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29855 Northwestern Hwy. • Applegate Square • Southfield • 353.2757
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1990
REVIEW
A Strong Performance
For A Flawed 'Merchant'
EDWARD KARAM
Special to The Jewish News
A
mold Wesker's play
The Merchant is the
show that killed Zero
Mostel. It was on the first
night of tryouts in
Philadelphia that Mostel,
playing Shylock in this retell-
ing of The Merchant of Venice,
died in 1977. Mr. Wesker and
the producers decided not to
replace him with a star, and
the show flopped in New
York.
Sunday night a new produc-
tion opened at Jewish Ensem-
ble Theatre's second season at
the Maple-Drake Jewish
Community Center, and the
cast, if not the play, showed
radiant good health.
Arthur Beer, tall and beard-
ed, captures Mr. Wesker's
moneylender perfectly: not
Shakespeare's furtive, spiteful
plotter, but a patron to Jews
fleeing the Inquisition, a self-
taught scholar with a Falstaf-
fian appetite for knowledge.
He has even educated his
daughter Jessica (Suzi
Regan), who now demands
more freedom and accuses
Shylock of being "an intellec-
tual snob." This Jew is a
bibliophile with a rare and
valuable collection of books,
and his best friend is the mer-
chant Antonio.
Mr. Wesker has pointed out
in interviews — and in a visit
to Ann Arbor on Monday —
that the crucial bond for the
pound of flesh is Antonio's
idea. As in Shakespeare, An-
tonio borrows money from
Shylock to lend to his friend
Bassanio. Since all commer-
cial transactions between
Christians and Jews had to be
accompanied by a bond, An-
tonio insists that his friend
make one for his own protec-
tion. Hurt and angry at being
reminded that the Jews' life
in Venice "is a privilege wand
not a right," Shylock responds
with "a pound of flesh." Bar-
baric laws, barbaric bonds,"
he says, intending to mock
the Venetian law with his
"nonsense bond."
But the plan backfires, and
because the Jews' safety rests
in strict interpretation of the
Venetian law, Shylock and
Antonio beg for a cancellation
of the bond from Venice's
Christian rulers. That's when
Portia, Bassanio's wife, steps
in and asks about this
business of flesh and blood.
Edward Karam is an Ann
Arbor theater reviewer.
Antonio (David Fox) with Shylock (Arthur Beer).
This Shylock is delighted by
her interference, but the law
still dispossesses him.
But that outline hardly sug-
gests the unwieldiness of this
script. Mr. Wesker, who
together with John Osborne
and Harold Pinter was one of
the original "Angry Young
Men" of British play-
wrighting in the 1950s and
1960s, has crammed in other
issues: women's rights, prin-
ting, political disputes, trade,
principles and principals
(with interest), and class
division in Venice. It's a vir-
tual history of the
Renaissance.
Much of the dialogue stops
the action, and too often
sounds like we're eavesdropp-
ing at a history lecture. At its
worst, we get transplanted
20th century sentiments like,
"There's a woman on the
English throne — anything
can happen."
Nonetheless, JET has
mounted a committed and im-
pressive period production,
and director Nick Calanni
uses Russ Smith's set of vary-
ing levels effectively to show
off a generally talented cast.
Maureen McDevitt's Portia
glows with passion, energy
and self-sufficiency. Ms.
Regan's Jessica, though a bit
shrill in her rebellion, brings
out the character's loneliness
and the pain of being deceiv-
ed by Lorenzo.
Perhaps John-Michael
Manfredi's Bassanio is too
dull and stolid for the "cunn-
ing fortune-hunter" Mr.
Wesker intends, and perhaps
Mark Willett as Lorenzo is
more smarmy that powerful-
ly demagogic in his big court
scene, but Keith Ellis' quirky,
nattering Graziano is a
splended bit of comic
invention.
As Shylock's sister Rivka,
Henrietta Hermelin Wein-
berg kvetches with gusto.
And though David Fox's
troubled Antonio never seems
Shylock's intellectual equal,
he and Beer together provide
a solid center to the
production.
During Sunday's perfor-
mance, an astute member of
the audience whispered,
"Why doesn't Shylock sell his
books to raise the money?" A
good question. Mr. Wesker
said Monday that the pro-
blem hadn't occurred to him,
but he is still working on the
play.
A newer version, retitled
Shylock, has just been
published by Penguin. It's too
bad that the JET didn't wait
for this presumably more
stageworthy version. ❑
-I ENTERTAINMENT lin
Sousa Program
By Symphony
John Philip Sousa will
come to life at the first
1990-91 Detroit Symphony
Orchestra Weekender Pops
concert as conductor Keith
Brion recreates the march
king's symphonic pops perfor-
mances in "Sousa at the Sym-
phony" 8:30 p.m. Oct. 19; 8:30
p.m. Oct. 20 and 3:30 p.m Oct.
21 at Orchestra Hall.
Joining Mr. Brion and the
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
will be Spain Middle School
Marching Band, Victor
Miller, director; Luis
Maldonado, euphonium;
Charleen Ayers, soprano;
DSO member Clement
Barone, piccolo. WQRS-FM
radio personality Charles
Greenwell will narrate.