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44,W 8 urn on talk TV and hear discussions about women's rights, race relations and anti-Semitism
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— issues as contemporary as Y2K f)reparedness. Add to your calendar a Hilberry Theatre
performance of William Shakespeare's The Merchant ofVenice, written for an English audi-
ence in the 16th century, and explore those same issues.
In Shakespeare's comedy, Portia is a wealthy heiress who, under the terms of her father's
will, eventually must forfeit control of her assets to whomever she marries. She is avidly pur-
sued by the fortune-hunting Bassanio, one of a line of suitors including a prince of Morocco,
an individual of color. Shylock is the moneylender financing the pursuit of Portia by Bassanio, through arrange-
ments made by Bassanio's friend Antonio. A religious Jew, Shylock ultimately is forced to convert from Judaism to
Christianity for trying to eke out an actual pound of flesh promised if the loan is not repaid as agreed.
But the issues of women's rights, race and anti-Semitism, evident in the characters and themes present in
The Merchant of Venice, cast today's
Below: British artist George Cruikshank executed this engraving of the trial
controversies in a different light. So
scene from The Merchant ofVenice" in the mid-19th centu Anti-Jewish
sentiment is evident in this negative stereotypical portrayal o Shylock, far left.
does the fact that Merchant was
intended as romantic comedy, not a
stream of serious discourse.
When the Hilberry Theatre stages
its first-ever production of Merchant,
running in repertory through Dec.
9, there will be a different expressive-
ness than what has been seen in so
many other versions, whether in
Israel, Nazi Germany or any country
and time offering the works of
Shakespeare to the public.
At the center of it all is Shylock,
who has been thought of as one ele-
ment in an anti-Semitic play or sim-
ply as a Jewish character in the
world of the stage, depending on
the perspective of the presenter
and/or viewer.
"How the play is interpreted
depends on how it's performed,
mockingly or movingly," says James
Shapiro, who is on the faculty, of
Columbia University in New York
and author of the book Shakespeare
and the Jews.
SHADES OF SHYLOCK on page 82
I
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199
Detroit Jewish News 79