Drama: M of V / 22.4.2018

[DracoM]

Have directed this play twice, seen it several times on stage, including the famous Olivier at Old Vic, but rarely have I been left with so ugly a taste as to the treatmenht of Shylock as here.

Portia's chilly relentlessness, Bassanio's wild, street jeering anti-semitism, and the breath-taking speed with which all is forgotten back at Belmont in childish games between rich adolescent lovers - oh yes, who have just destroyed a man.

Crikey.

[french frank]

Have directed this play twice, seen it several times on stage, including the famous Olivier at Old Vic, but rarely have I been left with so ugly a taste as to the treatmenht of Shylock as here.

Portia's chilly relentlessness, Bassanio's wild, street jeering anti-semitism, and the breath-taking speed with which all is forgotten back at Belmont in childish games between rich adolescent lovers - oh yes, who have just destroyed a man.

Crikey.

Haven't yet heard it, but I'm not sure from your description whether it was a criticism of the production or not. It sounds as if it had a powerful effect?

[vinteuil]

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... isn't that the impression one always gets from The Merchant of Venice - that there isn't a single attractive character in the entire play?

I don't intend that as a criticism of the work - just a notable feature.

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[jean]

We heard some of the Christians calling Shylock by some of the insults Shakespeare merely has Shylock report; that was what mostly stood out in the treatmetn of the text.

Iwt was supposed to have been updated, but apart from the (presumably contemporary) songs, I couldn't sense the relevance to the financial crisis, and I was left wondering how you indicate an updating when you change the text so little and the audience can't see anything.

[DracoM]

NOT a criticsm of the production at all.

Portia's judgement and demeanour through and after it was for me the cold, cold heart of it all.

I just wonder- and I have done every time I#ve set out to direct it - whose side Shakespeare is on in this play. Never really worked it out.

The excoriating treatment of Shylock in open court is slow, detailed, not a shred of his dignity left intact - and then there's Jessica and what she does to her father.

Phew.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

NOT a criticsm of the production at all.
Portia's judgement and demeanour through and after it was for me the cold, cold heart of it all.
I just wonder- and I have done every time I#ve set out to direct it - whose side Shakespeare is on in this play. Never really worked it out.
The excoriating treatment of Shylock in open court is slow, detailed, not a shred of his dignity left intact - and then there's Jessica and what she does to her father.
Phew.

[greenilex]

I seem to remember being amused by the suitors?

[jean]

The suitors? Unlike Shlyock, interestingly, they are racist stereotypes. 'Let all of his complexion choose me so'.

[french frank]

Looking forward to finding the time for this one !

but apart from the (presumably contemporary) songs, I couldn't sense the relevance to the financial crisis

I suppose it's the repercussions of Antonio losing his money? The last "version" I saw was Anton Tchaikowsky's opera for WNO. Shylock certainly came over as a character more to be pitied than despised; the antisemitism there was very uncomfortable.

[greenilex]

I just meant that in the rather depressing early stages of James I most of this would have been played for laughs. If we choose to update it according to 21st century mores I guess that is grimness indeed.

I will have a listen later on, though.

A lot of our Will’s yumor hinges on groups of non-Londoners, after all.

[jean]

Shylock certainly came over as a character more to be pitied than despised; the antisemitism there was very uncomfortable.

I think he always does, because that's the way he's written. Astonishing for the time.

But the Christians can be played more or less sympathetically. One of the most interesting takes on this that I've seen was the 2016 production at the Liverpool Everyman with Jonathan Pryce as Shylock.

Although this is not indicated in the text, we saw Jessica, who has given up family and religion to marry Lorenzo, increasingly ignored and sidelined by her husband's friends.

[DracoM]

Gratiano throughout both the Shak text AND in the R3 production was a hot-headed, flag-waving, loud-mouthed, no holds barred, anti-semitic rabble rouser, who glories in Shylock's destruction and humiliation.

Given how the R3 Shylock was as quiet, as retiring as he was played, this vindictiveness was strengthened. The scene in which Portia delivers the quiet, piece by piece demolition of Shylock has Gratiano as a crowing chorus, triumphing in semi-hysterical terms.

As FF says, a very, very uncomfortable sequence indeed.

[french frank]

As FF says, a very, very uncomfortable sequence indeed.

I was, of course, describing the A. Tchaikowsky opera (which seemed to chime in with this production) - AT being Jewish and a six-year-old escapee from the Warsaw ghetto. (If anyone ever gets a chance to see the opera I would recommend it.)

[vinteuil]

The last "version" I saw was Anton Tchaikowsky's opera for WNO. Shylock certainly came over as a character more to be pitied than despised; the antisemitism there was very uncomfortable.

... possibly André

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Tchaikowsky

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice_(opera)

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[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... possibly André

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Tchaikowsky

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Me...Venice_(opera)

Ah, yes - Yorrick.