The Merchant of Venice

A Propeller production , Oxford Playhouse 16th – 20th June
Review by Jackie Keirs

‘If you deny me, fie upon your law!
There is no force in the decrees of Venice.’

So says Shylock as he argues his case for a pound of the Merchant’s flesh, Antonio finding himself unable to return the Jew’s loan of three thousand ducats. Isn’t it interesting that Shylock’s chastisement of the law should have such immediate resonance for today’s audiences, at a time when we surely have as much right as he did to criticise the law and the upholding of the law on the part of our own law-makers(?) For what is the value of our law if, some MPs being proven wilfully to have committed fraud, no appropriate action is taken? Would we not be justified in crying after Shylock, ‘fie upon your law! There is no force in the decrees of Parliament!’

To be sure Propeller cannot have anticipated the ‘expenses scandal’, when they began rehearsal for the present season, but ‘timing is all’, and they have scored a winner! The piece plays on many levels – lyrical, romantic, comic, as well as religious and ethical – but here the political and social elements are particularly strong, and given focus by the somewhat surprising decision to set the play in a prison. The power games happening within its walls reflect a powerful hierarchy of interests, in some ways, no doubt, similar to those in Parliament … In fact the chosen staging could seem to be yet more prescient, if at least some of the alleged MP fraudsters meet their due judgment and end up behind bars, presenting us with a fine social mix, as in the play!

Beyond this timely nuance (of which the Bard would certainly have approved!), the prison setting contributes to the vitality of the production in other major ways. The ‘empty space’, in this case the prison yard, liberates the actors in terms of character, movement, costume, even accent, while the cells surrounding the stage at every level provide a dramatic backdrop. Entering the auditorium we are immediately aware of dull silver light gleaming on metal bars; this gradually brightens to reveal partial human forms, weird shapes, some extended, some angrily distorted, some collapsing in their pain. Then there are the sounds: clanging bars, rough laughter and an insistent drumming, all serving to intrigue and alienate us at a stroke. The expressive lighting throughout (Ben Ormerod), set (Michael Pavelka) and sound/music – supplied by a typically versatile Propeller ensemble! – conjoin to focus our attention on the action in the yard, subversive, sometimes gruesome and absurd as it is.

Propeller are always exciting in their physicality and The Merchant is no exception. The actors’ athleticism as they shin up poles, wield mobile cages, swab floors, hustle or fight each other, is remarkable, and their movement in character equally so.

Shylock (Richard Clothier) is an East End Jew, surprisingly tall and gangly; a long-term inmate, brash, sometimes brutal, he is despised by his fellow-prisoners. Clothier’s performance does not seek to engage the audience’s sympathy; the no-holds-barred eye-gouging, for example, happens during the ‘Hath not a Jew eyes?’ speech, usually played with the inference that we should feel some remorse for our alienation of the outsider.

The Merchant, Antonio, has his own suffering to bear as the persuasive Bassanio (Jack Tarlton) toys with his affections for the sum necessary to gain the hand of wealthy Portia. Bob Barrett inhabits the role; his acquired fatalism plays well against the Jew’s ruthlessness as, in the Trial scene, the latter sharpens his knife near the chest of his beaten foe.

Less rewarding for me was the portrayal of Portia (Kesley Brookfield). With the innate authority of an heiress, a natural charisma that wows a batch of suitors and a quiet dignity as she pleads with Shylock for mercy, Portia must surely command the stage whenever she appears. In this case Brookfield’s promising physicality did not ‘compel’ in the way I had hoped, and his/her handling of the language made it at times unclear, lacking in poetry even when at its most poetic.

Of the couples, the raunchy Nerissa (Chris Myles) and slightly confused hard-man, Gratiano (Richard Frame), were strong and very funny. Jessica, Shylock’s unhappy daughter, was edgily played by Jon Trenchard, while Lorenzo (Richard Dempsey) provided an intelligent, long-suffering mate. The Princes of Morocco and Aragon both relished their parts, drawing on stereotypical resources, no doubt, and seemingly out of context, but enormous fun to watch! Touches of surreal humour in an intriguing, thought-provoking play, they served but to reinforce its fundamentally dark message.