Posted on 07/12/2007 6:43:58 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
SPRING GREEN, WI -- In a year that's already seen shock-jock Don Imus canned for waxing racially insensitive and Tommy Thompson's presidential campaign sidetracked by ill-considered remarks about Jewish individuals and wealth, it's somehow appropriate that American Players Theatre would choose this summer to take another swing at "The Merchant of Venice," one of William Shakespeare's most problematic plays.
While we'd like to think we've come a long way from that courtroom where the Jewish merchant Shylock calls for his pound of flesh, the headlines keep telling us otherwise.
The play hinges on a romance and a contract: To help finance his friend Bassanio's (Matthew Schwader) romantic pursuit of Portia (Colleen Madden), a clever and spunky heiress, the merchant Antonio (Jim DeVita) borrows cash from Shylock (James Ridge), his sworn enemy. Antonio defaults, and Shylock pursues his fleshly due with a murderous spite that's often terrifying to behold.
In the hands of most companies, "Merchant" is a big ol' dramatic booby trap. And it's not because of the dreadfully un-PC stereotypes Shakespeare wove into the play -- although they're likely as uncomfortable as they were several centuries ago. The real danger here is how dreadfully easy it is for Shylock to tumble into caricature, unintended comedy blunting the tough questions about the nature and quality of mercy the character raises.
With his beard jutting at a decidedly defiant angle, Ridge's triumph is to lend honest, human agony to Shylock. His delivery drips with almost constant anger and challenge: When he learns that his daughter Jessica (Leah Dutchin) has forsaken the faith and eloped with both a bushel of his ducats and the Christian merchant Lorenzo (Paul Hurley) you can almost -- emphasis on almost -- begin to understand the blind determination with which he pursues his twisted and literal justice against Antonio.
This is a man who's searching for some kind of absolute in a world that loathes, disrespects and dehumanizes him. (Throughout the play, Shylock is referred to, not by his name, but as "Jew" and "The Jew" -- even by the Duke of Venice, who you'd think would have the political sense to take a higher road.) He finds it in that fateful courtroom, and the karmic payback is brutal and one of the production's best scenes.
Director James Bohnen gets huge return on his cast's acting investments, and Ridge's tour de force is merely the most bullish of the lot. DeVita's Antonio is an unusual exercise in restraint for the man who so often tops APT's playbill. Ultimately, Antonio isn't much more likable a man than Shylock. Although he's certainly a stand-up guy and then some in Bassanio's eyes, he's also a raging anti-Semite (as are most of Venice's merchant class) with a personality that stops just a shade short of full-on depressive. Schwader's Bassanio is remarkably expressive, and Madden, playing yet another of the Bard's resourceful female heroines, tilts confidently from love-addled girl to logical lawyer and back again.
"Merchant" isn't a Shakespearean Seriousness Summit by any means: Jonathon Smoots won the audience over with his hilariously foppish portrayal of a pair of suitors who fail the guess-the-right-chest puzzle set by Portia's late father.
While his cast is stretching their acting muscles, Bohnen's pursuing interesting nuances in the play, including casting questions about the precise nature of the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio, and what it means for Bassanio's wedded bliss. These are the marks of a director who knows his subject well enough to explore it deeply, and the audience is the beneficiary -- of a challenging, powerful night of theater.
"The Merchant of Venice" runs in repertory with four plays through Oct. 5. For ticket information, call 608-588-2361 or go to www.playinthewoods.org.
But what a stretch this reviewer is making! Can't works of art be judged on their merits and their time in HISTORY? Must EVERYTHING be re-written to fit the PC mold of today? Yeesh!
It's a STORY. Enjoy it. Learn from it.
With this dopes logic, we'd better not EVER watch "Gone With The Wind" again...there were slaves in it! And what about the Wiccan Witches Union? Guess we'd better ban "The Wizard of Oz" while we're at it...it portrays witches as evil! *ROLLEYES*
Not really. It has two evil witches, one of whom is seen only as a pair of shriveling feet, and one good witch.
Looks like a balanced portrayal to me.
Its very hard to imagine a Nazi or Muslim play with a Jewish villain that would let Shylock deliver the wonderful soliloquy in which he asserts his humanity. "If you prick me, will I not bleed?"
I have a little bit of Jewish ancestry and I don't think Shakespeare was an antisemitic, not any more than his age anyway.
“If you prick me, will I not bleed?”
My first serious boyfriend was Jewish. Does that count? LOL! It just didn’t sit well with his Jewish family and my Lutheran folks. That’s the first time I’ve ever felt rejected for who I am, but I totally understand it now as an adult.
“West Side Story” was written about us. ;) (NOT!)
I’m just SO excited to see this play. I’m going to read it before we go. My best friend buys us tickets to see a play each summer as my birthday present. It’s just the most awesome experience to watch a play out in the woods.
I sobbed like a lunatic while watching their production of “Macbeth” last year. Part of it is the beauty of the words, and the rest of it is coming from a “Theater Family” and I know how darn hard it is to knit a production together and pull it off.
Why these people don’t all leave us for Broadway is a miracle. Each and every actor in that troop could hold any leading role on The Great White Way. :)
Maybe they appreciate the better material?
“Maybe they appreciate the better material?”
Most likely, LOL! I guess I shouldn’t wish a trip to Broadway on anyone normal. :)
to call somebody a “shylock” is very insulting. People should not forget that. Some stereotypes are worse than others and that is one of them. Thanks, Shakespeare!
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