, Isabella ultimately decides
that her chastity is worth more than her brother’s life. Her righteous decision in choosing herself
over her brother is one of the character flaws I never got over from when my twenty-year-old
self-played her. Her decision became something that I had to come to terms with so I could keep
working from her point of view.
Act III: “What says my brother?”
The first time Isabella reconnects with her brother, Claudio, is in his prison cell, right
after she was given Angelo’s ultimatum. The prep before this scene was challenging because I
am coming from the previous scene with Angelo’s command and immediately jumping into
having to say goodbye to my brother. Trying to stay and flow through those heavy moments as
an actor was tough because my fellow cohort classmate playing Angelo, Charlie Meeks and I
would always try to find a moment to close out the end of 2.4 together. I had to shift into the
mindset of needing to see my brother and tell him his fate. I would go back to my emotional prep
of looking at pictures of my own brother and essentially leaning into, what the grads joke as,
“hurting my own feelings.” I would take a moment backstage and center myself, using all my
actor senses of my given circumstances, my environment, and my objectives. To heighten the
stakes of this scene, I wanted this reunion between the siblings to be the first time they have seen
each other in years. This was helpful as it allowed me to sink deeper into my moment with
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Claudio because I am walking into his cell with him dirty, skinny, and shackled. The heightened
stakes of this idea ended up giving me a lot to play with emotionally. Within their first few
moments together, Isabella is still beating around the bush with Claudio. She speaks
hypothetically to him, not getting to the real point of why she came there. I kept asking myself
why she was not getting to the point. Just like her previous two scenes with Angelo, it is not until
she is pushed to her breaking point that Isabella stops speaking hypothetical. Once again, it is not
until Claudio leans into his own pain with the realization of death that he shifts to his desperation
and asks his sister to save him.
CLAUDIO. What sin you do to save a brother’s life,
Nature will dispense with the deed so far
That it becomes a virtue. (3.1.150-53)
Angelo just asked this same thing of Isabella and now she is getting the request from her own
flesh and blood. And just like the previous scene with Angelo, it is not until Isabella is pushed
that she finally releases and takes the invisible veil off to show her fiery side. She is pushed by
her brother and begins to finally talk in literal terms.
ISABELLA. O, you beast!
O faithless coward, O dishonest wretch,
Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice? (3.1.153-55)
Her decision to jump from hypotheticals to literal terms is still something that baffles me
with Isabella. Why does she only speak in speculative terms when pushed by the men in her life?
Is she talking to both Angelo and Claudio in these terms because it’s the “polite” thing to do? Is
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it because a “proper woman” would not talk back to a man? In the text, I kept searching for the
“right” answer, but all I could lean on were my own womanly instincts of being pushed by men
in power. In these questionable moments I had with Isabella, I had to heavily rely upon my own
experiences with men and why, instead of standing up for myself and my own beliefs, I would
shy away. Surprisingly, Isabella’s behavior with these men ended up making me look to my past
and make me ask the questions of why I did not stand up for what I thought was right when
confronted by certain men in authoritative positions. The answers always led back to wanting to
be polite, not wanting to ruffle any feathers, or simply because “ladies didn’t act that way.”
So far in Isabella’s journey, we’ve seen her keep her stoic and strong façade intact. It is
not until Claudio is taken away from his cell that Isabella allows herself to fully breakdown in
what she thinks is a secluded cell. Unbeknownst to her though, the Duke, disguised as Friar
Lodowick stands with Isabella in her brother’s empty cell. For the first time, we see Isabella
break down and give into the pain and grief of her situation. She confides in whom she believes
is a real Friar, expressing her concerns and frustrations to him. Textually, this is the first time in
the play that Isabella breaks her iambic pentameter and shifts into prose with the Friar. This
textual shift was a clue into these characters’ minds. The Friar begins talking with Isabella in
prose to show his commonality to her. This was a way for him to break the rhythm of the iambic
pentameter meter and gain Isabella’s trust. Throughout their brief time together, he convinces
Isabella that the only way to save Claudio is to trick Angelo into sleeping with her by using his
wife, Mariana, in her place.
DUKE. “...we shall advise this wronged maid
to stead up your appointment, go in your place.” (3.1.276-77)
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One of the reasons many consider Measure for Measure a comedy is because of this
critical “bed trick” moment Shakespeare mentions. In many of his comedies, Shakespeare uses
this device where one woman is deceptively in a man’s bed pretending to be someone else. In
this case, though, I could not justify how Isabella would view the Friar’s bed trick suggestion as
a comical moment. By the end of this scene though, Isabella agrees with his plan to save
Claudio. Her quick agreement to this plan surprised me. Up to this moment, Isabella has been
written as someone who deeply values her religion and morals. As stated before, her soliloquy at
the end of 2.4 has her choosing her chastity over her brother. Then why does she decide to let all
her beliefs go out the window? Is it because she believes she is talking to a man of God? Which
begs the next question: if a woman of God’s order were to bring this same request to her, would
Isabella make the same decision? Since women were regarded as second-class citizens during the
Elizabethan era, could it be argued that Isabella felt the need to go along with this plan to be
polite? These questions were constantly swimming through my head. What makes this moment
different in Isabella’s world? If her choice in agreeing to the bed trick is because the Friar is a
man of God, that just means when the Duke finally reveals himself at the end of the play,
Isabella’s religious outlook and beliefs would be turned upside down.
Act IV: “Remember now my brother.”
With the above questions swarming through my head, it was exciting, yet at the same
time, frustrating to move through Isabella’s scenes in Act 4. Scene 1 of this act is when Isabella
and the Friar meet with Mariana to convince her of the bed trick plan. Both Mariana and Isabella
believe that this man of religious power holds the key to save Claudio. From what we know from
the previous scene with the Friar and Isabella, technically Mariana and Angelo are still married.
So, the bed trick that he is proposing would not necessarily be a sin in the eyes of God.
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DUKE. To bring you thus together ‘tis no sin,
Sith that the justice of your title to him
Doth flourish the deceit. (4.2.80-82)
Though, how would Isabella feel about this moment? She believes a man of God is conjuring up
this plan to save her brother. Why would there be any suspect on her part? Of course, she will go
along with this plan because her religion and strong faith is the foundation of her character.
Which brings me to my next point of 4.3 where Isabella finds out her brother has been killed.
Isabella enters this scene with anticipation of seeing her brother free from prison. She
possesses the knowledge that the bed trick has worked, and Claudio has been saved. Instead of
telling the truth, Friar Lodowick, the Duke in disguise, lies to her, telling her that Claudio was
killed earlier that day. This now becomes the lowest moment for Isabella. She discovered that
even if she did sleep with Angelo, there was no intention of saving Claudio. She has been
deceived not only by Angelo, but by the Duke as well. Just like her private moment in her
brother’s cell, Isabella lifts her veil to show her true, human grief in this moment. For the first
time we see anger, as well as violence seeping through her pores.
ISABELLA. “O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!” (4.3.128)
“Unhappy Claudio, wretched Isabel,
Injurious world, most damned Angelo!” (4.3.131-32)
We are witnessing a woman at the lowest point in her life. Yet, the Friar explains to:
DUKE. “...pace your wisdom...
And you shall have revenges to your heart.” (144.146-47)
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Once again, she is being ruled by this man of power, something that she wanted to escape from
when we first met her. At this point in the play, it is as if Isabella’s idea of being secluded from
society and men has completely left her mind. She’s down to her basic survival skills now,
wanting to seek revenge for her brother’s death.
Act V: “Justice, justice, justice, justice”
Finally, we are at the end of the play where the Duke has returned to Vienna. Upon his
arrival, Isabella takes the Friar’s advice and literally bends to her knees before the Duke to
rightfully throw Angelo under the bus. Isabella is at her most vulnerable in this point of her
journey: she has been manipulated by multiple men in power and taken advantage of to save her
brother, who she thinks, was beheaded. Now, she is on her knees, not only expressing Angelo’s
wrongs, but lying about it, as well. She tells the Duke that it was she that “confutes mine honor,
/And I did yield to him” (5.1, 119-20). This is another moment where my actor alarm went off.
Why would she lie again? Is it because the Friar, who she thinks is a man of God, suggested she
do so? Is it to blame Angelo for, not only the loss of her virginity, but also the loss of her
brother’s life? Is it to catch Angelo in a lie? This is one of the moments in this play that I never
quite found the answer to. Throughout the entirety of the play, Isabella holds great faith in her
virtue and religion. Why would Shakespeare give her this moment to blatantly lie to someone in
power? Maybe it is to make Isabella’s fall from religious grace greater. When Friar Lodowick
finally reveals himself to be the Duke, imagine Isabella’s surprise. This whole time she took
everything the Friar said with a great seriousness. I believe this moment of deceit would shake
Isabella’s religious foundations and make her second guess everything she has so firmly
believed. Her “confession” gets her nowhere, though. The Duke set Isabella up for this moment.
Complicit in the deceit, he denies everything she says against Angelo and summons her to
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prison. Poor Isabella. All she wanted was to be locked away in her private nunnery so she would
not have to deal with Vienna’s society of liars, cheaters, and schemers. After witnessing the
Duke’s behavior, I do not blame her for wanting to be locked away from this society either. She,
like everyone else in Vienna, has become a pawn in the Duke’s chess game. Everyone is now
under his influence and being played by him. And for what? It is for him to gain control over
what he believes is a place of “strict statutes and most biting laws, /Which for this fourteen years
we have let slip...” (1.3.20, 22).
Once Isabella is summoned back, the story moves at a high-speed rate to the end. Within
minutes the Friar unmasks himself as the Duke, pardoning many of the people he put in charge—
including Angelo. He reveals a very much-so alive Claudio to Isabella and, to top it all off, he
demands marriage not once, but twice to Isabella. The nuts and bolts of these moments hinge on
Isabella’s character. The last time Isabella speaks in this play is to ask the Duke to show
forgiveness toward Angelo. Once again, she goes to her knees, but this time, begging for Angelo
to be forgiven. This final moment with Isabella brought her back to her chosen true self: through
everything she has suffered, she still has the strength to bend to her knees and ask forgiveness
towards a man that does not deserve it. By asking for Angelo’s pardon, Isabella shows her grace,
compassion, and strength by breaking the “eye for an eye” cycle that Vienna has lived under.
Which brings us to the final critical moment with Isabella: her deafening silence towards
the Duke. Unlike the classic marriage proposal, the Duke takes it upon himself to not ask for
Isabella’s hand in marriage but demands it.
DUKE. “Give me your hand and say you will be mine...” (5.1.564)
“What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.” (5.1.611)
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I have found many articles discussing this moment and about whether Isabella accepts the
Duke’s double marriage proposal. Leandra Lynn, Managing Director of Britches and Hose
Company and a fellow “Isabellian,” depicts that “The Poor Clare's are a strict order of women
who withdraw from the outside world and live their days in quiet introspection, away from men.
Isabella doesn’t just want to be a nun; she wants to be a nun in a strict order that doesn’t allow
interaction with men. It is reasonable to surmise that if Isabella doesn’t want to interact with
men, she probably also doesn’t want to marry the Duke” (“Interpreting Isabella and Her Silence
in ‘Measure for Measure’”). Her silence speaks volumes. Throughout her journey to this pivotal
point, I believe that her moment of silence towards the Duke is the first time Isabella has full
control over the next chapter of her life. She finally gets to decide the future for herself. Having
established the deep wealth of Isabella’s context, I felt like I was able to explore the different
options of acceptance to the Duke’s proposal. Professor McGonigle allowed me to answer that
question for myself, guiding the outcome of the world of the play, which is something I will
discuss further in Chapter 5.
As I have expressed in this chapter, Isabella goes through a significant journey in the
play. Within a span of a few days, she is coaxed from a life of her choosing into a world of deceit
controlled by powerful men. Through Shakespeare’s brilliant crafting, Isabella stood her ground
against each of these men and proved to be one of his great heroines. She goes through the
biggest changes and ends up shifting the harsh dynamic of Vienna’s “an eye for an eye, a
measure for measure” by ultimately saving Angelo and standing her ground.
Before any performance, an actor must fully understand their character. An actor’s job is
to take the words of the playwright and try to bring life and sense to the story. Unlike any other
playwright, Shakespeare wrote specifically for the actor. From verse to prose, shared lines and
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meter, he wrote in a way that gave his actors everything they needed to bring his strong
characters to life. Breaking down a Shakespearean script is akin to being a type of literary
archeologist: everything is given to his actors, all we have to do is dig.
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Chapter 4: Production Process
“Fear is incomplete knowledge.”
-Agatha Christie
I knew I would be one of the oldest ones in my eight-person graduate cohort. After
my undergraduate degree, I had chosen to follow Professor Bruce Cromer’s advice and “go
out and live as an actor,” which truly provided me with an insurmountable amount of life
experiences. Those life experiences, both good and bad, unbeknownst to me, gave me the
tools to readily enter graduate school. I believe that being an older graduate student helped
me dive deeper and understand the complexities of some of the characters that I was
desperate to play as an undergrad. One of those characters being Shakespeare’s powerful,
but unsung, heroine, Isabella in Measure for Measure. In undergrad, I spent a semester with
Isabella and Angelo. At the time, my twenty-something brain did not quite understand the
layers and complexities that Isabella held. I viewed her as whiney and childish, a selfish girl
for not giving herself over to Angelo to save her own brother. Even as an undergrad, I knew
that if the shoe was on the other foot, I would, without question, readily give myself over to
save my younger brother. Isabella’s strong faith seemed selfish and unwarranted. When I
found out WVU was producing Measure for Measure, I was immediately reminded of what
my younger self’s opinion was of the show’s heroine. I remember talking to Professor Jerry
McGonigle, the director for Measure for Measure, about wanting to play the town’s brothel
owner, Mrs. Overdone, since characters like her are more in my “wheelhouse” than Isabella.
I also knew that this would be the first Shakespeare show where I could potentially play a
female character for the first time. All my other Shakespearean experiences have been
playing male roles such as Malvolio or clowns like Trinculo. Playing Mrs. Overdone would
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not only give me the chance to play a woman but would keep me in the “safe place” of
playing a comedic character. Being able to play a character I was comfortable with did not
seem as stressful as playing one of the more dramatic roles. Looking back now, I realize that
wanting to stay in my comfy comedic zone was because I did not fully trust myself enough
in being able to correctly utilize all the skills I was learning at school. I did not think I would
be “good enough” to play a dramatic role, such as Isabella. One of the main reasons I
decided to get my masters in acting was so I could be pushed out of my comfort zone. A
friend of mine’s performance mantra was loudly ringing in my ears, “What’s on the other
side of your comfort?” I knew I wanted to be pushed and struggle with difficult characters
that I had, hopefully, grown into. Through my own fear of uncertainty and the unknown, I
knew that Isabella would be one of the characters that could help me achieve one of my
goals with graduate school; I knew she would push me to see what was on the other side of
my comfort zone.
Callbacks
Callbacks being mere hours away, I made the classic mistake of watching some of the
Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2019 production of Measure for Measure. I wanted to see how
the actors portraying Isabella and Angelo played with the give and take of Act 2.2 when
Isabella and Angelo go head-to-head against their own beliefs of religion and law. Even
though I have studied Shakespeare and have been in a handful of Shakespearean productions,
I still did not trust myself with the text and the content of the scene. In my brain, I wanted to
see how “real, trained Shakespearean actors” portrayed the roles especially during the intense,
heavy moments. How did they make sense of Shakespeare’s words for a modern audience?
My friend and fellow graduate classmate, Charlie Meeks, was called back for the role of
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Angelo. I suggested that we watch Act 2.2 together to prepare ourselves for our own callback
that were just hours away. He made a brave, smart choice and said he wanted to trust in his
work on the scene. I did not trust myself enough to make the same brave choice. I watched the
entirety of the 2.2 scene with my actor sides in front of me, taking notes, marking stress
words, and trying to make sense of Isabella’s plea for her brother. In the moment, I thought
that watching a few short moments of RSC’s production would help give me a foundation for
my Isabella to stand on in callbacks. I discovered, though, that watching someone else’s
portrayal of Isabella hindered my own interpretation throughout the callbacks and the
rehearsal process, which is something I will elaborate more on in this chapter. On paper, Act
2.2 seems simple enough: “Isabella pleads with Angelo to pardon her brother, Claudio, who
has been sentenced to death for sexual immorality; in doing so, she arouses the official’s
desire, and he demands sex of her in exchange for the pardon” (Boyce 311). As mentioned in
Chapter 3’s text analysis, what Shakespeare gives his actors on the page is never as simple as
it appears. He provides both Isabella and Angelo deep struggles throughout this scene and the
rest of the play. There is always something more bubbling underneath his text and I knew that
I wanted to enter the callbacks knowing exactly what those deep-seeded moments were.
There were other concerns I had with playing Isabella. Not only was I worried about the
content of playing her, but playing her age, as well. I was in my late thirties during this time and
was used to getting cast as the older comedic relief characters, like Mistress Overdone.
Shakespeare even makes it a point that the men in the play, like Claudio, Lucio, and Angelo
speak to Isabella’s youthful appearance.
“...for in her youth...” (1.2.180)
“...as those cheek-roses proclaim...” (1.4.17)
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“Gentle and fair...” (1.4.25)
Through text alone, Isabella is seen as someone virtuous, young, and possibly naive to the
world around her. She is painted as someone with limited life experiences. According to a 2015
article titled Measure for Measure: mock of ages, “an age of nineteen or eighteen for Isabella
would make sense from a symbolic religious point of view. She is about to join the ‘votarists of
Saint Clare’, monastic order of nuns” (Thebillshakespeareproject, 2015). If our production was
going to make Isbella her true age of eighteen or nineteen, I could not justify how I could play
her. There were undergraduates that were closer to Isabella’s true age who could bring more of
an innocence and a naivete to her. After some thoughtful conversations with Professor
McGonigle, I found that Isabella’s age was not going to be a major part of our story. In an
interview I had with Professor McGonigle, he said that instead of portraying Isabella as a naive
eighteen-year-old, it was “kind of cool to think of her as an older woman and what that meant
for her and the people around her... making her older made her more of a “kick-ass woman”
instead of a “meek nun.” I did not fully agree with Professor McGonigle’s interpretation at first,
but after a few weeks of rehearsals, I started to find my way around this kick-ass woman,
something I will elaborate more on in Chapter 5. During this audition process however, my eyes
were still set on playing the older, bawdy comedic relief character that came naturally to me.
It was not until I read with one of the actor’s called back for Claudio, that I knew I
wanted to play this unsung heroine. The actor and I read Act 3.1 when Isabella visits Claudio in
jail before his execution. The first read felt unnecessarily heightened; I was putting too much
pressure on myself to “get the words right” and make it sound “Shakespearean” instead of
listening to what my partner was giving me. I was trying to recreate the RSC’s production
instead of just trusting my work in the moment. After our first read Professor McGonigle, also
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being our Meisner teacher, told me and the other actor something that had been one of the
foundational tools for the Meisner technique: “just connect with each other”. A note as simple
as that: just connect. With our second read, I felt myself relax in the scene and settle in with
Claudio as if he was my own brother. After making this simple adjustment, I was able to deeply
connect with my brother Claudio, speaking the words Shakespeare wrote like my own. This
scene Professor McGonigle had us read has deep moments of love, sadness, and pain wrapped
up in two pages. After our read, I knew that I wanted to challenge myself and be able to play
Isabella.
I have said for years that the most stressful part of being an actor is waiting for the cast
list to come out. This anxiety, unfortunately, does not go away in graduate school either. My
mind always races with the “what ifs' ' and “I wish I did that differently in the callbacks” all
the while preparing myself for disappointment. So, imagine my shock, excitement, and pure
fear when I was cast as Isabella, a role I never thought I could play, a role that would be my
most challenging to date. A role I have spent time with before, but I could now revisit with
some life experience and age under my belt. What a gift to be able to sink my teeth into one of
Shakespeare’s heroines with a cast of extremely talented actors from my own graduate class.
Table Work
“This is an exploration. Take your time. Explore. Discover.”
-Professor Jerry McGonigle
In any show, it is difficult for me to not run full force to the finish line. I have gone
into the first read through of many productions trying to get the whole picture of the show and
characters I am playing. The first few read throughs of Measure for Measure was no different.
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Just like my callback for Isabella, instead of sitting with her, listening, and connecting to my
partners, I went into our first week wanting to immediately have her figured out. Professor
McGonigle kindly reminded us that this show and our process should be an exploration. Do
not rush into anything and remember that nobody is off the hook. All these characters are
fighting for something. They are also all faced with making major decisions in the moment.
For instance, in Isabella’s famous soliloquy in Act 2.4, we witness her asking these literal life
or death questions and finally making the realization that her chastity is more important than
saving her brother. Having permission to take our time with the text and focus on our
character’s intentions helped alleviate the initial wave of anxiety that was beginning to creep
in.
Our first week of rehearsal consisted of the entire cast sitting with Professor
McGonigle and his many massive books on Shakespeare, language, scansion, and one of the
biggest dictionaries I have seen, lovingly named Mongo. The cast met in the Vivian Davis
Memorial Theatre with Professor McGonigle and went line by line of the script, breaking
down who these characters were and what they needed from each other. As mentioned before,
I tend to get lost in the technical aspect of breaking down a Shakespeare script. I want to know
everything about my character and their world now. Yes, the technical bookwork is the
foundation of any production, but at some point one must let go and trust the work one has put
into the text. These first few table reads were a lovely reminder to go back to the basics of
what we have learned in our classes: focus on your partner, what you are fighting for, and
never let your partner off the hook. We were told that all the characters in the show have a
very specific point of view and that each of their souls are at stake throughout their journey.
These characters are always fighting for something, whether it be their status of power,
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religious beliefs, or their own flesh and blood, each of them needs something. Going back to
the foundation of our character’s objective helped me begin to let go of the heady, technical
script work, and begin to flesh out Isabella as a real person. I began to view her as a woman
who, at the end of the day, just wanted a bit of peace in her life. Due to the society she is
placed in, her peace is quickly disrupted by the men around her.
We placed our production in an “extremely Catholic setting,” so everyone’s religion
and the stakes behind the character’s choices were extremely real and heightened for them.
Instead of focusing on just one theme, Professor McGonigle wanted to take the themes of
comedy, sexuality, relationships, and religion; and “hit left of the bullseye.” This carried on
for a week with Professor McGonigle’s books, discussing Shakespeare’s language in depth,
breaking down his words, and melding them into our own current points of view. Spending so
much time on just table work really helped begin to shape my interpretation of who Isabella
was: she was not just a nun, she was a sister, and a woman in a society ruled by men, which, I
believe, is a reason Measure for Measure is still relevant for today’s society.
Rehearsal
In rehearsals, I wanted to implement the techniques we learned in each of our classes.
Using varied performance techniques and applying them to each of the roles I played became a
way for me to practice and experiment with what I was learning. For some reason, though, with
the early process of Measure for Measure, I found that many of the tools I learned in my classes
were not at the forefront of my mind. I was too focused on finding the “right” answers within the
story and within Isabella instead of just going back to what I already knew: what is your partner
giving you? What is their behavior? How can you effectively achieve the objectives in each
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scene? I was bogged down by Shakespeare’s heightened language and the scansion of the text
instead of focusing on just telling the story. It was intimidating being in the rehearsal room with
my fellow colleagues who seemed to perfectly understand Shakespeare’s language. After only a
few rehearsals, it felt like I was getting left behind and not because I was not putting in the work.
I was getting lost in the urgency to perfect her instantly, instead of just living in the world of the
play. There were moments after rehearsing a scene where Professor McGonigle would ask what
Isabella was fighting for: when are the moments within the play where Isabella lets go of her
polite exterior and leans into her fiery side? Early in our rehearsal process, I was still playing
Isabella with the idea of someone else’s interpretation. I was making choices through the eyes of
what the Royal Shakespeare’s interpretation was. I was playing her the way I thought a nun
should be played: meek, shy, and naive. There was no depth to my early Isabella interpretation
because I was trying to re-create someone else’s work. The callback experience was haunting me
as I did not trust myself and the work I put into analyzing the script.
After a few rehearsals were under our belts, I would go home, and the panic would
start to sink in. My mind would be racing with thoughts of, “How am I going to do this heavy
role night after night in a safe and healthy manner? How will I protect myself, my mental
state, my emotional state, and still be able to take care of my everyday life? I’ve never done a
role like this before...will I be able to do this?” I would lie awake at night, thinking to myself,
“I hope I can pull this off.” Night after night, my mind would race with the worst-case
scenarios of playing Isabella. What if I forgot something and could not get back on track?
What if I had a panic attack on stage and had to stop the show? What if I got food poisoning
from eating an old piece of chicken and had to constantly run back and forth because I could
not stop puking? These, as well as other ridiculous thoughts, kept me up many nights. What
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was it about playing Isabella that had be petrified? I do not remember any professional roles I
have played that kept me up at night with pure fear. Why this role? The easy and most logical
answer to this question is that Isabella was beginning to push me out of my comfort zone. For
years, I had the great luck of being cast in roles that helped me grow, but never had me
question my ability. I tell my acting students to always follow their fear because growth will
always be on the other side. As always, though, putting those words into practice is easier said
than done.
Playing Isabella taught me to take my own teacher advice and start chasing my fears.
Again, my friend’s words began ringing in my ears: “What’s on the other side of comfort?” I
later discovered that playing Isabella was a lot like jumping off a cliff with the trust that there
is a safety net below. The safety net in this case was the trust of the script, the hard work of
the cast, and being able to pull from life experiences. This role was not going to make me
sprout wings and fly off the cliff and into the sunset; it was going to be more like a free fall,
and I just had to trust the work I put in and know that there will be something to catch me at
the bottom.
Living in the World
Our scenic and lighting designers created the world of Measure for Measure with a
“timeless feel”. They did not want to set our story in a specific place because the themes of
sex, religion, and power are still apart of today’s society. The stark lighting of harsh whites,
yellows, and reds represented the several moments that these characters experience behind
closed doors. The specificity of the lighting helped guide my imagination for Angelo’s office.
Through the establishment of these scenic elements, I was reminded of how powerful Angelo
was. I was given the note to “remember where I am” in that moment. This is the office of
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someone in power. How does that affect Isabella at this moment? Has she ever been in an
office as grand as Angelo’s? And with these given circumstances, where does that place
Isabella’s mindset when Angelo closes the door to his office? There is no escape for Isabella
at this point and the support of the designer’s set and lighting helped me make those
emotionally charged moments come to life.
The floor was painted like a chess board representing the internal chess game that each
of the characters play. There is a sense of manipulation within each of these characters; each
of them is struggling and fighting for something meaningful to them and in some cases, they
will do just about anything to achieve what they want. In Isabella’s case, saving her brother
versus saving her own soul becomes the primary struggle. Once the floor was painted and the
walls were set, I found myself subconsciously playing chess with my scene partners,
especially in scenes with Angelo.
Fig. 6: WVU’s production of Measure for Measure, 2023
Charlie Meeks (Angelo) & Shelby Garrett (Isabella)
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There is a give and take between Angelo and Isabella, one representing power and the
other representing mercy. Like a scale, the power and mercy that these characters were
fighting for would never quite balance out; one side of the argument would drop one side to
its tipping point. This idea made me realize that Isabella is a scale herself balancing out the
role’s as a Sister of Claudio vs. Sister of God. Do these “sister” roles ever balance out? In
each of Isabella’s scenes, which way do her beliefs sway? One side of Isabella’s scale is based
in Law and Religion. The other side of her scale is her basic human and sister side. Isabella is
the scale of the play. Is there ever a moment in the play where her scale is balanced out? Or is
she constantly in a state of unbalance? She is the one trying to balance out the rules of the
Duke and Angelo. She is also trying to find her own stability in what she believes is right and
wrong.
This idea of playing chess and finding balance on an imaginary scale started to bring
clarity to the arguments between Angelo and Isabella. Being able to move like pawns around
this life-sized chess board helped shape these scenes with Angleo. At times, I found myself
playing the Queen to his King, advancing towards him to win my own argument. As an actor,
playing in this world that our designers created helped guide my own fight within Isabella.
And even though these characters have specific beliefs in their world, we did not want to
make them preachy or unrelatable. In true Professor McGonigle style, we were told to focus
on the clarity of what we were saying; otherwise, we, as well as the audience, would lose the
meaning of the play.
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Fig. 7: WVU’s production of Measure for Measure, 2023
Shelby Garrett (Isabella)
2/13/23: Act I run (first day off-book):
Wow. What a difference to act without our scripts in hand! I felt more settled and
READY to play with my fellow actors. Really being able to look at each other and say
these words made a huge difference with getting out of my head. My first scene with
Matt (Lucio) felt great tonight: playful and connected. Matt was giving me so much to
react to which really helped me start building my own Isabella.
Once we began rehearsing without our scripts, Isabella began to take some shape. With each
rehearsal, I could feel myself shedding who I thought Isabella was. In my twenties I viewed
her as one-dimensional, a spoiled girl with a lack of empathy for the people around her. But
now, I was viewing her as a human being going through extreme human experiences. She is
not spoiled; she is smart and opinionated, fiery, and tough, someone who refuses to give up on
her beliefs and morals. She has been wronged and lied to by men in power, and yet, she still
stood her ground and fought for what she wanted. She and I met again at the most perfect time
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in my life. I was able to pull from my own experiences and use Isabella as a type of vessel for
my own pain and heartbreak. She helped ground me, heal me, and allowed me to explore my
grief while also teaching me to fight back and stand up for my own beliefs.
2/15/23: Claudio and Isabella jail scene:
Jerry suggested both Paxton (Claudio) and I start this scene with some emotional prep.
Jerry told me to “go say goodbye to your brother” which helped for my own emotional
prep. Very emotional because, of course, I was thinking about my brother, Josh. We
worked this particular scene twice tonight and I realized how important it’s going to be
to incorporate a proper “cool down” to bring me back to reality. I know that I do not
want to make substances a part of my cool down from the heaviness of the show. I
need to find a healthier way to come down from these scenes. I must keep myself safe
as an artist, as a human, because I got rocked tonight. How do I take care of myself in a
healthy way?
To answer my questions on a proper cool down, I knew exactly where to go: the dynamic
vocal queen herself, Professor Brianne Taylor. The second year of graduate school was based
around performing Shakespeare and Professor Taylor’s vocal studio helped strengthen my
vocal dynamics, but also helped guide me into finding ways to keep myself centered and safe
while performing heavy pieces. There was one day of class where we were focusing on vocal
dynamics with Fitzmaurice Voicework®, a technique I have come to love as a performer.
Fitzmaurice pedagogy “combines adaptations of classical voice training techniques with
modifications of yoga, shiatsu, bioenergetics, energy work, and many other disciplines. This
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integration serves to harmonize the voluntary and involuntary aspects of the nervous system,
and the voice” (The Fitzmaurice Voice Institute). As mentioned before, I love incorporating
movement into my craft. Everything from yoga to chakra work to the Alexander technique,
finding ways to meld a character and their words within my body has always helped me feel
more connected and grounded within my work. This particular day in class, I was working on
a Tamora monologue from Titus Androicus. While focusing on breath, images, and text, I
suddenly passed my own threshold of comfortability. I was working through a specific
Fitzmaurice effort called The Seaweed and suddenly, there was an internal sensation of my
chest cracking open and everything just spilled out, kind of like when an egg pours out from
its shell. It felt like everything within me was shooting out like an oil well: I could not catch
my breath; I lost sensation in my body, and I could not stop weeping. This De-structuring
moment became an important discovery in my acting training. According to the mother and
founder of Fitzmaurice Voicework® in the article, “Breathing is Meaning”, Catherine
Fitzmaurice explains that:
“The Destructuring work consists of a deep exploration into the autonomic nervous
system functions…The tendency of the body to vibrate involuntarily as a healing
response to a perceived stimulus in the autonomic "fight or flight" mode (as in
shivering with cold or fear, trembling with grief, anger, fatigue, or excitement) is
replicated by applying induced tremor initially through hyper-extension of the body's
extremities only, thus leaving the torso muscles free to respond with a heightened
breathing pattern. At the same time a great deal of unaccustomed energy, waves of
tremor, and, ultimately, relaxation, flow throughout the body, sensitizing it to vibration,
and increasing feeling and awareness. The introduction of sound into these positions
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allows the ensuing physical freedom to be reflected in the voice too, not just the body,
because this freedom also naturally affects resonance and laryngeal use, so that pitch
range and inflectional melody are improved, as are tone, timing, and rhythm, and even
listening and inter-relating” (Fitzmaurice 2).
My Destructuring work in Professor Taylor’s class cracked something open in me. The
effects that tremoring had while saying Tamora’s words clicked something in my brain and
nervous system which threw me into the deep end, a place I would not allow myself to go as
an actor. Thankfully, with the help of Professor Taylor, as well as some of my classmates, I
was guided through Catherine Fitzmaurice’s Restructuring.
“Restructuring is… the harmonizing of that pattern with the individual's physical and/or
emotional needs for oxygen moment to moment. It requires the ability to isolate
particular parts of the abdominal muscle and of the intercostal and back muscles,
without interrupting the organic oxygen need…An awareness of oxygen need on the
autonomic level, and a trust in his right to pause, or to breathe in when he has a new
thought, are all essential for an actor while learning Restructuring, so that upper chest,
shoulder, and neck tension do not develop, and so that hyperventilation does not occur
since the lungs may take in much more oxygen than normal at one time. The
Restructuring with speech sounds, nonsense, impromptu speaking, and later, text,
because there is no need to have control over breathing placement or timing if the actor
is not using the voice. One may then practice the breathing pattern with various speech
sounds in combination, with varying lengths, speeds, pitches, and volumes of phrases,
with and then without pauses, and later again with different styles of texts, character
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voices, emotional expressions (e.g. laughing, crying, shouting, screaming), and body
positions, actions, and interactions, etcetera” (4).
Going through a Restructuring with someone like Professor Taylor calmly brought me back to
reality and settle back in myself.
That day in class became such an important day in my graduate school experience: I
learned that if I were to cross that uncomfortable boundary again, I could bring myself out of
it. I also learned just how connected our bodies and breath can become with words. According
to Catherine,
“since the physical and emotional aspects and the awareness levels of the actor can be
deeply affected by this work, the resulting growth of the personality helps create a more
mature artist, with increased potential for both sensitivity and pro-action. Through self-
reflexive contact with the autonomic nervous system the actor acquires not only a more
functional vocal instrument but also gains in autonomy, authenticity, and authority,
which impact both personal and social behavior, as well as aesthetic choices” (3).
Unbeknownst to me, that day Professor Taylor provided me the tools to start incorporating a
proper cool down that utilized my training in Fitzmaurice Voicework®.
2/16/23: Act V: Forgiveness:
Literally just getting out of a therapy session where we talked about my ex and why
he’s still a trigger for me. My therapist suggested forgiving him; not so much forgetting
and not forgiving his behavior for what he did but forgiving him. I said, “Why would I
forgive someone for betraying and hurting me?” and she said, “He gave you your life
back. He gave you your happiness back. You are thriving now without him.” And it
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took me back to Measure for Measure (because I’m associating everything within my
life to Measure for Measure right now) and I think what’s upsetting me with my ex is
that I want the “eye for an eye”, I want the “measure for measure”---he did this to me,
so I hope he gets it back tenfold. And even Isabella, after being sexually assaulted by
Angelo and Angelo wanting to kill her brother, she ends up forgiving him in Act 5. She
breaks the “eye for an eye” and she forgives this man—this horrible, narcissistic,
powerful man who was ripping her life apart. Without the assault and execution of my
own brother, it’s interesting how art is imitating my own life.
Like I have said before, I wanted to find a way to keep myself safe and healthy through my
graduate school experience and finding a therapist was one of those important ways to do such
things. This day in my therapy session was what one would call a “breakthrough:” not just for
healing the trauma of my past relationship, but also to find a way to incorporate that healing
through Isabella. I am the type of actor who pulls inspiration from personal experiences and
relationships to help inform the characters I play. My brother, Josh, became my inspiration for
Claudio. My inspiration for Angelo was inspired by a past relationship that was based on love
and trust, a relationship that was later brutally destroyed. Without knowing it at the time, I
was using my own painful healing and placing it through the eyes of Isabella.
In Act 5, Isabella saves Angelo from death by forgiving him from everything he did to
her. Until this recent therapy session, I was having a difficult time finding a reason as to why
she would forgive this man. In rehearsal, I could feel myself putting a wall up because I did
not want to forgive him. Why would she? After everything Angleo did to hurt and manipulate
Isabella, why on earth would she forgive this man? And then I had this breakthrough in my
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own life: beginning the process of forgiving my ex, in turn, helped me find a way to break
those internal walls down and have Isabella forgive Angelo. I remember Professor McGonigle
saying that I did not have to like forgiving Angelo, but for Isabella to move on with her own
life and break the cycle of an “eye for an eye”, forgiveness was her only option. This was
another moment in my graduate career that helped me blend my own life into my art in a safe
and effective way. Isabella helped me heal from my own past. She helped me place my own
hurt and pride aside and forgive those who may not deserve it, but in the end helped me begin
to find peace within myself.
2/27/23: Full run:
Something is off today. I find myself forcing emotion and connection instead of just
connecting and listening. There’s so much on my mind and I’m having a difficult time
letting the “to-do list” go. How do I find my way out of the “real world” and focus on
the present moment? I tried to relax in each of my scenes and just listen and connect
with my partners. There were moments I could feel myself forcing emotion; other times
felt connected and real. In tonight’s rehearsal, I’m trying to get back to the basics of
imagery, wants, needs, and the problems of the characters.
This was another moment in our rehearsal process where I needed Professor Taylor’s
guidance: I could feel myself becoming “stuck” in my body, voice and portrayal of Isabella. If
something felt connected one night in rehearsal, I would come back the next night and try to
re-create that same moment. Professor McGonigle’s guidance thus far was so supportive, but I
wanted a female’s perspective of the depths of Isabella. Professor Taylor suggested that there
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is a fight or flight within Isabella: when she is tested and pushed, she becomes very
animalistic. When she is told that her brother must die, Isabella digs her heels in and fights for
him, to the point of promising Angelo’s eternal salvation, something that most people outside
of a religious life could not promise. We also discussed the idea that there is power in a
woman’s sexuality. Isabella has been referred to as “fair” with her “external warrants”
throughout the play. But, unlike the other women in the play, Isabella relies on her
intelligence instead of her body which was especially fun to play considering we were playing
her true to my own age.
Everything Isabella says comes from a place of truth and confidence. She knows who
she is and speaks with firm belief in each of her arguments. She uses her brain for debate
when sparring against Angelo which excites him into using his power and authority over her.
With Professor Taylor’s helpful guidance, I felt like Isabella was becoming more fleshed out.
Learning about Isabella’s confidence and intelligence helped guide me into making her less of
a “picturesque nun” and more of a woman fighting for what she wants.
2/20/23: Designer Run:
We did a full run of the show tonight. I realized tonight that Shakespeare was a cruel
genius: he wrote Angelo and Isabella’s final scene and put it back-to-back with Isabella
and Claudio’s scene. This is the first time I had to emotionally navigate my way
through both scenes. Isabella is leaving a man’s office where she was almost sexually
assaulted and jumps right into the jail cell with her brother where she must tell her
brother that he’s going to die the next day. That was a lot to work through tonight. After
Claudio’s scene, I had to step out and do a little cool down to bring myself back.
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Finding a moment for a little yoga after this scene is helping me get my breath back
under me, helping me get out of Isabella’s mindset and back to myself before starting
Act 2.
With only a few days left before our opening night, it was exciting to see that there
were still discoveries happening within our play. Until running the entire show, I did not
realize the emotional jumps I had to make as an actor. This was the first time in my acting
career where I was being pushed to my emotional limit from scene to scene and had to find a
way to keep everything organized and centered while telling Isabella’s story in a truthful
manner. Going back to the basics of who I was talking to, what my partner’s behavior was
telling me, and fighting for what I wanted helped guide me through each of these challenging
scenes. Measure for Measure took all the skills and tools I had learned thus far in graduate
school and was being applied each day in the rehearsal room. I could feel myself being
stretched and challenged in each of our rehearsals. Some days were better than others. There
were some rehearsals that ended with pure joy and excitement over the discoveries and
connections made onstage. Other nights would end with me questioning my own ability as an
actor. Overall, though, this rehearsal process stretched me to my limits and showed me how to
apply my actor tools and skills in the most effective and truthful way.
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Chapter 5: Embodying the Character
As I prepared for my role as Isabella in Measure for Measure, I drew upon the various
acting techniques and skills I had acquired prior to the performance. To bring Isabella's character
to life, I delved deep into my Fitzmaurice Voicework® De-Structuring, along with yoga and
chakra training, and utilized a variety of imagery and music to help me fully embody her
mindset. In the following chapter, I will share the specific movement techniques, images, and
tunes that I employed to portray Isabella with authenticity and depth.
Inspirational Images
In undergrad, I had the honor of taking a master class with Broadway’s own, Victoria
Clark. Ms. Clark is one of the top musical theatre artists with a wide range of credits from
Broadway to television. Some of her more memorable credits include The Fairy Godmother in
the Broadway revival of Cinderella, Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, and most recently, playing
Kimberly Akimbo in Broadway’s Kimberly Akimbo, where she earned her second Tony award
for Lead Actress in a Musical. A handful of students were chosen by their voice teachers to sing
something and be coached by this award-winning actress. During one of the coaching sessions,
Ms. Clark asked a student what images they used to help build the world of their song. This
young, aspiring actor said that they did not use any images; they were just relying on the
important, but foundational work of who they were talking to and what they wanted. Ms. Clark
then pulled out an overstuffed book from her bag. She told us that, although the “book work” of
an actor is important, it is just as important to find inspiration outside of the actor’s lines. The
book she was holding was her scrapbook for Broadway’s Light in the Piazza, a role she
originated and won her first Tony for. She passed her book around as we gawked at it in
amazement. Every page was filled with images, quotes, song titles, anything and everything that
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brought inspiration for creating her character. She told us that she makes scrapbooks for every
show she has been cast in. Throughout her rehearsal process, Ms. Clark can go back and
reference specific pages to help build her character and the world around her. The scrapbooks
allow her to get out of her head and start sinking into the world and physicality of her characters.
Fig. 8: Shelby Garrett and Victoria Clark. Wright State University, 2007
Since taking this masterclass in 2007, I have tried to create my own version of an “actor’s
scrapbook” to build my characters. Exploring and discovering new sources of inspiration is
something that I love to do, especially when it comes to building a world within a show. It is
fascinating to observe the nuances of someone's mannerisms, expressions, the way they carry
themselves, and discover references in paintings or photographs to incorporate into my
character's journey. That is precisely how I approached Measure for Measure. I decided to utilize
one of the greatest gifts for creative people: Pinterest. I created a virtual scrapbook to build
Isabella's character, spending countless hours searching for images, quotes, and music that could
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help me develop a vivid and robust idea of who Isabella was. I knew I wanted to start with
images of Isabella's mannerisms and expressions, using them as a foundation to build upon. As
mentioned before, my initial ideas of Isabella were someone who was quiet and meek, so
exploring different images to showcase Isabella’s fiery strength became the beginning of my
exploration.
Fig. 9: Topham, Frank W.W. Isabella, character in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Sand-grain photogravure,
July 16, 1888. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington Limited.
My first and most helpful image came from a painting found at the Folger Shakespeare
Library
5
by English artist Frank W. W. Topham in 1888 (Figure 9). This above image was the
most useful to me purely for Isabella’s physical demeanor. She is on her knees, gripping her
5
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has
the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare and is a primary repository for rare materials from the
early modern period in Britain and Europe. “Home | Folger Shakespeare Library.” Folger, 9 Apr. 2024, www.folger.edu.
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hands with a harsh and determined look in her eyes. There is nothing soft about Isabella in this
painting. Through this painting alone, I knew that this moment was from Act 2.2 where Isabella
is begging Angelo for her brother’s life. In my portrayal of Isabella, this picture became the
foundation for building her. As mentioned in my previous chapters, I grew to discover that
Isabella is a strong and opinionated woman, always standing up for her strong moral and ethical
beliefs. The way she tightly grips her hands in a prayer position also signifies the desperate
pleading for Claudio’s life. In my moments of confusion with Isabella, I found myself coming
back to this picture. This portrait immediately reminded me that even though Isabella has a soft
side, her anger, strength and determination still shines through.
Fig. 10: Hamilton, After William. Isabella and Angelo, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Act 2, Scene 2. Print.
1794. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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I wanted to find images that also showcased her physical tenacity. This second picture,
featured above, I found from the Metropolitan Museum of Art was painted by William Hamilton
in 1793 (Figure 10). Isabella’s stance alone reveals a tenacious power in her appeal for her
brother. Instead of physically portraying her as a wallflower, Hamilton painted Isabella with
outstretched arms, opening herself up to Angelo, who looks appalled, almost frightened of
Isabella’s determined strength. The specific color pallet that Hamilton chose for this picture
brings the spectator’s eye immediately to Isabella. Her stark white habit against Angelo’s darker
colored outfit makes her the standout in the portrait; the viewer’s eyes instantly lock on her and
her powerful stance. In a time where women were considered lower rank than men, this portrayal
of Isabella reveals the type of strong woman she has always been. Just like Topham’s portrait, I
made sure to reference both paintings when I needed a gentle reminder of how Isabella was
written. Both Topham and Hamilton knew of Isabella’s power and strength which is why these
two portraits became so important in my construction of her.
Fig. 11: Rhead, Louis. Measure for Measure, Hear me, Isabel, said the agonized Claudio. Pen and ink. 1918.
Lamb’s Tales.
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Artist Louis Rhead’s drawing of Isabella and Claudio became one of the most significant
images I used for my inspiration in building her internal strength (Figure 11). Similarly to my
other inspirational images, Isabella appears unshakeable against her brother’s appeal to save his
life. Claudio is chained to the prison floor and down on his knees, begging for Isabella’s help
while she stands tall against him. Like the other images, Isabella ‘s expression looks just as
determined, but with a tinge of pain behind her eyes. This was helpful in remembering that even
though she is standing up for her beliefs, she is still fighting against wanting to save her brother.
It was easy to forget that in her determined state, she needed to be affected by the painful idea of
saying goodbye to her brother. I used this image before entering the prison scene with Claudio.
In that scene, I could feel myself giving in to Claudio, wanting to save him, wanting to give up
Isabella’s morals. But this picture reminded me she literally stands up for what she believes in,
even against her own brother. This picture, as well as pictures of my own brother, helped guide
me through the ups and downs of the prison scene.
Fig. 12: QR code for Inspirational Images
Along with these three pictures above, I also utilized inspirational pictures that portrayed a softer
side of Isabella. I attached a QR code to my Pinterest “scrapbook” for further references of
pictures, quotes, and inspirations that helped me create Isabella.
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Inspirational Music
When researching a character, I feel like I am one of the rare actors who does not use
music or create catchy playlists. I have relied on the playwright’s words and my own actor
impulses to help build a character. With Isabella being my graduate thesis though, I knew I
wanted to try finding different pieces of music in an attempt to guide me into discovering
different depths to her. Months before creating my Isabella playlist, Professor Taylor had the
graduates create a playlist for a Shakespearean character in her voice class. As mentioned before,
I was playing with one of Tamora’s monologues from Titus Andronicus. In the selected text,
Tamora is begging Titus to save her sons from slaughter, conjuring images of dirt, blood, and
destruction. While creating my Tamora playlist, I relied heavily on specific images and senses,
wanting to find music that helped me easily access the deep desperation Tamora was feeling.
Surprisingly enough, after creating this playlist, I found myself using music to help me get into
Tamora’s mindset. Before performing the monologue, I would pop my headphones on and pull
up a few minutes of a song. The music helped me with accessing Tamora’s deep emotional
turmoil. This was such a wonderful lesson to learn right before creating Isabella’s playlist.
I knew I wanted to focus on finding pieces that evoked images and senses through
Isabella’s storyline. In my research, I quickly fell down the rabbit hole of lyrical music with a
classic spiritual sound. To help Isabella and I connect at the top of each show, I would first listen
to the prelude of Wagner’s opera, Lohengrin. When places were called, I would head down to
the theatre in my nun attire, find a place to kneel and listen to this song. The lightness and
airiness that this song conjured helped me find a stillness and an internal calm in myself, as well
as my Isabella. This song conjured an internal calm before the storm and helped with staying in
the moment, as well. Before the top of any show, I mentally track my character’s journey.
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Through this practice, though, I would sometimes think about playing the ending of a scene
before it even happened. It was beginning to take away the spontaneity of being in the present
moment and reacting to my partners. I found that incorporating music, specifically Wagner’s
Lohengrin, into my warm-up routine helped me stay in the present moment for the top of the
show.
Lohengrin: Prelude
Richard Wagner: Orchestral Highlights from Operas
When I needed to access Isabella’s strength and rage, especially during the heightened
moments with Angelo and Claudio, I would shift gears in my music and listen to songs with a
little more instrumental edge. The two pieces that effortlessly guided me into these heavier
moments were segments from Christoph Willibald Gluck’s opera, Oefeo ed Euridice and Verdi’s
powerful piece, Dies Irae, which translates to Day of Wrath, from his opera, Messa da Requiem.
Both pieces conjured up a deep internal rage and heaviness for me. Unlike Lohengrin, the change
of tempo, the instrumentations of brass, strings, and a full choir within these pieces helped
Isabella desperately fight for something, whether it be her brother’s life or her own virginity.
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Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30: Dance Of The Furies
Christoph Willibald Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice
Dies Irae
Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem
Before entering Act 2.4 with Angelo and Act 3.1 with Claudio, I would find a moment backstage
and listen to segments of both pieces. Unlike my normal routine of looking at inspiration images
and doing a bit of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, I found that just listening to one to two minutes of
these songs gave me an immediate sense of the heightened emotional state I was trying to tap
into.
Finally, I knew I needed a piece of music to express the deep pain of losing Claudio.
Unlike my other pieces, I wanted this piece to guide me out of the intense rage against Angelo
and Claudio and help me find the emotional trauma of losing my brother. Samuel Barber’s
Adagio for Strings became the perfect piece that helped me achieve this mindset. I would find a
moment to listen to this song right before entering Act 4.3 when the Friar tells me Claudio has
died. This piece gave me a sense of calm that I needed before entering Act 4.3. Before this scene,
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I was moving through intense internal peaks and valleys of Isabella, incorporating moments of
rage and strength then quickly having to shift into deep painful expression. Finding a moment to
listen to this song helped me find that sense of focus and calm before being catapulted into the
pain and rage of losing Claudio.
Adagio for Strings
Samuel Barber
It is interesting to me that before Measure for Measure, I had never utilized music as part
of my character development. My brother and I were raised by music educators, so music was
always a part of our everyday lives. After this process though, I learned just how integrated
music is to my acting process. Listening to a specific song before going onstage seemed to focus
and center me quicker than any of my other tools. Since performing Measure for Measure, I have
been sure to create specific playlists for other productions. It helps me add another layer to the
character’s world I am trying to create. In building Isabella, I found that music became a tool to
help me access her in a way that added more layers, nuances, and levels to make her a more
centered, truthful person.
Isabella Playlist
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Applying Body & Breath to Isabella
I first discovered the effects of yoga and body work in my undergraduate program. What
was meant as a class to fill an elective turned into a life changing technique that I have been
practicing since 2008. During the pandemic, the only thing that seemed to bring a sense of
purpose was my yoga practice, so I decided to follow that passion and train to become a certified
yoga teacher. In a matter of months, I gained my 200-hour registered yoga teaching certificate
through Sacred Paths Yoga. Since becoming certified yogi, I have found that my work on the
mat has effortlessly affected my work as a teacher and performer. I make sure to incorporate
some sense of yoga in a warm-up before any rehearsal and performance. In my practice, I also
discovered the application of chakra work and for the first time as an actor, I decided to
experiment and apply some chakra techniques in creating Isabella.
In our theatrical culture, there is a strong emphasis on the study of the physical body. As
actors, we are taught through different movement and voice classes how our anatomy works and
functions on and off the stage. What is interesting is how seamlessly the techniques we learn as
actors can blend into techniques and beliefs behind the physiology of yoga. In yoga, once one
begins to deepen their practice and become more in tune with their bodies, one begins to feel the
shift of energy in the body, movements, and emotions. Upon further practice, we begin to feel
the effect that this energy has on the body, mind, and spirit.
There are many terms in yoga used to describe the “energy” or “pathways” of the body.
One of these terms is Nadis. Nadis is “the pathway that energy takes as it moves throughout the
physical body” (Ashram Yoga). When these Nadis begin to cross each other in the body, the
formation of a chakra is born. Chakras are connected to specific organs in the body and utilizing
yoga poses helps the “awakened energy distribute to different organs” (Ashram Yoga). I was
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interested in which chakras Isabella led from and wanted to experiment with specific yoga
positions to help open the charkas up. Hippie-Dippie? Yes. But just like my discovery with
creating a playlist for a character, I wanted to see if there was a way to blend my love of yoga
and movement into building Isabella.
The Chakras
1. Root Chakra: pelvic floor
2. Sacral Chakra: pelvic basin, lower belly, a few inches below the naval
3. Solar Plexus Chakra: solar plexus, core
4. Heart Chakra: heart
5. Throat Chakra: throat
6. Third Eye Chakra: forehead
7. Crown Charka: crown of head
Each of the chakras lives in a particular placement in the body. There are different yoga poses,
colors, foods, and scents to help open a particular chakra. I had been building Isabella for a few
weeks when I decided to experiment with where her strong chakras lived. In a way, my deep
knowledge of her made it easier for me to play with and discover where her chakra points were
and how to activate them. Innately, I knew that Isabella’s strongest points lived in her Heart,
Root, and Throat Chakras. She has a strong foundation in her beliefs, is stubborn yet warm and
loving, and is not afraid to speak her mind. Knowing these basic human emotions of Isabella
guided me into finding different points in the script to start applying these three chakras.
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1. The Heart Chakra:
ISABELLA. O, were it but my life,
I’d throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin. (3.1.117-119)
Look, if it please you, on this man condemned
As if my brother lived. I partly think
A due sincerity governed his deeds
Till he did look on me. Since it is so,
Let him not die. (5.1.509-512)
• The heart chakra is the fourth or middle chakra.
• This chakra helps control the energy concerned with our basic rights of
acceptance, love, empathy, balance, and nurturing.
• Color Association: green or pink
• Physical Associations: heart and lungs
• Yoga Positions: heart openers, camel, star gazer, breath work
• Fitzmaurice effort: any arching effort: Mermaid, Rocking Horse, Blarney Stone
The heart chakra is in the center of the chest, right where the physical heart lives. This
chakra is also connected with the anatomy of the heart, lungs, and the thymus gland. I would find
moments to incorporate heart opening yoga positions, such as camel pose or cow face before
entering my scenes. Any back bend (which was interesting to do in a nun habit) or deep breath
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work would begin the process of relaxing my heart and lungs while connecting to the heart
chakra. I wanted Isabella to mainly lead from her heart chakra. In the beginning of applying
chakral work to her, I knew I wanted to start with her heart because she was leading her life
through a place of love. As an actor, I try to lead my characters through a place of love and
empathy for the people around them. In my initial experimentations with this chakra, I found
myself empathizing with many of the other characters onstage. My first interactions with Lucio
became softer, leading from a place of openness for his plea to save his best friend and my
brother. Applying the heart chakra to my scene with Claudio in Act 3.1 helped me find a deeper
compassion for his time of desperate need. Leading with the heart in the beginning of this scene
also made the fall much heavier when Claudio is taken away.
I discovered that experimenting with where Isabella’s chakras lived eventually created
new layers to her persona. There were times where this little experiment helped in understanding
the text in a new way, too. As mentioned in Chapter 4, I was having difficulty finding justice in
Isabella’s choice in forgiving Angelo. I was making the decision to forgive him with anger
actively living deep within me; I could feel myself actively building an imaginary wall between
myself and Angelo at that moment, which in turn, never felt genuine and truthful. As an actor, I
did not understand why she would make the choice in forgiving a man like Angelo. However, I
found that after applying a sense of true love and compassion towards Angelo in this moment,
the text and my intentions became clearer.
2. The Root Chakra:
ISABELLA. “I would to heaven I had your potency, and you were Isabel.” (2.2.88-89)
• This is the first chakra, the lowest of our major chakras.
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• This chakra helps control the energy concerned with our basic right to be alive, of
self-preservation, and survival.
• Color Association: red
• Physical Associations: spinal column, ankles, feet, knees, and hips
• Yoga Positions: reclined butterfly, mountain, warrior poses, squat, any grounding
poses
• Fitzmaurice effort: Goddess, Butterfly
The foundational qualities of the root chakra deal with our families, stability, and safety.
A stable root chakra “can provide emotional strength in the face of fear and anxiety” (Ram). This
chakra is associated with our primal survival needs, our “fight or flight”. Yoga poses, such as
corpse pose, child’s pose, and a standing forward bend helps the body with finding a connection
to the earth and breath. Before entering any scene where I knew Isabella would have to stand in
her convictions, I would set myself up in one of these yoga positions while listening to my
playlist. Having a moment to utilize a grounding position helped in finding my breath and focus
line with Isabella before going to war against Angelo. I knew I wanted to have Isabella live in
her root chakral energy when she was fighting for Claudio, especially against Angelo in Act 2.2
and 2.4. When she is sparing against Angelo, she is literally fighting for her brother’s survival
and later in 2.4, she is fighting for her own basic survival. I wanted to give Isabella a strong
foundation to stand upon in these moments and practice these grounding poses before one of
these scenes connected me to her root chakra.
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3. The Throat Chakra:
ISABELLA. I will proclaim thee, Angelo, look for ‘t.
Sign me a present pardon for my brother
Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud
What man thou art. (2.4.163-166)
• The throat chakra is the fifth chakra.
• This chakra helps control the energy concerned with our basic right to speak and
be heard. It is our chakra of art, creativity, and self-expression.
• Color Association: blue
• Physical Associations: neck, throat, ears, vocal cords, lymphatic system
• Yoga Positions: shoulder stand, plow, neck rolls, lions breath, rabbit
• Fitzmaurice effort: Healthy Cow, Forward Fold
The throat chakra is located “at the base of the throat, at the center of the larynx...it’s
positioning also has a direct impact on the organs and glands that surround it, such as the thyroid
and parathyroid glands, larynx and tongue” (Ram). Any inversion pose such as plow and fish
pose, are the best for connecting to and releasing tension to the throat and thyroid gland. After a
few weeks of rehearsals, I was learning how opinioned and strong-willed Isabella was in her
convictions with family, religion, and the law. Once again, backstage, I would take a moment
and apply neck rolls or fish pose to my practice. Applying these inversion poses to open this
chakra connected me into leaning into Isabella’s power and strength to stand her ground.
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The Application of Fitzmaurice Voicework®
The way yoga became an important tool for my creative process is the same way
Fitzmaurice Voicework® will now be utilized in each of my warm-ups and character
developments. This specific pedagogy, founded by Catherine Fitzmaurice, blends the techniques
of “yoga, shiatsu, bioenergetics, energy work…to harmonize the voluntary and involuntary
aspects of the nervous system and the voice” (Fitzmaurice Voice Institute). This technique taught
me about the power that can be found within the human body and voice. It has become one of the
new foundational tools that I will carry with me for life. If I ever found myself stuck with
Isabella or wanting to find a new way to deepen her, I would apply a few of the Fitzmaurice
Destructuring efforts backstage. Utilizing this work allowed me to explore different ways of
incorporating my love of movement through this new technique. When I needed to find new
ways of getting out of my head, I would take the lessons from Professor Taylor’s Fitzmaurice
informed pedagogy and apply it to Isabella. Finding the moments to Destructure while listening
to my Isabella playlist helped me live more with my breath and body than in my head. As
mentioned in previous chapters, I was finding myself becoming stuck in the analytical parts of
Isabella instead of trusting the work I put into her. The process of Destructuring guided me out of
my head and into the heart and breath of Isabella. In my research on this topic, I came across an
interview with Cahterine Fitzmaurice conducted by voice coach and son, Saul Kotzubei. This
segment in particular breaks down the specifics of what I was trying to achieve through my own
Destructuring with Isabella.
KOTZUBEI: One of the things I notice when something opens up, or sometimes just
when I’m tremoring, is that different emotions come up. Can you say something about
that?
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FITZMAURICE: Emotion is a movement of energy. Emotion is a name we give to
various physical sensations in the body because they go beyond the physical and have a
psychological component, and we tend to judge them as either good or bad. Sadness,
anger, fear, and joy are the four major emotions. Each of these emotions which we
sometimes think of as abstractions in actual fact has a physical component, a specific
physical component in the body. And the tremor, when it brings energy into those
specific physical areas, activates what feels like the emotion. So our body might cry
simply because it wants to and needs to because we’ve been holding for so long…We
tend to hold emotion in our bodies in places that have tightened to the point of becoming
unconscious. When those deep tensions release, energy that was blocked there also
releases and we feel the previously held emotion.
One of the pivotal moments in my Fitzmaurice practice happened when Professor Taylor
coached me through Isabella’s wailing in Act 4.2 when she discovers Claudio has been killed.
Professor McGonigle wanted this news to be Isabella’s breaking point which means I had to find
a way to incorporate a guttural, yet, healthy and sustainable wail.
Figure 13: Excerpt from rehearsal journal
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Professor Taylor went through the techniques of an effective and sustainable wailing, focusing
on breath, energy, and moving the sound up and out. Pictured above (Fig. 13) is a journal excerpt
from the vocal extreme day with Professor Taylor, showcasing the main points that I wanted to
focus on for the wail. After rehearsing this vocal extreme, I realized that many of the
Destructuring tremors I had learned would help in achieving a sustainable wail for the show.
Throughout the show, I would find moments backstage to move through a Destructuring tremor,
connecting my breath and body to the emotional mindset for Act 4.2. For instance, I know that
moving through The Seaweed effort helps me release my abdomen and allows my ribcage to
swing to its fullest capacity. This effort has been the most successful in deepening my breath and
allowing me to live fully in my body. Because my feet are overhead, this allows my abdomen to
relax and the tension in my shoulders and neck to fully release. This is my favorite and most
effective effort because it permits my body to surrender to gravity while feeling the full capacity
of my breath, which in turn gives me more freedom in my body and voice.
One of the reasons I decided to go back to school was so I could learn new ways to build
the world of the characters I was playing. Upon reflection, I was able to lean into many of the
actor tools that I had learned throughout the years. For many past productions, I had just been
relying on my yoga training and image-based work to build a character. That’s as deep as my
warm-ups and character building went. The entire process of Measure for Measure, though, gave
me a whole slew of new techniques and tools that I could use to help deepen my character. While
writing this thesis, I still find myself going back to my Isabella scrapbook and playlist to add new
references. This process taught me that for the actor, the work of building a character is never
done.
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Chapter 6: Conclusion
My final chapter will discuss moments, ideas, and discoveries while performing Measure
for Measure. I wanted to incorporate a discussion with our director, Professor Jerry McGonigle,
as well as journal entries from the production.
Select Journal Entries
3/9/2023: Opening Night!!:
Happy Opening Night! Tonight had that amazing electric opening night feel. Having the
energy of the audience helped with everyone’s energy. I gave myself enough time to do a
proper warm-up before heading into make-up and costume. I listened to my Isabella
playlist, did some yoga, focusing on opening my Root and Heart chakras. Tonight, I
wanted to focus on telling the story, connecting with each of my partners, not playing the
ending of the play, being open and effective for my partners and most importantly,
being present.
Honestly, I do not remember much from our opening night. I remember feeling ready to open the
show, but I do not recall being nervous or anxious. For years, I have told people that the most
nervous I get in the process of a show are the seconds before going onstage. I relate it to
climbing the hill of the tallest, scariest rollercoaster right before heading downhill. There is this
moment of, “God, why did I get on this rollercoaster?! Why do I keep doing this to myself??”
Then you walk onstage, and the fear dissipates into full blown excitement. I knew that the
amount of work and support everyone had put into our production was one of the main reasons I
felt a sense of calm. It also helped that I had found new warm-up tools such as, chakral work,
music, and images to help guide me through the pivotal moments of playing Isabella. It was the
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first opening night where I felt more than ready because of the amount of preparation we all put
into the production.
3/10/2023: Night 2: Night before Spring Break:
Tonight’s performance was tough for me. I feel like I’m scraping the bottom of my
emotional barrel and forcing moments instead of connecting. I tried to go back to my
emotional prep of music and pictures of my brother, but damn it was exhausting trying to
get through those heavy scenes. I'm so happy that Spring Break starts tomorrow, and we
can all step away and heal for a bit before jumping back in.
The second show of a run has notoriously been my least favorite and most challenging. The
excitement of opening night has dwindled away and the show is now in the actor’s hands. Our
second night of performances for Measure for Measure also happened to be our night before
Spring Break, something that each of the cast members desperately needed. Up to this point, we
had been balancing out being students, teachers, and performers; in other words, we were
exhausted. Because of my own fatigue, I found myself wanting to recreate the magic and
connection of opening night. I was relying on the excitement of what we all experienced in our
first show and forcing it into our second show. I found myself focusing on recreating some of the
more emotional moments instead of connecting with my partners. The analytical part of my brain
was in total control for this second performance. I teach my theatre students that one of the great
joys of theatre is that each show is a new experience; a performance is never the same from night
to night. So, how do we as the actors stay in the moment of the play while acting as truthfully as
possible from show to show? How do we push through the exhaustion and perform to the best of
our abilities?
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Spring Break thoughts:
How am I going to do the rest of this run? It’s so emotionally draining. Right now, I feel
safe and healthy, but damn it’s a lot. I don’t want to have the feeling of “recreating”
anything, but I still want to be able to deepen Isabella, flesh her out a bit more. How do I
do that while keeping everything fresh and new? How do I stay connected and fight
through feeling so empty and drained?
The work is never done for an actor, even when one is on Spring Break. To stay on top of the
lines, I made sure to dedicate at least one hour a day to the script. This little task was much easier
said than done. I was drained and exhausted from the semester and the show. All I wanted to do
was sleep and eat while binge watching episodes of The Great British Bake-Off. Taking the time
to look over my script and mentally review the show seemed like an impossible task. This is
when the panic started to sink in. How was I going to finish this run? How did professional
actors, especially those I watched in the RSC’s production, perform this heavy piece of theatre
night after night? I was burning out and could feel myself settling into the panic.
3/22/23: Show 3:
Before tonight’s show, I made an appointment with Professor Taylor to chat about
healthy ways of making it through the rest of this run. She suggested that I start getting
out of the “intellectual aspect” of the script and find ways to bring it into the body. Start
allowing the text to live through the breath instead of in the head. I need to start trusting
myself and all the work I have put into Isabella. I decided to try a little experiment with
tonight’s show: I was going to let go of my music and pictures for tonight and just focus
on my physical warm-up. Before going on stage for my scenes, I would do 30 second
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planks in my nun costume (a sight to be seen, I’m sure...), I would find moments to bring
in some Fitzmaurice work, tremoring to open up and connect to my breath, I even found
short bursts of time to incorporate some yoga. I discovered that getting out of my head
and back into my breath and body helped me stay laser focused onstage. My breath
deepened with each of these physical warm-ups which in turn, helped me stay present
with my partners. When in doubt, get back to the basics of breath and connection to the
body. “Get out of the frontal lobe and into the heart.”
As an actor, I discovered that if I find something that works well for my process such as images
and music, I tend to lean heavily into those tools without applying any other techniques. I knew
that specific images and songs worked well for my process of getting into Isabella’s mindset. But
after Spring Break, those tools were not working quite as well. I was also stressed about finishing
the run of the show in a safe and healthy manner. Isabella’s journey through the show was
packed with intense highs and lows, both mentally, physically, and emotionally. Once again,
instead of trusting all the work I put into creating Isabella, the analytical part of my brain was
taking over and I began doubting myself and the work I had put into building her. Having this
conversation with Professor Taylor reopened my eyes to the other accessible tools I had learned
in graduate school. Looking back now, what is so interesting to me is that I use movement in my
pre-show warm-up, but I was forgetting to apply it backstage. I was so in my head about “getting
it right” that I was forgetting to add body and breath into Isabella. As stated in my journal entry,
incorporating moments of tremoring or yoga helped me get out of my head and back into my
body. Once I began applying my chakra work to my mini backstage warm-ups, I found myself
“out of the frontal lobe and into the heart” of Isabella.
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A Conversation with Director, Professor Jerry McGonigle
Shelby: Was there a specific reason Measure for Measure was picked for last year’s season?
Professor McGonigle: There are good thesis roles and I thought it was a play that could afford
some gender-neutral casting. And it’s a challenge! A lot of people would argue with me, but the
challenge is in the language, and I thought, “That’s what we emphasize.” It just bugs me that
people aren’t willing to just do the play.
S: And that’s something you taught me through the process was to just go back to the
basics. It’s just people talking. You guided us to focus on the “here’s the language and
here’s what they’re saying to each other.”
J: I think a lot of people who do Measure for Measure know it as a ‘problem play’ and then must
over-compensate for that with some kind of clever idea, when you don’t have to because the text
is already good. I’ve always had a fear that someone would tell me, “You have to do Measure for
Measure.” And when I was making cuts [to the script], I kept telling myself, “Just get back to the
basics. Keep what’s necessary.”
S: Were there specific themes that you wanted to focus on in our production?
J: The frailty of being human. It’s the world’s first sexual harassment play, and I thought “we’ve
explored that subject so many times in contemporary theatre” but this was the original I think.
The ambiguity of the play, the presumptions that men make, up to the very end, the Duke is very
presumptive I thought, well, ‘this is very interesting’. So, I guess, thematically the humanity of
what is involved when people get carried away. And you know, I think if Isabella had her way
she’d say, “Fuck all of you!”, but she can’t and therefore, the men presume.
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S: I think it’s easy to forget that even though Shakespeare’s plays were written over 400
years ago, the characters and the stories still relate to the same human experiences we have
today.
J: And the reason Shakespeare still survives is because the universal human truth is still there.
Even though the trappings have all these complexities, it’s still a really simple story. And the
story of Measure for Measure is great! I don’t understand why they call it a problem play. I think
it actually works! It’s just weird because humans are weird.
S: What was your idea of Isabella? Did your ideas of her shift throughout our process? Did
I bring up any new ideas for you about who she was?
J: It was clear to me within the first nights of callbacks that you were one of the people who
could handle the emotion and the language of Isabella. So, you have a choice with Isabella: I
think she’s supposed to be this eighteen-year-old, very innocent, person. And what I discovered
by casting you is that the men are attracted to Isabella, not because she’s an eighteen-year-old,
but because she’s a kick-ass, intelligent woman. That changes the fiber of the play.
S: I am not in my ingénue age anymore. So, I had to take Shakespeare’s language, that was
written for an eighteen or nineteen-year-old character and find a way for her text and
storyline make sense as a thirty seven-year-old.
J: Isabella is very stoic and very righteous, and I think the cop out is that people assume that she
is happy to be married to the Duke at the end. That is not the way I wanted to go.
S: In your opinion, what do you think Isabella does at the very end of the play?
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J: I think she goes and becomes a nun. I think she’s telling herself that if I had any doubts in this
world, all these men have fucked me over, I now know that I am not going to participate in this
game.
S: Re-visiting the script to write my thesis, I found that there are still moments of the play
and of Isabella that I haven’t figured out yet. Do you believe that an actor should have
everything figured out about their characters and the world of the play by closing night?
J: No. I think that would be bad. I think it’s messier than that and I think that if you try to
hammer into the audience that Isabella did become a nun at the end that would take away the
messiness. I think mystery and unanswered questions are not a bad thing, I mean, that’s why the
play was written. If you write a play to answer a bunch of questions, then it’s probably not a very
good play. And that’s probably one of the reasons it’s considered a problem play because it’s so
weird and open-ended. I mean, how often do we go through life and go ‘I don’t really know why
I just did that’ or ‘I don’t know why I just said that’. I think that messiness is okay and we in the
theatre have the responsibility to present that human messiness. And the more people talk about
the play, the better job we did. Teaching acting is teaching people to live in the middle of these
complex, extremely meaningful circumstances. I think actors want to take away all the
uncomfortableness of living in those things and then tie it all up with a bow. So, making choices
is about fucking it all up even more as opposed to it being neat and tied up.
S: Well, as you know, I went through a pretty adult year last year. So, being able to revisit
and be with Isabella made me realize that I needed her and needed to be with her as this
woman that I've become. It’s so corny to say, but she really helped heal me and lean into
my badass side and stand up for the things I believed in. She came at a perfect time in my
life. So, thank you for that.
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Final Thoughts
It has been a full year since we performed Measure for Measure. I am now in the final
months of my graduate school career and in the thick of writing and editing said graduate thesis.
This is the longest time that a show and a character have lived with me. It is an unusual
experience because once a show closes, I can let go of the character. In my final year at WVU,
many of us were cast in other productions and had to step into new worlds as new characters. I
discovered that there was always a glimpse of Isabella in each of the new characters I was
playing. My final show at WVU was Lauren Gunderson’s Book of Will which incidentally was
about the creation of Shakespeare’s First Folio. I felt like I went into that final production with a
wealth of Shakespearean knowledge because Isabella was still with me. Without Isabella, I do
not think my characters would have had the same calmness and grounding within them. In
moments of confusion within a play, I would try exploring a more “badass” side of the
characters, which in turn, added a bit of edginess to them.
When people ask me about graduate school, I now say the same words my undergraduate
professor, Bruce Cromer, expressed me: “Go out and live as an actor.” The characters I got to
meet and play, the monologues and scenes I got to perform at WVU were all supported by my
choice of going out and gaining some life experience. Because of this, I entered graduate school
with a plethora of knowledge to apply to my work. In the beginning of Measure for Measure, I
had reservations about playing Isabella. I had met her before and was not a fan. But because I
had gone out and “lived as an actor”, I had gained a new perspective of who she was and what
she was fighting for. Many of Isabella’s personality traits also helped me heal from my own
pains. She taught me to stand up for myself and my beliefs; she taught me to lean into my own
internal strength while keeping an open heart; she taught me how to be a true and determined
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“badass” independent woman. I am eternally grateful for reconnecting with her and having her
by my side in my own journey of healing.
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