Merchant of Venice: William Shakespeare

The Swan, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Upon Avon

Runs: 2h 10m , one interval. No current availability. Availability from 24th Jan to 10th Feb 2024

Review: Roderick Dungate.

Performance, Audio described: Saturday 7th October 2023

5*****

Firm hands, sharp intellects frightening clarity.

Director Brigid Larmour has created a stunning production of Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeare’s two most problematic plays .Merchant is an unabashedly anti-Semitic play; Larmour, with judicious nipping and tucking (assisted by Tracy-Ann Oberman, who also creates Shylock) presents us with a flesh and blood tale which is extraordinarily uncomfortable, the acting space becomes a mirror reflecting some of the darkest elements within us.

Shakespeare’s Merchant is a bit fuzzy in structure; in this production there is clarity. Shylock is our protagonist; it is her journey to humiliation and destruction we witness. Our empathies are all with her.

Oberman’s performance of Shylock is towering, at any one point of the story, she always leaves Shylock somewhere to go. Her early bargaining scene with Antonio, Raymond Coulthard, is thrilling, the greatest insults being delivered in vibrating whispers – terrifying. Do we not bleed . . . halting, full of so much it can hardly be spoken. In the centre of the play are Shylock’s revenges speeches, a problem to us intellectually because we do not want Shylock to be bad. With consummate skill Oberman gives us the emotional truth, her revenge is dragged from her total despair and long isolation.

Many other strong performances. Hannah Morrish’s Portia is more-or-ess a spoiled brat, with her County vowels perfectly represented. But Portia grows through the action. In the Court scene she retains her Upper-class signifiers, but they are toned down – she grows up. We sense she is a far better deeper character than Bassanio – a bit of an opportunist.

Which brings us to the conclusion of the play. Throughout there are interventions of the Cable Street Fascist riots of the 1930s. The play ends this way. It is notable that the beauty, gentle comedy, and poetry of the return to Belmont is gone; in this London, at that time, under these circumstances, there is no room for poetry, beauty, gentle comedy. Let that be a statement for our times.

I have frequently complained about poor voice work in recent RSC productions; in this production I leap with joy. No shouting, voice production and text work that befits this company, and a Shylock who handles an edgy accent with firm confidence. (Dialect Coach: Daniele Lydon.)

In this remarkable production the play is, by the entire company, enabled to speak.

Cast

Antonio/Arragon – Raymond Coulthard

Mary/Nerissa – Jessica Dennis

Jessica – Grainne Dromgoole

Ensemble – Nancy Farino

Bassanio – Gavin Fowler

Lorenzo/Maharajah – Priyak Morjaria

Portia – Hannah Morrish

Shylock – Tracy-Ann Oberman

Gratiano -Xavier Starr

Duke/Waiter/Valet – Alex Zur

Creatives

Director Brigid Larmour

Designer – Liz Cooke

Lighting – Rory Beaton

Music – Erran Baron Cohen

Sound – Sarah Weltman

Movement – Richard Katz

Assistant Director – Guy Rapacioli