The Merchant of Venice

Synopsis

Written around 1596 and the first Shakespeare to be preformed professionally in America (New York, 1752). A man needs money to pursue a rich heiress (Portia) and approaches his friend Antonio - but unable to lend it Antonio approaches the Jewish moneylender Shylock. Shylock hates Antonio because of his Christian contempt for usury so offers a contract wherebty if the money is not repaid he may take a pound of flesh instead. The quality of mercy is not strained as Shylock is foiled out of his pound of flesh by Portia dressed as a man. A dark comedy exploring greed and racism.

Our Review:

20 February 2009

“In sooth I know not why I am so sad” is one of the best opening lines of all drama, let alone Shakespeare, but director Edward Hall replaces it with a transposition of a later line, “Which is the Christian, and which the Jew?” to make a point about racial tension: the antagonists, merchant Antonio and moneylender Shylock, step forward to the front of the stage.

Hall’s all-male Propeller company is in Kingston this week with a revival of their delightful A Midsummer Night’s Dream and this powerful new production of The Merchant, moving on to Rome and a two-month residency at the Watermill, Newbury; in May they decamp to New York and Milan before returning to Cheltenham, Salford and Oxford in June.

Why is The Merchant, designed by Michael Pavelka, set in a prison of clanking bars and grey-suited inmates, functional chairs and tables and two mobile cages? Portia is imprisoned by her d...

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Latest User Review

HB - 24 February 2009:

I saw Merchant at the Poole Lighthouse at the start of the tour and loved it. Once again Ed Hall has done a superb job in direction. I loved Richard Clothier as Shylock. Well done boys - another superb show!...

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