The Merchant of Venice Opens Tonight at Shakespeare & Company
(© John Dolan)
Shakespeare & Company officially debuts its first production in the round with its mounting of The Merchant of Venice, opening tonight in Lenox, Massachusetts. Performances run through August 21.
Directed by founder Tina Packer, the production stars Jonathan Epstein as Shylock, along with John Hadden (Antonio), Jason Asprey (Graziano), Kate Abbruzzese (Jessica), Peter Andersen (Solanio), Erick Avari (Duke/Morocco/Aragon), Thomas Brazzle (Gobbo), Cloteal L. Horne (Salarino), and Dylan Wittrock (Salerio), Tamara Hickey (Portia), Shahar Isaac (Bassanio), Bella Merlin (Nerissa), Michael Fuchs (Old Gobbo/Tubal), and Deaon Griffin-Pressley (Lorenzo).
"The Merchant of Venice is a passionate, wide-ranging play about love and bigotry," says Packer. "Every person in the play is dealing with harsh constraints, every person in the play is racist and sexist, ill-will abounds, but somehow a wiser understanding is possible by the end. I think Shakespeare wrote this play when he was at the crossroads himself, immersed in London life, interacting with many people of different races, where making money and surviving other people’s prejudice was an everyday occurrence. The actors’ art demands that we inhabit lives unlike our own, so the ability to live behind the mask and then take it off is one of theleitmotifs of this production. We are also discovering the joy and humor within the play, and the power of love and the deep need for this in all of us – those on-stage and off-stage."
The creative team includes Kris Stone (set design), Matthew Miller (lighting design), Daniel Levy (sound design), Tyler Kinney (costume design), and Kristin Wold (choreography).
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