Dr Peter Kirwan

Tag: The Merchant of Venice

  • The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] (Again) (American Shakespeare Center) @ The Blackfriars Playhouse

    The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] (Again) (American Shakespeare Center) @ The Blackfriars Playhouse

    Every now and again, I’ve been lucky to see a revival of an existing play that makes that play feel freshly written, as if designed for that company and that moment. The reworking of Death of a Salesman for an African American family; Theatre Wallay’s reworking of The Taming of the Shrew as a commentary…

  • The Merchant of Venice 1936 @ Watford Palace Theatre

    The Merchant of Venice 1936 @ Watford Palace Theatre

    The choice to perform The Merchant of Venice in a current political climate rife with antisemitism specifically and xenophobia more broadly requires care, to say the least. Produced at a time when moral leadership on immigration was being provided primarily by a football pundit, Brigid Larmour’s production (created in collaboration with actor Tracy-Ann Oberman, who…

  • The Merchant of Venice (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, via RSC Live

    The Merchant of Venice (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, via RSC Live

    Last night’s broadcast of The Merchant of Venice was one of the more fraught of the RSC Live from Stratford-upon-Avon screenings so far. Perhaps it was the reflective glitter of the golden mirrored wall that towered over the set, but the picture quality was much fuzzier than I’ve seen it for any live broadcast so far. The…

  • The Merchant of Venice (Habima) @ Shakespeare’s Globe. Part II: The Production

    Follow-up to The Merchant of Venice (Habima) @ Shakespeare’s Globe. Part 1: Outer Frame from The Bardathon It’s impossible to divorce context from production. Immediately after Dromgoole left the stage, still being applauded for his pre-emptive shutting down of protests, the actors of Habima emerged onto the Globe stage and called for a welcome, whipping the audience immediately…

  • The Merchant of Venice (Habima) @ Shakespeare’s Globe. Part I: The Outer Frame

    The Merchant of Venice (Habima) @ Shakespeare’s Globe. Part I: The Outer Frame

    Reviewing an event such as this evening’s performance at the Globe of The Merchant of Venice by Habima (Israel’s national theatre) poses serious ethical questions. If the review focuses on the entire experience – the preliminaries, the tensions, the various kinds of performance taking place both outside and within the auditorium – then the production itself, Habima’s…

  • The Merchant of Venice (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

    The Merchant of Venice (RSC) @ The Royal Shakespeare Theatre

    Rupert Goold’s new production of The Merchant of Venice for the RSC has already caused something of a stir in the press, dividing critics and audiences alike. Despite the presence of a star name in Patrick Stewart in the cast, this was not the traditional Merchant that many may have hoped for, but rather a full-scale reinvention of the play that offered…

  • Bond (Taiwan BangZi Opera) @ The Hyatt Regency, Bellevue

    You’ll notice that Bellevue is off my normal reviewing route. While attending the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America just outside Seattle this week, I took the opportunity to catch a special performance by the extremely prestigious Taiwan Banzi Opera Company of Bond, its retelling of The Merchant of Venice. The scheduling of the performance…

  • The Merchant of Venice (Propeller) @ Liverpool Playhouse

    After some rather poor Shakespeare at the end of 2008, I have to say that it’s a relief and a pleasure to begin 2009 in the company of Propeller and their thoroughly interesting Merchant of Venice. It’s been a couple of years since I was wowed by their Shrew in Stratford, and happily Edward Hall and his all-male company seemed to have lost…

  • The Merchant of Venice (RSC) @ The Courtyard Theatre

    The Merchant of Venice has long been one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. I love the fact that the play can so easily and excitingly be used to confront so many issues: anti-Semitism, homosexuality, gender oppression, racism, child abuse and more have all been dealt with in productions I’ve seen. It’s also one of the very few…

  • The Merchant of Venice @ Shakespeare’s Globe

    The Merchant Of Venice is in trouble. In all the version I’ve seen of it on stage and screen, this “comedy” has become a very serious play, with one issue- Shylock. The Jew. The events of the early 20th century have unbalanced the play, drawing on the discussion of anti-semitism to turn this into the play’s…