Review: The Merchant Of Venice – Lyceum, Edinburgh

When first written, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice was classed as a comedy. Whilst some of The Bard’s intended humour shines through, particularly in the first act of Director Arin Arbus‘ muscularly stark vision of the play, this production is ultimately a study in trauma.

To be fair, a play wherein a castigated, and frequently spat-on Jewish moneylender Shylock (John Douglas Thompson), demands a pound of flesh as collateral on a loan to the maudlin, over-generous, and deeply racist Antonio (Alfredo Narciso), is hardly the stuff of your typical giggle fest. With Narciso deftly stripping any redeeming qualities from his character, and Douglas Thompson masterfully imbuing the play’s intended villain with palpable heart, however twisted it becomes, the prospect of tragedy is only heightened further.

It’s hard to overstate the magnificence of Douglas Thompson’s Shylock, who introduces himself as a twinkling-eyed businessman with ample bonhomie. Eschewing melodrama, he evinces honest confusion when beginning the famous ‘Hath not a Jew eyes?’ monologue, and still seeks to set reason against baseless prejudice.

“It’s hard to overstate the magnificence of Douglas Thompson’s Shylock…”

His fall seems avoidable until the last wad of spit strikes his cheek, banishing his better angels, and leaving him a twisted, vengeful revenant. With some of Shakespeare’s driest, most vituperous text on his lips, the results are scintillating. If he is a villain, then he is only what society has sought to make him.

Shakespeare, doubtless conscious of the weight of such grim proceedings, seeks to lighten matters with a sprinkling of storybook romance, and not one, but two wits prone to comically relieving matters. “Not so fast,” says Arbus, raising a dark glass to his eye to carve a lean, two-act play from William’s original five.

The charming Bassanio (Ariel Shafir) still pursues the beautiful and whip-smart heiress Portia (Isabel Arraiza), bankrolled by the loan so foolishly secured by his best friend. Shylock’s daughter Jessica (Danaya Esperanza) still elopes with the dashing Lorenzo (David Lee Huynh). Gratiano (a vituperously comic Hayes Thigpen) still interjects his wordy wit in abundance, and Lancelot Gobbo (Matthew Saldivar) still engages the world with lively banter, whilst pondering on the rights and wrongs of exchanging Shylock for Bassanio as his master.

Then Arbus starts asking “What if?”. What if Antonio’s feelings towards Bassanio aren’t platonic? What if Lorenzo turns out to be an abusive husband? What if Gratiano is a drunk with some serious prejudices? What if Gobbo is a middle-aged man with a jaded view of the world and his place in it? Suddenly, Shylock and Antonio’s fateful day in court isn’t the only reckoning coming.

Riccardo Hernandez’s soaring, slate grey set dominated by two grand sets of stairs extending into the auditorium, is certainly a stage made for such caustic ideas. Pitched someplace between a Venetian temple and a Soviet monument, it screams of a careless state and an uncaring society.

The classist and racist stratification of this place couldn’t be clearer. Colour-blind but conscious casting finds no white skin wearing a yamulka, and when the state focuses its attention upon Shylock, he swiftly finds himself immersed in a sea of pale faces. Shakespeare’s continuing relevance to 21st-century reality couldn’t be writ harder.

With the players in modern dress suitable for the business and wealthy classes and their staff, Arbus intends to transport us to the future, but in truth shows us Shakespeare’s Venice with the soft furnishings and glamour stripped away. The truth left behind is ageless.

Which all sounds very severe, but rest assured that there’s plenty in this Merchant of Venice to make an audience smile.

Arraiza’s undeniable stage presence makes her a heroine worth rooting for, whilst Shafir’s radiates charm fit for a Neil Simon Rom-Com. The absurd lottery, instituted by her father to select a suitable husband is given the VIP treatment, complete with memorable characters and a jovial tension reminiscent of ‘Deal or No Deal’. This production from New York’s Theatre for a New Audience is nuanced, not po-faced.

You can also expect to laugh out loud. Thigpen has the knack of landing venerable punchlines, arcane language notwithstanding. Varin Ayala’s Prince of Arragon hams it up as if he just stepped out of an Austin Powers movie to play the ‘who gets to marry Portia’ lottery. Even with a dagger in hand and revenge only moments away, Douglas Thompson is still delivering moments of gorgeously dark humour.

“Pitched someplace between a Venetian temple and a Soviet monument, it screams of a careless state and an uncaring society.”

Yet, though Portia and Shafir’s romance begins with teary eyes and professions of love, Arbus isn’t convinced that Bassanio’s affections are exclusively hers. So whilst Portia still defies the limitations prescribed her sex to come to his, and his best friend’s rescue, her reward is…spoiled. The Antonio/Bassanio homosexual thesis isn’t new, but it’s certainly been played with less clunky obviousness.

It’s also a stretch to portray the cross-cultural young lovers Lorenzo and Jessica as quite so problematic. Yes, it produces a haunting final moment of reclaimed faith as Shylock and his lost daughter intone the Kol Nidre, seeking forgiveness for foolish vows, but at rather a bleak cost.

Indeed, if the play weren’t so confidently staged, or the cast so consistently excellent, the sheer weight of cynicism might drag it down.

And yet, one cannot deny the power of this production from start to finish. I don’t have to like a director’s every decision to appreciate the quality of the end product. Arbus wants to show us the fruits of a society which evaluates people based on wealth, nationality, sexuality, and gender, but not the content of their characters. It’s hard to disagree with his conclusions, and very hard not to be swept away by the thrilling theatrical adventure preceding.

All Images: Henry Grossman