Constructed of blue bricks and metal bars, the set for the University Resident Theatre Company's production of Measure for Measure looks harsh and cold, the only life coming from actor Brooke Behmke as he ran through his lines before dress rehearsal Tuesday night.

Behmke (graduate-acting) has many soliloquies to perform in his role in the Shakesperean problem play. This is something characteristic to Shakespeare, and also something that makes his job as an actor somewhat difficult.

"It's a challenge to find the largeness of soul that it takes to perform Shakespeare," Behmke said, as his eyes roamed the Playhouse Theatre. Actors need that soul because Shakespearean characters bare their true feelings rather than relying on subtext the way that characters in contemporary drama do, he added.

But the rehearsal process has gone well for Behmke, who plays the Duke. The Duke has watched the city of Vienna fall into vice and corruption under his leadership. So he puts a rigid leader named Angelo in charge, and goes undercover to watch Angelo's effect. Angelo sentences a man to die for getting his girlfriend pregnant. When the condemned man's sister comes to plead for his life, Angelo shows his true colors by asking her for sex in return for sparing Claudio's life.

Behmke said he has had to make some bold choices with his character, due to the ambiguity of Measure for Measure. The play has been called one of Shakespeare's problem plays, because it doesn't fit into the tragedy, comedy or history genres with his other plays.

But the ambiguity allows for artistic interpretation, Behmke said. It has allowed him to approach his character creatively. But trying to draw parallels between his life and the Duke's has been hard, seeing as Behmke has never been a duke. He smiled when he said the closest thing to it would've been being vice president of his high school class.

But Behmke said understanding the Duke is all about finding a place in himself and allowing himself to go there. He said he has to do a lot of homework, which means re-reading his text over and over to look for clues. "We're detectives," he said.

Andrew Heffernan's sleuthing before the rehearsal process gave him an idea of his character, Angelo. But that conception is altered when he performs as Angelo in the world of the play.

In some ways, he can identify with Angelo, who has a dark side. Heffernan pointed out with amusement that he seems to be cast as sexual deviants because of his role as a rapist in last year's Keely and Du.

"It's kind of funny because I'm a nice guy," he said, but added with a smile, "They always say you play parts of yourself."

Though performing Shakespeare has presented some challenges for these actors, director Lucien Douglas said he had no doubts they can handle it.

"Acting is acting is acting," he said, pointing out that Shakespeare is in essence no different than any other playwright. The only demand for actors stems from the heightened language, which allows for depth of feeling, Douglas said.

Douglas and costume designer Doug Marme collaborated to design the distinct costumes. The play is set in Vienna and was written during the Elizabethan era, but Douglas said, "The themes of the play are more universal than that."

So, the costumes couldn't be identified with any one historical era.

They are eclectic, Douglas said, resembling something from an MTV music video. Others are similar to trendy, Italian fashions.

Virginia Queen (graduate-acting) said she looks like Snow White in her costume, which was a simply-cut white dress, symbolic of her pure character, Isabella. Others bustled about around her, jingling with chains and clad in black lace and huge wigs with strands of blue hair.

"This play is very universal," she said.