The impressive Shakespeare at the Rose Theatre Bankside continues. Last year, for Othello, a horror pastiche had gore dripping off chains and those shady caverns in the background added to its psychological charm. Now, director David Weinberg updates The Merchant of Venice and makes it all about bankers and the City. It might be the oldest theatre in London, and the stage might be tiny, but this is the most imaginative and powerful up to date drama happening.
“The seeming truth which cunning times put on” - that is this production’s peg, full of duality, and those contradictions. So, yes, the Rose is an archeological site, but it sits almost underneath the glimmering FT offices, and those implications are palpable. Everyone is overwhelmed by money. It isn’t just Shylock’s greed for his bond, or that love lost for his daughter - Portia is played as a scheming businesswoman, armed with an iPad and a grin, Antonio has the sway of a desk boss on a bonus at UBS and everyone else is out for themselves.
As Shylock, Saul Reichlin is superb, flashing with sublime energy. As he clicks his heels and grabs at the air there is a child-like exuberance and a devastating honesty when things turn foul. Rebecca Moore as a power-greedy Portia is delicious, her co-conspirator Elizabeth Twells as Nerissa is beautifully observed, while James McNeill as Lancelot Gobbo (and others) is the Jacobean jester at its best. Much more than a nod to all the rest involved, this is a production that you really must see.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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