The Vienna of Folger Theatre’s “Measure for Measure” is relocated from Austria to the 1950s American South — so you can make that “Vie-enna,” as it’s laconically pronounced.
William Shakespeare’s bloodthirsty comedy opens with a man facing execution under a long-unenforced law against “fornication.” When public spaces bear signs dividing public amenities by race, that’s an offense easily read as “miscegenation.” Interestingly, the Folger’s production will undercut that easy black-and-white analysis with a provokingly simple casting choice.
