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The Merchant of Venice is definitely a problem play for me. There’s a lot here to make a modern audience very uncomfortable.
Another problem is whose side you’re on. Nobody behaves all that well – and while this is a charge that could be levelled at a number of Shakespeare’s characters, the characters in The Merchant of Venice aren’t as easy to invest in as such incredible creations as Iago and the Macbeths.
It’s really difficult to get it just right so the play is lighthearted enough to be enjoyed, yet not so much so that it seems to be dismissing the horrific antisemitism which sadly still happens today. Shake-Scene Theatre Company really have done so well with this play. Where possible, the cast have embraced the comedy and given the play a great sense of fun, but they don’t hide the more serious aspects of the play.
The wealth of talent Shake-Scene has available also means they are able to give characters depth. Matt Williams’ Shylock starts off roguishly, not unlike his memorable Falstaff in Henry IV Parts I and II and The Merry Wives of Windsor - reviewed earlier this year on the blog but still in the future when The Merchant of Venice was performed live on Zoom. But Matt’s performance also shows the other, more serious facets to Shylock’s character. It’s a fascinating performance and there is so much to appreciate, there isn’t really time to worry about whether we should hate Shylock for his personality and morals (which are obviously irrelevant to his religion) or support him because of the abuse he has received in the past and receives throughout the play. Instead, you can just watch and enjoy and see Shylock as a multi-faceted human being who provokes many emotions throughout the play, not because of his religion but because he is a human being.
The many other excellent performers include Alexandra Kataigida. Her Antonio (who has she/her pronouns, which work just as well as he/him) gives a sense of being right on the edge and pushed to the limit. Calm, but only just. This is brilliantly sustained throughout the play.
Larissa Oates often finds herself playing boys and she plays these roles very well, but it’s always great to see her showing more of the breadth of her talent by taking on different roles. Here she is a very feminine (well, when she’s not dressed as a man), intelligent and amusing Nerissa. Nell Bradbury is a lovely Portia, sweet but with a hint of steel that shows she won’t be pushed around. In fact, she’s much more likely to push you around. Bradley Crees’ Bassanio seems so sure of himself at the start, ably supported by Simon Balcon’s Gratiano, but slowly things unravel.
Eugenia Low and Tamara Ritthaler make a great
double act as Salanio and Salarino, Siegffried Loew-Walker’s Aragon is a lot of
fun to watch (though probably a lot less fun to marry). The versatile Georgia
Andrews is an amusing and surprisingly likeable Launcelot. Linda Mathis is
dignified and controlled as the Duke, and Valentina Vinci is a wonderfully
flamboyant Morocco.
In a play where everyone is deceiving each other, Philippe Bosher’s ardent and romantic Lorenzo gives the play some welcome authenticity (in the modern sense of the word). Elizabeth Bell’s clever Jessica is a very lucky girl. Don’t mess it up, Jessica.
One aspect of the play which I noticed particularly in The Merchant of Venice was the number of repeated cues. As book holder Lizzie Conrad-Hughes explains, Shake-Scene’s productions use cue scripts, just as Shakespeare’s actors did. The actors aren’t given a full script – only their own lines with a few syllables for their cues. Mostly, this all goes really smoothly, but when a character repeats the same words several times, it is very easy for an actor to come in too early, perhaps more than once.
It is the sort of thing a playwright might do accidentally, but this is Shakespeare and one thing that really stood out in this play is that when the repeated cues happen and an actor starts to say their line early, it makes complete dramatic sense for the character to start to speak, and for the other character to cut them off, continuing with their speech. This made me suspect that the repeated cues weren’t an accident so it was really good to hear Lizzie answer this question in the interval and confirm that Shakespeare probably knew exactly what he was doing. (Obviously, I didn’t go and look it up in the middle of the play. I was busy watching the play!)
Shake-Scene have given a really good performance of a 'difficult' play – rather to my surprise, I enjoyed it!
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