MEASURE For Measure is one of Shakespeare’s “problem plays”, which in this case is a roundabout way of saying it is not one of his best.

York Shakespeare Project is working its steady way through all 37 plays, and actor Matt Simpson has taken on the challenge of measuring up to Measure For Measure in his first directorial posting since The Crucible in his Lancaster University student days 12 years ago.

He brings a clear vision and resolute comedic purpose to his updated production, setting Shakespeare’s dark comedy-drama of misunderstandings and hidden identities in the Viennese whirlwind of political corruption, sex, scandal, justice, nuns and friars in 1913.

“It’s an odd play, where it's not a comedy, but it's not a tragedy either because it doesn't end up with a pile of dead bodies,” summarises the director. “It starts as a heavy morality tale but then it's tonally all over the place and changes completely.”

It is indeed an odd play that is no less odd for this production having an uneven rhythm and tone to go with similarly uneven performances from a cast of 23, as Simpson eschews doubling up roles in favour of spreading the workload in community theatre.

This policy does put plenty of actors in the shop window but Shakespeare is the toughest of all task masters, emphasising the gap between professionals and the next rung down.

What Simpson’s rollercoaster does create is a sense of turbulence both in white heat of revolution in Vienna and in the damage inflicted on lives by hypocrisy, double standards and political expedience.

The most even, eloquent performance is given by Nick Jones’s duplicitous Angelo, the control-freak deputy to the Duke Of Vienna.

Angelo’s unbending moral crusade is utterly compromised by his lack of self-control in the presence of Anna Rogers’s Isabella, a novice nun caught on the horns of a dilemma after her brother Claudio (George Stagnell) is sentenced to death for making Juliet (Emma Dubruel) pregnant. Rogers re-affirms herself as a principal player of substance to go with her auburn radiance.

Clive Lyons is the odd one out, his Duke (later disguised as a friar) having disconcerting speech patterns and a tendency to drag out his lines. Anna Rubbi’s Pompey goes the other way, physically humorous but needing to slow down her delivery.

Cameos produce the best comic performances, in particular Jacob Fleming’s cocksure Lucio, Tom Straszewski’s suitably named Elbow and Alexander Gordon’s apple-chomping Abhorson, while Lydia Onyett’s contrastingly serious Mariana is the second half’s outstanding turn.

Catherine Dawn’s blue set with an edge like a chewed postcard adds another odd note but the oboe, concertina and cello music of Fleur Hughes, Alison Morgan and Jenny Green is a delight.

Measure For Measure, York Shakespeare Project, Friargate Theatre, York, today at 7.30pm; tomorrow and Sunday, 2pm and 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 613000.