{"id":246284,"date":"2013-07-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-watery-merchant\/"},"modified":"2013-07-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-05T07:00:00","slug":"a-watery-merchant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-watery-merchant\/","title":{"rendered":"A watery \u2018Merchant\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Infinitely interpreted, The Globe production is both satisfying and frustrating<\/p>\n

Por Charlene Baldridge | Cr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN<\/p>\n

The Old Globe Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Adrian Noble sets his production of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Merchant of Venice\u201d on raised, platform \u201cland\u201d above the canals of Venice, setting up a spatial constriction that causes anxiety in the viewer, who fears tables, chairs and denizens will tumble into Mylar waters (scenic design by Ralph Funicello). No mishaps occurred opening night June 29.<\/p>\n

\"Krystel<\/a>
Krystel Lucas as Portia (Photo by Michael Lamont)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The mechanics of important other scenes \u2013 Portia\u2019s palace in Belmont and a Venetian courtroom in which the moneylender Shylock (played by Miles Anderson) sues the merchant Antonio (Donald Carrier) for his bond \u2013 are eased by sliding the land back and forth.<\/p>\n

The palace belonging to Portia (Krystel Lucas, Hippolyta in \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d) is especially opulent and sensuous, first appearing far upstage and gliding downstage like an exotic moveable harem.<\/p>\n

Here the princes of Morocco (Nic Few) and Arragon (Christopher Salazar) vie for Portia\u2019s hand in marriage by selecting one of three caskets: gold, silver or lead. The winning box contains Portia\u2019s portrait. Each selects the wrong box, much to her relief. Then comes Bassanio (Lucas Hall), who wins the wealthy woman.<\/p>\n

In order to woo Portia, Bassanio seeks to borrow a substantial sum from his older friend Antonio, who\u2019s been feeling melancholy, perhaps because he fears he will lose Bassanio\u2019s companionship when he marries (more is implied here). Antonio\u2019s merchant ships are all at sea. Cash flow is nil.<\/p>\n

Bassanio and his clownish friend Gratiano (Triney Sandoval) go to the wealthy Jew, Shylock, for the needed funds. Antonio guarantees the loan. Shylock hates Antonio and stipulates that should the bond be \u201cforfeit\u201d \u2013 unpaid within stipulated time \u2013 he will exact a pound of the merchant\u2019s flesh.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Shylock\u2019s daughter Jessica (Winslow Corbett) elopes with Bassanio\u2019s friend Lorenzo (Adam Gerber), having stolen jewels and ducats from her father and forsaking her religion. Jessica and Lorenzo flee to Belmont.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Miles Anderson, Charles Janasz and Krystel Lucas (Photo by Michael Lamont)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

About the time Bassanio wins Portia\u2019s hand, and Gratiano gets a \u201cyes\u201d from her lady-in-waiting Nerissa (Ryman Sneed), all of Antonio\u2019s ships are reported lost. Word comes to Belmont that Shylock is demanding his pound of flesh in court.<\/p>\n

As soon as Bassanio and Gratiano leave for Venice, Portia and Nerissa disguise themselves as young lawyers. In the famous \u201cQuality of Mercy\u201d scene, Portia defends Shylock\u2019s right to take the pound of flesh but says that nowhere in the law has he the right to shed the blood of a Christian, and furthermore if he does his life will be forfeit. Thus the women save the day.<\/p>\n

Instead of sentencing Shylock to death, the Duke of Venice (the solid Charles Janasz), strips him of his wealth and commands he become a Christian. Clouds hang over the apparently joyous ending, in which all live happily ever after with the exception of Antonio and Shylock.<\/p>\n

This play, having been experienced several times over the past decade-plus has become one of the writer\u2019s favorite Shakespeare works because of its infinite possibilities of interpretation.<\/p>\n

The Globe\u2019s company is mixed: the production, satisfying in many aspects and frustrating in others. Anderson\u2019s Shylock is fine and touching, though his voice stays mostly in treble range. As Antonio, Carrier was oddly disappointing, his melancholy overwhelming his juice.<\/p>\n

I loved Lucas\u2019 commanding performance in \u201cDream\u201d but feel her Portia lacks wisdom and tenderness. Thus, Hall\u2019s Bassanio seems all the more callow, but it\u2019s a thankless role anyway. Of all the Lancelot Gobbos I\u2019ve seen, John Lavelle\u2019s was the least defined. Sandoval\u2019s clown almost stole the show. Others gave little sense of who their characters are and what they are doing in this Shakespeare play.<\/p>\n

Sound designer Dan Moses Schreier effectively employs the music of Gustav Mahler throughout. Deirdre Clancy is costume designer, Alan Burett the lighting designer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Merchant of Venice\u201d continues in rotating repertory with \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d and Tom Stoppard\u2019s \u201cRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead\u201d through September 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Merchant of Venice\u201d<\/strong>
\nWHERE: The Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way (Balboa Park)<\/strong>
\nWHEN: In rotating repertory through Sept. 28<\/strong>
\nINFO: 619-234-5623<\/strong>
\nWEB: elviejoglobo.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Infinitely interpreted, The Globe production is both satisfying and frustrating By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theater Critic The Old Globe Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Adrian Noble sets his production of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cThe Merchant of Venice\u201d on raised, platform \u201cland\u201d above the canals of Venice,<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A watery \u2018Merchant\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}