'The villany you teach me I will execute...'
One of Shakespeare's most popular plays, The Merchant of Venice was written some time between 1594 and 1596. It has always been a popular play, and is said to have been performed more often than any other of Shakespeare's plays except Hamlet.
Bassiano, a young Venetian, seeks to borrow money from his friend Antonio, a successful merchant, so that he can impress and woo a wealthy heiress Portia. Antonio arranges a short term loan from the Jewish moneylender Shylock. Despite Shylock's hatred of the Christian Antonio, he agrees to loan the money on condition that failure to repay the debt will mean that Shylock will extract a pound of Antonio's flesh in return. Antonio agrees and the story unfolds.
'Comedy is a special kind of play in which the audience would expect to find a certain kind of story, with certain conventions. Although comic means funny, tending to laughter, comedic means obeying the conventions of comedy as a form or genre. The rule of comedy is that however serious the confusion, all ends well. The Italian poet Dante (1265-1326) wrote a Commedia, a journey through hell to purgatory and up to heaven, which ends well, but does not make its reader laugh.' (Michael and Mary Alexander, 1998).
The Merchant of Venice and Othello are the two Shakespearean plays which have sparked the most controversy, and The Merchant of Venice is the most controversial and (surprisingly) beloved play in Israel. It appears that although the play is difficult and not seemingly a comedy at all, Shakespeare may have been simply using the comedic form to make people look more objectively at the appalling injustices we inflict on one another because of our differences. So maybe this is the 'comedy' of it all - Shakespeare sees people, Jew or Christian, simply as people. If encouraging his audiences to see that we all share a common humanity might well prove difficult, then using the theme of money (to which everyone would relate) could be the best way to reach them. The Merchant of Venice is undoubtedly a challenging play, but ultimately for most of the characters the play does have a happy ending in keeping with the genre.
Directing The Merchant of Venice has been an enjoyable challenge as it has given me my first opportunity to direct a Shakespeare play. William Shakespeare was a great storyteller, and my aim with this production is to ensure that this story is told, not just in the terms of the prejudices of the world in which we live, but to present injustice as it continues to exist.
Gary Mackay
Director