The best part of this presentation on "The Merchant of Venice" is the commentary of narrator F. Murray Abraham, who has played Shylock on numerous occasions. Abraham's analysis about the gay dimension of the play, the dark nature of the dramatic experience, and the significance of Shylock is first-rate.
At the start of the program Abraham describes "Merchant" as "one of the strangest journeys you can take." The play is a puzzle from start to finish, and through the centuries, no character has been as controversial as Shakespeare's treatment of Shylock. Abraham also has an inherent dislike for Bassanio, a "real hustler" who eventually gives away Portia's precious ring as he acknowledges a superior love that he has for Antonio.
For Abraham, there are no winners by the end of the play. And the presence of Shylock haunts Act V, despite the fact that he has by now dropped out of the play. After the fiasco with the rings, the mood is gloomy in Belmont. In one production, Jessica lamented her plight in a long soliloquy delivered in Yiddish. If there is a final theme raised by the end, it is the question of why we refuse to see one another's humanity.
The film interviews the director of a 2016 production in Venice, who cast five different actors in the role of Shylock, including one woman. Karin Coonrod wanted a multicultural, international dimension to the play that guided her choices in the casting. The production commemorated the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish ghetto in Venice, the place where Shylock would have resided.
The program raises the question of whether Shakespeare ever met any Jews to guide him in his portrait of Shylock. Of course, the experts interviewed for the film can offer no clues about how the author acquired the specific knowledge of Jews residing in Venice in the late 1500s. But what if the author had actually visited Italy, resided in Venice, and saw the Jewish ghetto up close?
While the series is called "Shakespeare Uncovered," the filmmakers do not venture far enough to uncover the truth about the author of "The Merchant of Venice."
At the start of the program Abraham describes "Merchant" as "one of the strangest journeys you can take." The play is a puzzle from start to finish, and through the centuries, no character has been as controversial as Shakespeare's treatment of Shylock. Abraham also has an inherent dislike for Bassanio, a "real hustler" who eventually gives away Portia's precious ring as he acknowledges a superior love that he has for Antonio.
For Abraham, there are no winners by the end of the play. And the presence of Shylock haunts Act V, despite the fact that he has by now dropped out of the play. After the fiasco with the rings, the mood is gloomy in Belmont. In one production, Jessica lamented her plight in a long soliloquy delivered in Yiddish. If there is a final theme raised by the end, it is the question of why we refuse to see one another's humanity.
The film interviews the director of a 2016 production in Venice, who cast five different actors in the role of Shylock, including one woman. Karin Coonrod wanted a multicultural, international dimension to the play that guided her choices in the casting. The production commemorated the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish ghetto in Venice, the place where Shylock would have resided.
The program raises the question of whether Shakespeare ever met any Jews to guide him in his portrait of Shylock. Of course, the experts interviewed for the film can offer no clues about how the author acquired the specific knowledge of Jews residing in Venice in the late 1500s. But what if the author had actually visited Italy, resided in Venice, and saw the Jewish ghetto up close?
While the series is called "Shakespeare Uncovered," the filmmakers do not venture far enough to uncover the truth about the author of "The Merchant of Venice."
