The Merchant Of Venice is one of Shakespeare's more well-known plays, without being one of those which is studied and analysed to death in our schools. It's also not one of the Bard's more oft-performed plays anyway, so this was the first time I had seen this particular play (as opposed, for instance, to Twelfth Night, which I have seen enough of to last a lifetime), and since it's another production from the BOV Theatre School, an interesting evening and a good show was expected. I was not disappointed.

The plot is a fairly simple Shakespearean comedy, complete with nice happy-smily ending and a more subtly thought-provoking subtext, in which Antonio, a rich merchant, agrees with Shylock, a rich Jew moneylender, that he will take a loan with no interest (Jews were only allowed to lend money to live at the time, and as such had to charge interest - common now, but then they were the only ones who did, and huge anti-Semitic feeling was a result), the penalty if he is unable to pay it off being instead that he should give one pound of his own flesh. Antonio's ventures collapse, and Shylock sees his chance to get revenge on the man who - he thinks - has helped to steal his daughter away from him. At the same time, the noble lady Porsche is looking for a husband, and her father has said she may choose the one who can guess which of three boxes her portrait is hidden in. It does all get rather predictable at times, but its Shylock's exhortations to the others to see Jews as people as well ("If you cut us, do we not bleed?") that are most moving, even five hundred years on.

The set is, compared with many I've seen recently, lavish, and very impressively worked. A series of winches, levers and other mechanics make scene changes absolutely effortless, and an absolute jow to watch themselves - this is the first play I've been to that I've found myself wishing they scene changes were just a bit slower, so I could see how everything worked! The costumes and setting were all of Shakespeare's period, which is nice to see - it does look a bit odd when people choose to set plays like this on a spaceship in the twenty-third century - and it all looks very impressive. With set and costumes like this to look at, the temptation is very strong to simply let back and let the play itself wash over you.

       But don't. The cast deserve - and demand - better than that. They are young (of course, being graduating students), full of energy, and work very well together indeed. Andrew Piper as Shylock and Adam Dodd as Antonio - the two central characters - are particularly noteworthy, but the whole cast make the plot clear - a definite plus, given that many stay away from Shakespeare for fear of not understanding him - and prove every bit as enjoyable to watch as the bits and bobs moving about in the background when the actors aren't on stage.

The Tick List

Story

Sets

Costumes

Cast

Overall

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