Originally posted by Conchis
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I don't know to what extent he meets your standards of "performance" in this "minor" play - or to what you consider "Jewish" - but there's also:
Last edited by ferneyhoughgeliebte; 26-04-18, 06:21.[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT] -
The 1600 Quarto is headed “The comicall historie of “ MoV...
But I rest my case. Everyman to his own concept, and WS is National not to say planetary property by now.Comment
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That only makes it two (or one, if you're discounting Suchet). Hard to feel that Jewish dramatic actors are beating down the doors to play the part the way black dramatic actors usually want to play Othello (which comes with its own set of problems attached).Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostComment
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Anthony Sher, Warren Mitchell, John Suchet makes three, doesn't it? And there was Henry Goodman, too. If I cannot name more, it's because I don't know which actors are Jewish or not.[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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Henry Goodman.
But how many British Jewish actors can you think of who didn't 'relish' playing Shylock?Comment
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A favourite non-live performance of the work, for me. I had the good frtune to be sat next to WM at a concert in celebration of the composer John White at the old BMIC site in Stratford Place. It gave me the opportunity to thank him for that very presentation of the Shylock character. He and John White had been involved as 'Willy Loman' (for which he was gained an Olivier Award) and composer respectively in a production of Death of a Salesman between 1979 and 1980 and had become good friends.Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostComment
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How would that be relevant?Comment
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By the way, that's a very strange Amazon listing as far as pricing in concerned. Oh, and that production is also to be found in the BBC Shakespeare Collection, which is how I came by it. This MoV was also directed by someone born into the Jewish tradition, Jack Gold.Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostComment
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Because in order to be intensely aware of your Jewish cultural heritage and of the effects of centuries of abntisemitism on your community it is not necessary to believe in God.Originally posted by Bryn View PostComment
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It does, however, offer a rather different perspective from which to address interpretation of the role. With Jack Gold the plot thickens. He converted to Catholicism, then lapsed, sometines considering himself a "Cacholic agnostic" and at other times a "Catholic atheist". Such matters cannot but condition ones approach to the work.Originally posted by jean View PostComment
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I don't share your certainty.
Have any of the Jewish atheist/Christian actors/directors you can think of expressed such a view?
I see nothing here about the extra nuances of Gold's religious progress:
...Pointing out that he, as well as Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Miller are all Jewish, the director Jack Gold explains that an accent was employed to make it clear that Shylock has not been assimilated into the community around him. Unlike the 1974 television version which starred Laurence Olivier as a polished, boardroom sort of Shylock, Mr. Gold's staging emphasizes the moneylender's differences from the other Venetians.
''We wanted to show a Jew not ashamed of being the sort of Jew he was,'' says Mr. Gold. ''If people are upset by that, it's like asking me to be ashamed of my grandfather because he spoke with a Yiddish accent and came from Russia and wore old clothes. I don't think people should be ashamed of the differences of human beings.'' Mr. Gold adds that Mr. Mitchell plays Shylock as an East European ghetto Jew as a means of creating a ''dramatic truth,'' although he acknowledges that ''it's quite likely that no such Jews existed in Venice at the time.'' The Jews in Venice, scholars point out, formed one of the most culturally sophisticated communities in Europe at the time...
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Many 16th-c. examples in the OED of 'comical' being simply oppsed to 'tragical': 'Resembling the ending of a comedy; happy. Obs.' (as MoV undoubtedly does).Originally posted by greenilex View Post
?1569 T. Underdowne tr. Heliodorus Æthiopian Hist. vii. f. 91v The wicked Battaile..whiche menne thoughte shoulde be finished with Bloude, had of a Tragical beginninge a Comical endinge [L. comicum finem].
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft iii. x. 57 A comicall catastrophe.
1588 R. Greene Perimedes sig. E Fortune willing after so sharpe a Catastrophe, to induce a comicall conclusion, tempered hir storme with this pleasant calme.
and especially:
a1627 J. Hayward Life & Raigne Edward Sixt (1630) 102 That all might appeare to be knit vp in a comicall conclusion, the Dukes daughter was afterwards ioyned in mariage to the Lord Lisle.
On the subject of Jewish actors, quite a number seem to have publicly wanted to tackle the role: like ferney, in most cases I wouldn't know whether anyone was Jewish or not. I do think that the identity is primarily a racial one, not a religious one.
Have we had this link?
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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No - I found it but I didn't post it because I thought it might be too American for this thread.
Miriam Gilbert's chapter looks interesting, though. Some keywords will bring up a Google Books result.
Now that I've read more about Olivier's interpretation, I feel less disinclined to watch the whole thing!
.Last edited by jean; 26-04-18, 09:59.Comment
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