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THE MERCHANT OF VENICE The Merchant of Venice is a brilliant study of psychology, decadence
and revenge; it is also profoundly preoccupied with the nature of
love, forgivness, and mercy 'The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven'- all wonderfully intergrated
into the plot with such genius. This is one of Shakespeare's well
-heeled comedies, a parody of capitalism (true love impeded by money)
and a send up of an assumed Jewish preoccupation with profit. Post-
Holocaust it becomes a 'difficult' play, controversial and contentious
but made clear for us and relieved of guilt by Oliver Mears clean
cut production at The Old Fire Station, Oxford until 21st August.
The Dionysus Theatre Company obviously enjoyed themselves in performance
as much as the Venetians with their wine, masques and love affairs.
A camp air fills the theatre much to the enjoyment of the audience,
but we hungered for more music; perhaps this was made up for by the
exquisite costumes so rarely seen in contemporary British theatre.
Shylock (Michael.J.Flexer) dominates the stage from the first moments,
and his performance is subtle and unnervingly convincing as the man
who in the end looses everything, his bond, his beautiful daughter
Jessica, his ducats and his religion. We empathise with him, knowing
him wronged. The female leads; Portia (Sinead Russell) and Jessica
(Sally Meeson) brought a fresh, modern dynamic to the stage, and the
male counterparts, notably Lorenzo (James Reilly) sustained the emasculation
by the closet queens (almost all of the blokes in the play). If the
Eclipse disappointed, this won't.
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