 | Merchant of Venice |  |
"If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh?
if you poison us, do we not die?
and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" Act III, scene i
Written: 1598
OVO at Trestle Arts Base ; April 20, 2007 St Albans, UK
Director : Imogen de la Bere ; Starring :
Reviewed on : 2007-04-20 21:02:10 ; Reviewed by : Wendy Attwell
| Premiered at Trestle Arts Base, this new production of The Merchant of Venice by the ever-innovative OVO theatre company once again fulfils expectations.
Throwing out the distractions of complex staging and historical costumes, director Imogen de la Bere aims to strip the play of 'clutter', paring it down to essentials so that the story and themes become clear. Consequently, the backdrop is a distorted projection of what looks to be Hebrew writing, the set comprised of a window and two shipping crates (printed with the location of 'Venezia' and 'Belmont' and cleverly turned in order to show where each scene is set), and the costumes a simple black smock and trousers for the women and silver robes for the merchant and his company.
This production chooses specifically to explore the male/female divide within the play, contrasting the male Venice with the female Belmont, and in order to do this, making some changes in how certain characters are presented. Portia's male servants are replaced by two female maids, the comic and excitable Aurietta (Sarah Passmore), and the sweet and extremely young Giovanna (Eleanor Weyman, who got an 'ahhh' from the audience on her entrance). Portia's suitors, the princes of Morocco and Arragon, are cut completely from the text. The scenes in which they make their choice of casket is replaced by a single scene in which Aurietta parodies the princes and their exercise, playing up their pompousness to great comic effect, with the gleeful participation of Portia (Lisa White) and Nerissa (Jo Mills). The women of Belmont are from the start played with great charisma; Portia's and Nerissa's first scene sees them fishing, with net and rod, across the front of the audience, and so their subsequent antics come as no surprise.
If the women of Belmont are playful and inventive, the men of Venice are sober and pessimistic. Antonio (Howard Salinger, who directed last years wonderful production of A Midsummer Night's Dream) is loyal and generous to his friends, and businesslike with Shylock, even trading insults as though they were usual business banter. Not so his friends; their antipathy towards Shylock is evident in their aggressive behaviour. The exception to this is Bassanio (Richard Cowling), who is more temperate and good-natured, showing restraint up until the point where it looks as though Antonio really will die.
Dewi Williams is perfectly cast as Shylock, portraying him as an old man who has suffered much abuse from the Christians and who now sees an opportunity for revenge. Williams' accent and rhythm of speech are spot-on for the character, and the pent up emotions he displays completely believable. Shylock doesn't come across as cruel, more misguided and perhaps a bit not-all-there - suggested by his muttering to himself and occasional forgetfulness (the character, not the actor). I felt very sorry for him despite his actions.
The director tells us that she has stripped away 'the heavy-handed attempts at humour' from the text, but that is not to say that no comedy is left, only that it is balanced with the more serious story of the play. OVO always manage to present extremely accessible Shakespeare, entertaining and highly watchable. With The Merchant of Venice they succeed once again.
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Sir John Gilbert, R.A.,
The Moneylenders
Reviews
|  | Royal Shakespeare Company
April 10, 2008 |  | Stratford Festival of Canada
August 3, 2007 |  | OVO at Trestle Arts Base
April 20, 2007 |  | California Shakespeare Theater
August 17, 2006 |  | MGM
2005 |  | Royal Shakespeare Company
1998 |  | William Poel
1898 |  | Junius Brutus Booth (1796-1852)
c. 1800 |  | John Philip Kemble (1757-1823)
1784 |  | Charles Macklin
c. 1740 |  | George Granville
1701 |
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