Eliana
03-27-2009, 06:32 PM
...you *must* go see Seattle Shakespeare Company (http://www.seattleshakespeare.org/)'s production of Merchant of Venice. We've been attending their productions for ten years now, and have loved them all (and I went to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival at least once a year from 8 to 18 - some years we saw every show offered at least once - and as often after that as I could until we moved to Seattle)... but this show affected in ways and on levels none other has done.
Merchant is a hard play... both in its blend of comedy and tragedy, and in the issues it addresses for modern-day audiences. It is not a comfortable play, not at all, and this performance doesn't make it any easier on the viewers... quite the contrary, in fact, but it is, imnsho, a very important play - at least when well done. ...and this production takes well done to new heights.
This Shylock is very visibly, and viscerally Jewish - despite some of the errors (Jews do not kneel to pray - Xtians kneel, Muslims prostrate, Jews *stand* - it was clearly a staging choice (and a visually appealing one); Shylock has Eastern European accented English, but uses Sephardic pronunciation for his Hebrew (which is the pronunciation of modern spoken Hebrew, but not the way an Ashkenazic Jew would daaven (pray)) anyway, despite those glitches, I have never identified so powerfully with a Shylock before (and I have seen some very excellent productions). ...this made the play even harder for me emotionally, of course, and I am still processing the emotional impact.
So, *go* ...and tell me what you think. (You might see if there are tickets left for the student matinee (http://www.seattleshakespeare.org/education/studentmats.asp)s - they are significantly cheaper.
Merchant is a hard play... both in its blend of comedy and tragedy, and in the issues it addresses for modern-day audiences. It is not a comfortable play, not at all, and this performance doesn't make it any easier on the viewers... quite the contrary, in fact, but it is, imnsho, a very important play - at least when well done. ...and this production takes well done to new heights.
This Shylock is very visibly, and viscerally Jewish - despite some of the errors (Jews do not kneel to pray - Xtians kneel, Muslims prostrate, Jews *stand* - it was clearly a staging choice (and a visually appealing one); Shylock has Eastern European accented English, but uses Sephardic pronunciation for his Hebrew (which is the pronunciation of modern spoken Hebrew, but not the way an Ashkenazic Jew would daaven (pray)) anyway, despite those glitches, I have never identified so powerfully with a Shylock before (and I have seen some very excellent productions). ...this made the play even harder for me emotionally, of course, and I am still processing the emotional impact.
So, *go* ...and tell me what you think. (You might see if there are tickets left for the student matinee (http://www.seattleshakespeare.org/education/studentmats.asp)s - they are significantly cheaper.